Teacher Dispositions and Perceived Environment: The Relationship Among Grit, Resiliency, and Perceptions of School Climate

This survey study examined the relationship between grit, dispositional resiliency, and perceptions of school climate attitudes among teachers in the North Eastern suburbs of the United States. Prior research has associated the constructs of grit and dispositional resiliency with positive academic and life outcomes, but little empirical research has documented these personality constructs in teachers, and no current studies have investigated a possible relationship with perceptions of school climate. Positive school climate has been previously correlated in high performing schools and high student achievement; therefore an investigation of its relationship to personality dispositions of teachers was needed. This study provides empirical research linking grit and resiliency with perceptions of school climate. Specifically, this study investigated if related constructs, grit and dispositional resiliency, were factorially distinct constructs. Second, an investigation was performed to identify significant differences between these constructs and teacher demographics. Finally, the study examined whether there was a significant predictive relationship between grit, dispositional resiliency, and teachers perceptions of school climate.;A factor analysis validated that grit and dispositional resiliency were distinct constructs. The validation process revealed some inconsistency in item loading and suggested the need for future research to explore the idea of population-specific dispositional resiliency measures. The study was unable to establish significant teacher demographic differences in grit and dispositional resiliency, due to lack of diversity in the sample participants. Furthermore, a structural equation analysis (AMOS) revealed a predictive path between grit and dispositional resiliency, and perceptions of school climate and dispositional resiliency, and displayed dispositional resiliency as the mediator between grit and perceptions of school climate. Resiliency was found to be a predictive factor in teachers' grit and perceptions of positive school climate.