Keywords
adult education, collaboration, factor analysis, charter schools, survey research, teacher preparation
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to develop and examine the initial psychometrics of an instrument, the Charter School Teacher Development Inventory (CSTDI), designed to measure the professional learning opportunities available in U.S. charter schools. Items on the CSTDI were derived from a review of relevant literature and were intended to gather information on how frequently U.S. charter schools employ traditional professional development methods and the five areas of more effective professional development (content focus, active learning, collaboration, coherence, and duration). The final form of the CSTDI was sent electronically to 6322 charter school administrators and 2428 returned completed surveys. Exploratory factor analysis performed on a randomly assigned half of the sample (n =1214) suggested that the CSTDI was comprised of five factors: traditional, content, coherence, duration, and active learning/collaboration. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the second half of the sample and provided additional support for a five factor structure of the CSTDI. Reliability coefficients for each of the five factors were above .90. This study provides promising support for a five-factor instrument that assesses professional development practices in charter schools. While the CSTDI was developed for use with charter school administrators, further research is warranted to determine if it may be relevant for use with teachers and administrators in both traditional public schools and charter schools.
Recommended Citation
Murray, John M.
(2022)
"Development of Charter School Teacher Development Inventory,"
Mid-Western Educational Researcher: Vol. 34:
Iss.
3, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/mwer/vol34/iss3/4
