Date of Award

Summer 8-1-2021

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

School

Psychology

Committee Chair

Stephanie Smth

Committee Chair School

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Sara Jordan

Committee Member 2 School

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Brad Dufrene

Committee Member 3 School

Psychology

Committee Member 4

Randy Arnau

Committee Member 4 School

Psychology

Abstract

Teacher practices and expectations are important factors for students’ academic and behavioral functioning (Andersson & Palm, 2016; Oliver, Wehby, & Reschly, 2011; Rimm-Kaufman, Storm, Sawyer, Pianta, & LaParom 2006; Rubie-Davies, 2007; Sandholtz, 2011). The current measures available require a great deal of resources (i.e., time, money, personnel), have poor psychometric properties, or are not comprehensive (e.g., facets assessed; assessment of teacher practices for different grade levels). Given these concerns, the proposed study aimed to develop a psychometrically sound measure that is time and cost efficient and comprehensively assesses the multi-faceted construct of teacher practices. This measure is expected to allow teachers to self-evaluate their teaching practices, identify areas for further development, and track their progress over time. Items for the Assessment of Teacher Practices and Expectations (ATEP) were developed following a thorough review of the extant literature and feedback from experts in education. A total of 269 first through twelfth grade teachers recruited via Qualtrics and social media platforms completed measures used for the present analyses. Exploratory factor analyses supported a five-factor structure and a total of 58 items with high factor loadings from the original 139-item pool were retained. Results also provided good evidence of internal consistency, and some evidence of concurrent and convergent/discriminant validity. In sum, the present study provides promising findings for the ATEP. Future studies should further examine the factor structure of the ATEP using a representative sample of teachers and comparing the performance of the ATEP in assessing teacher practices to well-established classroom observational measures.

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