Quantifying “the Ripple in the Pond”: The Development and Validation of the Teacher Change Agent Scale

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a reliable scale for measuring teachers’ willingness to initiate change efforts in their schools. A 64-item pilot instrument was developed by a panel of experts (n=4) and administered to a group of classroom teachers (n=76). While it was hypothesized that eight factors (content/pedagogical knowledge, ownership, self-efficacy, empowerment, motivation, risk-taking, micropolitical expertise, and community membership) would underlie the items, an initial factor analysis suggested the presence of three factors. Fifteen items were retained for the final version, which was administered to another group of classroom teachers (n=76). A second factor analysis confirmed the presence of the three factors accounting for 49.2% of the total variance; each factor had a Cronbach’s coefficient of internal reliability consistency higher than .70. These factors were subsequently labeled contextual expertise, collaborative expertise, and problem-solving expertise. Additional data analysis indicated that the Teacher Change Agent Scale (TCAS) is a valid and reliable instrument for use with classroom teachers. It is suggested that future research should involve larger samples and/or make efforts to assess the criterion-related validity of the TCAS.