The Teacher Belief Q-Sort: A measure of teachers' priorities in relation to disciplinary practices, teaching practices, and beliefs about children

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Abstract

The present study advances a new method for assessing teacher beliefs and priorities. This paper describes the development and psychometric properties of the Teacher Belief Q-Sort (TBQ), an assessment technique that examines teachers' priorities and beliefs about discipline practices, classroom practices, and beliefs about children (see www.socialdevelopmentlab.org. Further, this paper describes the usefulness of this tool by examining differences in beliefs and priorities among four groups of teachers (experienced teachers trained in the Responsive Classroom (RC) Approach, experienced teachers with no such training, pre-service teachers planning on teaching elementary school, and pre-service teachers planning on teaching middle/high school) with the goal of demonstrating the way priorities are sensitive to specialized training and teaching experience. The study establishes the TBQ as a reliable, valid, and useful method. Findings showed that RC teachers hold discipline and teaching practice priorities consistent with training in the RC Approach and that pre-service teachers placed greater priority on spontaneity and collaboration and held more negative views about children's likeability and motivation than in-service teachers. Findings are discussed in terms of the ways in which teacher priorities are sensitive to specialized training and teaching experience and offer an early indicator of integrity of implementation.

Section snippets

The Teacher Belief Q-Sort: a measure of teachers' priorities in relation to disciplinary practices, teaching practices, and beliefs about children

The present climate in education science presses for increased teacher accountability and use of scientifically based practices in schools, as described in No Child Left Behind (2001) legislation. As a result of this focus, there has been marked growth in research testing the efficacy and effectiveness of interventions in school environments. Researchers have increasingly focused on identifying effective interventions, understanding mechanisms by which they operate, and ascertaining for whom

Participants

The sample was comprised of 30 in-service teachers at schools implementing the RC Approach, 32 in-service teachers at comparison schools (schools not implementing the RC Approach), 61 pre-service elementary school teachers, and 74 pre-service middle or high school teachers.

One hundred forty in-service teachers (grades kindergarten through three) were recruited to participate in the Social and Academic Learning Study (SALS), a quasi-experimental study of the efficacy of the Responsive Classroom

Results

Results are described separately for the criterion and factor analytic methods.

Discussion

This study describes the development and use of the TBQ and produced three notable findings. First, this study advances the TBQ as a reliable and valid tool for the measurement of teachers' priorities among their beliefs. Second, RC teachers appear to hold a distinct set of practices for discipline and behavior management and classroom practices compared to the other three groups of teachers. Third, pre-service and in-service teachers appeared to hold different priorities and beliefs,

Acknowledgements

The work reported in this article was supported in part by the DuBarry Foundation. We thank Yu-Jen Chiu, Ellen Hench, and the administrator, principal, assistant principal, and teacher participants for their contributions.

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    1

    Current address: American Institute for Research, Washington, DC, United States.

    2

    Current address: Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, United States.

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