The Every Student Succeeds Act was passed in 2015, requiring schools to choose an accountability measure to accompany standardized achievement assessments. This act charges schools to educate students on academic standards and address the whole student socially and emotionally. One climate variable not widely studied in America is students' sense of futility. Students with a high sense of futility felt they had no control over their educational failure; luck determined their success, and the school system actively worked against them. This sense of futility was often displayed through misbehavior. This research assessed students' sense of futility with Van Houtte and Stevens' survey and compared it to major infractions with Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports Rewards and academic achievement on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program in English/Language Arts. The findings of this study indicate that decreasing students' sense of futility increased students' performance on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program in English/Language Arts. While the study did not find evidence to support a relationship between students' sense of futility and major infractions, the sample of students with infractions was less than 10% of the whole. Further research with a larger, more diverse sample is recommended. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]