Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Sense Of Belonging Among Middle School Students, Alexis Carson

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of school belonging among middle school students and contributing factors that may affect their perceptions of belonging. Specific contributing factors that were identified for this project include gender, grade level, GPA, education classification, and socioeconomic status. The participating students were 13 middle school students within a rural community. A 21 item school membership questionnaire adapted from the Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale (Goodenow, 1993) was used to assess the participant’s perceptions of belonging, rejection and acceptance within their school, as well as their participation in school related extracurricular activities …