SCHOOL CLIMATE AND EXTERNAL EVALUATION RESULTS: DO THEY GO TOGETHER?

During the past years there has been an increase in the interest on studies of factors associated with school performance. Using a new database elaborated by Caed (2011) with results from a climate school and a socioeconomic questionnaire, together with the results of external evaluation of Mathematics and Portuguese applied to Brazilian students, the goal of this study is to analyze if the School Climate research carried out by Caed (2011) enables to differentiate the high and low performance schools and what type of correlation exists between school climate and school efficiency. For Caed (2001) the school climate is based on students’ feelings and ideas regarding learning and progress, the comfort and safety provided by the school, relationship among students, teachers and director, and the sense of belonging and of inclusion of students in the school. Preliminary results from one Brazilian state, and students from the 5th grade of Primary Education confirm the hypothesis that the school climate enables to differentiate high and low performance schools and to check for the existence of a correlation with school efficiency, measured by the aggregate value of the school. The complete work will comprise ten Brazilian states and students from 5th and 9th grades of Primary Education and from 3rd grade of Secondary Education