Development and Validation of the Teacher Working Condition Scale

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: School Effectiveness and School Improvement Round Table #2 (Table 11)

Abstract

Assessing teachers’ working conditions with a reliable and valid instrument is critical for policymakers to make effective policies to improve teachers’ working conditions. The current study developed and validated the Teacher Working Conditions Scale (TWCS) to measure teachers’ perceptions of working conditions in K-12 public school contexts. Initial 59 items were developed and administered to 17,954 teachers. Exploratory factor analysis suggested a ten-factor structure. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the ten-factor structure identified by EFA. TWCS demonstrated decent internal consistency, convergent, and discriminant validity. The findings suggested that school practitioners and policymakers can use TWCS to measure teachers’ working conditions within public schools in the U.S.

Authors

• Ruiqin Gao, University of South Carolina

• Angela D. Starrett, University of South Carolina

• Christine DiStefano, University of South Carolina