Vibrant Schools: Its Measure, Antecedents, And Correlates

Vibrant schools prioritize curiosity, creativity, playfulness, collaborative learning, critical thinking, individuality, and empathy, fostering an environment that respects the voices of teachers and students while reducing standardization (Clement et al., 2018; Clement et al., 2017; Tschannen-Moran & Clement, 2018). The purpose of this three-article dissertation was to understand the psychometric properties of Vibrant School Scale (VSS) and its relationship with efficacy constructs, trust, and wellbeing. Multi-stage clustered sampling was used to recruit 50 schools. 35 schools had more than five participants, which was required for multilevel analysis. In total, there were 495 teachers and leaders participating in the study. The first study validated the VSS with 19 items at the school level and three subscales at the individual level. The second study found strong correlations among efficacy constructs and vibrant schools. Teacher self-efficacy was found as a predictor at only the individual level while collective efficacy and leader self-efficacy contributed at the school level. The third study found strong correlations among faculty trust in students, faculty wellbeing, and vibrant schools. Vibrant schools significantly contributed to explaining faculty wellbeing while faculty trust did not contribute independently to the model. This dissertation, with its comprehensive analysis, elucidates the practical implications and benefits of fostering vibrancy in educational institutions. Collectively, these studies provide an in-depth and nuanced perspective on the characteristics that render schools vibrant, the processes by which they attain this state, and the positive outcomes they generate.