Teacher Locus of Control

Abstract

The Teacher Locus of Control (TLC) is a specialized, 28-item psychological scale developed to assess educators’ perceptions regarding the sources of control over student outcomes. Unlike general measures of control beliefs, the TLC is context-specific, differentiating between internal and external attributions for both student success and failure within the classroom environment.

The scale is internally consistent and was empirically shown to have higher correlations with observable classroom teaching behaviors than generalized instruments, such as the Rotter’s I-E scale, validating its utility as a tool for educational research and practice.

Keywords

Teacher Locus of Control, TLC, Educational Psychology, Student Achievement, Internal Control, External Control, Teacher Efficacy, Attribution Theory.

Authors

Rose, J. S., Medway, F. J.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the TLC is to systematically measure teachers’ beliefs concerning their causal influence over student educational success and failure. By utilizing a situation-specific, forced-choice format, the scale aims to distinguish whether teachers attribute student outcomes to factors they control (e.g., instructional skill, effort) or to external factors (e.g., student motivation, socioeconomic background).

The scale’s development addressed a limitation in existing psychological instruments by providing a measure of locus of control specifically tailored for the teaching profession, thereby enhancing the prediction of professional behaviors related to innovation and classroom management.

Construct

The TLC measures the psychological construct of Locus of Control, operationalized within the academic setting. This construct is defined by the degree to which an individual believes that outcomes are contingent upon their own actions (internal locus) versus external forces beyond their influence (external locus).

Crucially, the TLC is multidimensional, separating the internal attribution into two orthogonal factors derived from the 28 items: internal control over student success (I+) and internal control over student failure (I−). This separation allows researchers to identify nuanced attribution styles related to positive and negative teaching outcomes.

Validity

Two primary validation studies were conducted to establish the efficacy of the TLC. The first investigated the relationship between teacher locus of control scores and the inclination or ability of teachers to implement innovative educational practices.

The second study specifically examined the correlation between TLC scores and the observed classroom behavior of fourth-grade teachers. Results from both validation studies confirmed that the TLC served as a superior predictor of specific teacher and student behavior when compared to the scores derived from the generalized control assessment provided by Rotter’s I-E scale.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the Teacher Locus of Control scale was assessed using the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 (KR20) reliability coefficient.

Reliability estimates were calculated separately for the two core subscales reflecting internal control: the KR20 reliability for the student success subscale (I+) was reported as 0.71, and the reliability for the student failure subscale (I−) was reported as 0.81. These values demonstrate acceptable internal consistency across both dimensions of the scale.

Factor Analysis

The underlying structure of the TLC was investigated through a principal factoring statistical method, followed by a varimax rotation.

This analysis confirmed the theoretical model, yielding two distinct, interpretable factors: Factor 1 was identified as internal control over student success (I+), and Factor 2 was identified as internal control over student failure (I−).

Instrument

Test Type: Specialized Self-Report Questionnaire

Format: 28-item, Forced-Choice Format

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: Elementary School Teachers

Age Group: Adult Educators

Population Details: The final standardization sample consisted of 89 female teachers who were teaching the fourth grade. Earlier development stages involved four samples totaling 183 elementary school teachers who completed earlier versions of the instrument.

Test Methodology: The scale uses a forced-choice response system. Item selection during construction required items to load on the appropriate factor and demonstrate significant biserial correlations (p < 0.05) with the total scale score. Data analysis reported means, standard deviations, and utilized t-tests to investigate differences based on teacher race, socioeconomic level of students, and geographic location of the school. A significant difference was found on the I+ scale, where teachers in low SES schools scored higher than those in high SES schools.

Keywords

Educational Measurement, Teacher Locus of Control (TLC), Psychometrics, Forced-Choice Format, Educational Research, Internal Consistency, KR20.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source material.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence should be directed to the authors via their institutional affiliations at the time of publication (1981).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was formally published in 1981 in the Journal of Educational Research. The original development and dissertation work dates to 1978. Researchers wishing to utilize the scale should seek permission from the original authors, J. S. Rose and F. J. Medway, or the journal publisher.

Reference’s

• Rose, J. S. (1978). Relationships among teacher locus of control, teacher and student behavior, and student achievement. PhD dissertation, University of South Carolina.

• Rose, J. S., and Medway, F. J. (1981). Measurement of teachers’ beliefs in their control over student outcome. Journal of Educational Research 74:185–89.

• Thomson, J. R. Jr., and Handley, H. M. (1990). Relationship between teacher self-concept and teacher efficacy. Paper presented at Mid-South Educational Research Association. ERIC ED 327 508.

