There are different types of school climate that impact student performance. These include positive and negative climates. A school climate which is positive allows students to perform better as it supports students morally, physically as well as academically. Whereas negative school climate cannot bring about school improvement and enhanced school effectiveness and entails that the school is poor or lacks physical resources, interactions is poor, or learning does not take place smoothly. The school which is having a positive climate fosters learning to take place and while the school which has negative climate impedes learning and hence students may develop tendency of disliking subjects. This study was guided by system theory by von Bertalanffy. According to von Bertalanffy the main task of general systems theory is to study the common aspects of systems and from this to formulate models, Principles and laws that apply to generalized systems and their sub-classes (Screerens, 2000).This study employed mixed research methods which utilized both correlational descriptive survey and case study designs. Stratified and simple random sampling procedures were used to get twenty (20) secondary schools .The instrument that were used in data collection included questionnaires, Structured interview schedule and observation guide .The analysis of data from questionnaires; observation guide and structured interview schedule were categorized, and entered into the computer for computation of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics were analysed and presented in frequency tables and percentages while inferential statistics were presented by standard deviations and means to generate data that was used to test the hypotheses .Pearson’s product moment correlation analysis was employed to determine whether there are significant relationships between the variables under study. Hypotheses’ testing was carried out at 0.05 confidence level. Qualitative data was organized in themes and narrative. Findings revealed that sub-county secondary school face shortage of highly qualified and experienced teachers, teaching and learning materials, physical infrastructure, and incentives for students and teachers compared to county and National schools. The study recommended that teachers should strive to create a friendly classroom learning environment that is fovaurable for learning to take place, students should be encouraged to put their personal efforts in academic matters and the government should address teacher shortage and distribution in schools across all the counties.
Keywords: Negative school climate, Positive school climate, School climate, Student academic achievement
