Importance of Classroom Climate for At-Risk Learners

Abstract

Although previous research has developed scales that measure the situational variables found in classroom climates, it has failed to address the question of how such climates are created. The purpose of the following case study was to examine how one effective teacher, teaching primarily at-risk learners, created a classroom climate that enhanced learner outcomes. Data, collected through participant observation and interviews, were categorized, analyzed, and interpreted using an analytic induction approach. The major assertion generated from the data analyses was that the normative nature of this particular classroom was intimately entwined with academic learning.