Özet:

This study examines how school health is related to student achievement. In other words, how SES affects the relationship between the organizational health of schools in different socio-economic statute and student achievement. For this, a Likert-type scale was applied to 791 teachers working in 42 primary schools with three different levels of SES in the province of Ankara. The results of correlation and multiple regression analysis show that all sub scales of school health "except institutional integrity" has a significant relationship with students' achievement. However, although institutional integrity is a part of school health, it is not the part of the school climate that increases the student achievement. Moreover, there is a significant positive relationship between SES and student achievement. In recent years in developed countries, there are reform-like studies to make schools the places where effective education are realized. By determining the disadvantages that are in the effective education solutions are being looked for (Allen, Freeman, Reizenstein and Rentz, 1995; Davis, 2002) Though researches done in the field of education have different contents and fields, what is common among them is to realize effective education and have good outcomes. The Problem To be able to realize effective education that is necessary for student’s achievement we need robust schools. Robust schools can adopt themselves to the environment. Moreover, in robust schools teachers, managers and students work with the environment in a constructive and cooperative way. (Hoy and Feldman, 1987; Hoy and Tarter, 1997). Though the school manager can not be held responsible for this relationship between the school and its environment, he has an important role in developing this relationship. Researches showed that managers who are friendly, open support and believe perfectionism create a school atmosphere that causes school success. Under the light of these explanations, how the school atmosphere is related to student achievement will be searched. Many suggested that school atmosphere created a difference in learning and student achievement. (Bassert, 1998 and Stedman, 1987). In reality, does the school atmosphere develop student achievement or does student achievement cause a better school atmosphere? What is important here is to find out the characters of school atmosphere which facilitate student achievement. For this reason, this study will examine the relationship between achievement of students in math, Turkish and Social Sciences in the 6th, 7th and 8th degrees of primary schools and school health. The sample of the study is the 42 primary schools which are in different districts-Chankaya, Mamak and Altındağ- with different socio-economic status (high, middle and low) in the province of Ankara. By applying Organizational Health Inventory (OHI) to 791 teachers working in these schools, the data was collected. Besides, to measure students' achievement in math, Turkish and social sciences, the results of the placement test given to students by the Ministry of National Education were also used to collect data. Students' mean scores belonging to each lesson were calculated from the total scores. Having a high average score means high student achievement. Statistically the correlation between OHI and each character of student’s achievement were computed. Results As can be seen in Table 2 there is a positive relationship among the sub scores of OHI. Besides, most of the OHI dimensions were related to socio-economic status (SES). The only variable related to SES was the academic emphasis sub scale(r=69,p<.01). The strongest relationship among the sub scales was between teachers' perception of schools resource support and teachers' idea of academic emphasis (r=68, p<.01). The relationship between OHI and student achievement was (r=.62, p<.01) for math, (r=.68, p<.01) for Turkish and (r=.52, p<.01) for social sciences. Discussion and Suggestions Statistics used in the study and its analysis showed that institutional integrity is a part of school health but not part of the atmosphere that encourages high student achievement This result means that there is interference from the parents and the school environment. As a result of the educational system, it is impossible for parents to interfere. As a result of it, the result of this study is the opposite to the studies done by Hoy (1991), Barth (1990) and Epstein (1990). Multi regression results used in the study showed that school health except 'Institutional Integrity' and the socio-economic environment of the school could me important factors on student achievement. Academic emphasis, which is an indicator of a robust school atmosphere and SES had a strong relationship on student achievement for math, Turkish and social sciences lessons. Academic emphasis means school’s putting forward high but achievable goals. Besides, socio-economic status of the school environment and students' parents have an effect on student achievement. In this study only the factors that might have an effect on student achievement were searched. The health of school environment and SES were found to have an effect on student achievement. These two factors, naturally, are not the only dimensions that have an effect on students' achievement or failure. There are many factors that play a role on this subject. The search of these subjects thoroughly will enable us to learn more about student learning and achievement.

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