Indicator: Inclusive environments
Definition
Individuals feel they belong and feel connected to their peers in their schools, postsecondary institutions, and workplaces.
RECOMMENDED METRIC(S)
Pre-K: Percentage of children reporting positive feelings toward their school, as measured by questionnaires such as the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning’s (CASEL) How I Feel About My School questionnaire, or percentage of classrooms demonstrating equitable sociocultural interactions, as measured by observational assessments, such as Assessing Classroom Sociocultural Equity Scale (ACSES)
K–12: Percentage of students reporting belonging in school, as measured by surveys such as the Sense of Belonging subscale of the CORE Districts school culture and climate survey, the Classroom Belonging subscale of the Panorama Student Survey, or the Elevate survey’s Affirming Identities and Classroom Community scales
Postsecondary: Percentage of students reporting belonging on campus, as measured by surveys such as the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) Diverse Learning Environments Survey, the National Institute for Transformation and Equity (NITE) Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) Survey, or the Ascend survey’s Belonging Certainty, Identity Safety, Social Belonging, and Social Connectedness scales
Workforce: Percentage of employees reporting belonging at work, as measured by surveys such as the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Diversity Engagement Survey
Type(s) of Data Needed
SurveysWhy it matters
When individuals feel they belong, they experience higher levels of motivation, engagement, and tenacity. As a result, a sense of belonging in school, campus, or work contributes to improved achievement as well as health and well-being. Whether individuals feel they belong varies across contexts. A national survey of middle school students found limited differences in feelings of belonging across demographic groups. At the postsecondary level, a national survey found that students of color and first-generation students reported a lower sense of belonging than continuing-generation or White students at four-year (but not two-year) colleges, though the differences were small. In the workplace, women and people of color are more likely to experience bullying and less likely to receive social support from their peers.
What to know about measurement
Measuring individuals’ sense of belonging and their perceptions of the level of inclusiveness of their environments requires administering surveys, and a growing number of schools, colleges, and employers are doing so. We have identified and suggested a sampling of widely used tools with an evidence base; however, other instruments may also be appropriate to measure this indicator. For example, the Inclusion of Other in Self scale, a one-item instrument, is recommended by the Urban Institute’s Boosting Upward Mobility framework to measure “belongingness.” We have suggested instruments that are more comprehensive, but the Inclusion of Other in Self scale could be used as a viable alternative across age ranges. In practice, a number of survey tools are used by institutions to gather data on school and campus climate and employee engagement.
As noted earlier, data users should determine whether measurement tools are reliable, valid, and developmentally appropriate, and use them accordingly. For example, in early childhood, the How I Feel About my School questionnaire is designed “as an informal measure for individual classroom teachers to invite feedback from students and reflect on areas for growth, and has not been validated as a formal evaluation tool.” The ACSES measure is relatively new and has been validated with other widely used observational assessments, including the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), but has not been linked to child outcomes. At the postsecondary level, the CECE survey includes a sense of belonging scale, which has been shown to be significantly related to measures of culturally engaging campus environments. Finally, data users should pay attention to response rates in interpreting and reporting the resulting data.
Source frameworks
As noted above, we believe that sense of belonging is linked closely to inclusive environments, and eight source frameworks reviewed for this report included sense of belonging, inclusive environments, or both. Our proposed approach to treat this indicator as a system condition is consistent with the approach taken by the Urban Institute in the Boosting Upward Mobility framework.
References
The framework's recommendations are based on syntheses of existing research. Please see the framework report for a list of works cited.