A Revalidation of the School Participant Empowerment Scale Among Mathematics and Science Teachers

• In Event: 66.014 - Leading Teacher Professional Development and Collaboration

Abstract

Teachers play an integral role in school improvement, spending more time with students than any other adult in a school and acting as formal and informal leaders. One way of conceptualizing that role has been to consider the degree to which they are empowered (or not) in their schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of the “School Participant Empowerment Scale” (SPES) using a sample of 257 elementary and secondary science teachers. To do, the study utilized exploratory factor analysis. The analysis produced a six-factor solution in which the items loaded differently than what the original authors found in their analysis. The study has implications for teacher leadership, school improvement, and teacher preparation.

Authors

• Virginia Walker Snodgrass Rangel, University of Houston

• Milijana Suskavcevic, University of Houston

• Andrew Kapral, University of Houston

• Wallace Dominey, University Of Houston