Items of the Teacher Locus of Control

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. When the grades of your students improve, it is more likely
   1. because you found ways to motivate the students, or
   2. because the students were trying harder to do
2. Suppose you had difficulties in setting up learning centers for students in your Would this probably happen
   1. because you lacked the appropriate materials, or
   2. because you didn’t spend enough time in developing activities to go into the center?
3. Suppose your students did not appear to be benefiting from a more individualized method of The reason for this would probably be
   1. because you were having some problems managing this type of instruction, or
   2. because the students in your class were such that they needed a more traditional kind of
4. When a student gets a better grade on his report card than he usually gets, is it
   1. because the student was putting more effort into his schoolwork, or
   2. because you found better ways of teaching that student?
5. If the students in your class became disruptive and noisy when you left them alone in the room for five minutes, would this happen
   1. because you didn’t leave them interesting work to do while you were gone, or
   2. because the students were more noisy that day than they usually are?
6. When some of your students fail a math test, it is more likely
   1. because they weren’t attending to the lesson, or
   2. because you didn’t use enough examples to illustrate the

7. Suppose you were successful at using learning centers with your class of 30 Would this occur
   1. because you worked hard at it, or
   2. because your students easily conformed to the new classroom procedure?
8. When a student pulls his or grade up from a C” to a “B,” it is more likely
   1. because you came up with an idea to motivate the student, or
   2. because the student was trying harder to do
9. Suppose you are teaching a student a particular concept in arithmetic or math and the student has trouble learning Would this happen
   1. because the student wasn’t able to understand it, or
   2. because you couldn’t explain it very well?
10. When a student does better in school than he usually does, is it more likely
    1. because the student was trying harder, or
    2. because you tried hard to encourage the student to do better?
11. If you couldn’t keep your class quiet, it would probably be
    1. because the students came to school more rowdy than usual, or
    2. because you were so frustrated that you weren’t able to settle them
12. Suppose a play put on by your class was voted the “Best Class Play of the Year” by students and faculty in your Would it be
    1. because you put in a lot of time and effort as the director, or
    2. because the students were
13. Suppose it were the week before Easter vacation and you were having some trouble keeping order in your class- This would more likely happen
    1. because you weren’t putting extra effort into keeping the students under control, or
    2. because the students were more uncontrollable than
14. If one of your students couldn’t do a class assignment, would it be
    1. because the student wasn’t paying attention during the class lesson, or
    2. because you gave the student an assignment that wasn’t on his or her level?
15. Suppose you wanted to teach a series of lessons on Mexico, but the lessons didn’t turn out as well as you had ex- This would more likely happen
    1. because the students weren’t that interested in learning about Mexico, or
    2. because you didn’t put enough effort into developing the
16. Suppose a student who does not typically participate in class begins to volunteer his or her This would more likely happen
    1. because the student finally encountered a topic of interest to him or her, or
    2. because you tried hard to encourage the student to volunteer his or her
17. Suppose one of your students cannot remain on task for a particular Would this be more likely to happen
    1. because you gave the student a task that was somewhat less interesting than most tasks, or
    2. because the student was unable to concentrate on his or her schoolwork that day?
18. Suppose you were unable to devise an instructional system as requested by the principal, which would accommodate the “needs of individual students” in your This would most likely happen
    1. because there were too many students in your class, or
    2. because you didn’t have enough knowledge or experience with individualized instructional
19. If the students in your class perform better than they usually do on a test, would this happen
    1. because the students studied a lot for the test, or
    2. because you did a good job of teaching the subject area?

20. When the performance of a student in your class appears to be slowly deteriorating, it is usually
    1. because you weren’t trying hard enough to motivate him or her, or
    2. because the student was putting less effort into his or her
21. Suppose a new student was assigned to your class, and this student had a difficult time making friends with his or her Would it be more likely
    1. that most of the other students did not make an effort to be friends with the new student, or
    2. that you were not trying hard enough to encourage the other students to be more friendly toward the newcomer?
22. If the students in your class performed better on a standardized achievement test given at the end of the year com- pared to students you had last year, it would probably be
    1. because you put more effort into teaching this year, or
    2. because this year’s class of students were somewhat smarter than last year’s.
23. Suppose, one day, you find yourself reprimanding one of your students more often than Would this be more likely to happen
    1. because that student was misbehaving more than usual that day, or
    2. because you were somewhat less tolerant than you usually are?
24. Suppose one of your underachievers does his or her homework better than This would probably happen
    1. because the student tried hard to do the assignment, or
    2. because you tried hard to explain how to do the
25. Suppose one of your students began to do better schoolwork than he usually Would this happen
    1. because you put much effort into helping the student do better, or
    2. because the student was trying harder to do well in school?

Scoring: The TLC uses a forced-choice format. Half of the items represent positive (success) situations, while the other half represents negative (failure) situations. Separate scores are obtained for student success (I+) and student failure (I−).