School Belonging, Safety, and Equity
Predictors of Academic Achievement in Kosovo's Education System
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2025.180401Keywords:
School belonging, Safety, learning outcomes, KosovoAbstract
This study examines whether widely documented links between students’ perceptions of safety, equity, and belonging and their academic performance, commonly found in Western contexts, also hold in Kosovo. Drawing on data from 703 fifth-grade students across 30 classrooms, it compares public and private schools and explores how classroom climate relates to achievement. Public school students reported higher levels of safety, equity, discipline, and connectedness than their peers in private schools, whose grades appeared substantially inflated and clustered at the top. In contrast, public schools displayed a broader and more differentiated distribution of achievement.
Teacher practices emerged as a key factor: students performed better when teachers were perceived as placing less emphasis on performance goals, indicating that supportive, mastery-oriented classroom environments foster stronger learning outcomes. Multilevel analyses further showed that GPA and CoreGPA were shaped by distinct predictors, with connectedness and discipline playing different roles. Gender differences also appeared: among girls, equity and teacher performance goals were positively associated with achievement, whereas boys’ outcomes were more strongly linked to connectedness.
Overall, the findings highlight the importance of reducing performance-goal pressure, strengthening student-teacher relationships, and ensuring equitable environments and transparent grading practices to help narrow achievement gaps.
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