Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory

Abstract

The Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (MTAI) is a psychometric instrument designed to assess the attitudes of educators that are predictive of effective teacher-student rapport and classroom management success. Comprising 150 items, the MTAI places a teacher’s orientation along a continuum ranging from highly traditional, authoritarian viewpoints to more permissive and progressive, student-centered approaches. While highly reliable internally, studies have indicated that MTAI scores may exhibit instability when measured between the preservice training period and the commencement of regular classroom teaching.

Keywords

Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory, MTAI, teacher attitudes, teacher-pupil interaction, educational psychology, traditionalism, progressivism, psychological assessment.

Authors

Cook, W. W., Leeds, C. H., Callis, R.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the MTAI is to quantify the underlying affective disposition of a teacher toward students, educational practices, and classroom situations. By measuring these deep-seated teacher attitudes, the scale aims to predict a teacher’s ability to establish and maintain harmonious relationships with students, which is crucial for a productive learning environment. The inventory provides a useful tool for identifying candidates whose attitudes align with accepted standards of superior teaching and classroom interaction.

The scale assists educational administrators and researchers by providing a standardized metric for evaluating the psychological readiness of prospective and practicing teachers. The continuum measured—from traditional to progressive orientations—allows for the classification of attitudes, enabling targeted professional development or selection based on desired pedagogical approaches.

Construct

The MTAI measures the construct of teacher-pupil relationship orientation, focusing specifically on attitudes that govern interaction style and classroom climate. This construct is conceptualized as a bipolar continuum:

• Traditionalism: Characterized by strict discipline, rigidity, emphasis on teacher authority, and a perception of students as requiring external control and obedience.
• Progressivism: Characterized by flexibility, student independence, democratic classroom processes, and a belief in the inherent responsibility and self-control of pupils.

The stability of the measured attitudes has been a subject of research, with findings suggesting scores can be unstable between preservice training and active teaching experience. This potential shift highlights the influence of practical classroom experience on the development or modification of fundamental teacher attitudes.

Validity

Initial validation studies conducted by Leeds and Callis provided evidence for the MTAI’s concurrent validity by correlating inventory scores with external ratings of teacher effectiveness.

Based upon Leeds’s study, the MTAI demonstrated the following correlations with external criteria:

• Correlation with principals’ ratings: 0.46
• Correlation with observers’ ratings: 0.59
• Correlation with students’ ratings: 0.31

Based upon Callis’s subsequent study, the correlations were reported as:

• Correlation with principals’ ratings: 0.19
• Correlation with observers’ ratings: 0.40
• Correlation with students’ ratings: 0.49

These findings suggest moderate to strong relationships between MTAI scores and external judgments of teacher competence and rapport, particularly when assessed by observers and students.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory was established through the split-half method. The corrected split-half reliability coefficient reported for the MTAI was 0.93. This high coefficient indicates strong internal reliability, suggesting that the items within the scale are highly consistent in measuring the intended construct.

Factor Analysis

A significant Factor Analysis of the MTAI was conducted by Yee and Fruchter (1971) to determine the underlying structure of the 150 items. Utilizing Orthogonal varimax rotations, the analysis yielded five distinct factors. Only items with a factor loading above 0.42 were retained for factor interpretation, resulting in a core set of sixty items.

The five factors identified, along with their item distribution, are:

• Children’s irresponsible tendencies and lack of self-control: This factor contains 20 items (19, 21, 23, 24, 35, 36, 52, 54, 63, 65, 75, 76, 80, 92, 109, 110, 114, 116, 126, and 128).
• Conflict between teachers’ and pupils’ interests: This factor contains 15 items (20, 34, 99, 119, 121, 124, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136, 137, 141, 144, and 149).
• Rigidity and severity in handling pupils: This factor contains 12 items (13, 27, 47, 72, 81, 85, 86, 88, 103, 115, 118, and 129).
• Pupils independence in learning: This factor contains seven items (15, 16, 53, 64, 71, 77, and 93).
• Pupils’ acquiescence to the teacher: This factor contains six items (1, 90, 101, 107, 113, and 146).

The analysis further indicated that the first three factors are strongly related to traditionalism in educational philosophy, emphasizing control and discipline. Conversely, the last two factors are associated with progressivism, focusing on student autonomy and flexible interaction.

Instrument

Test Type: Standardized Self-Report Attitude Inventory

Format: 150-item questionnaire using a 5-point Likert-style response scale.

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: Teachers (Preservice and Inservice)

Age Group: Adults (Professional Educators)

Population Details: The original standardization sample included groups of teachers categorized as superior or inferior in their teaching effectiveness, as well as teachers across specific grade levels (grades 4 through 6).

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with statements concerning teacher-pupil relationships. Scoring utilizes a weighted system to yield a single score reflecting the teacher’s overall attitude orientation. The standard scoring is based on five options: Strongly Agree; Agree; Undecided or Uncertain; Disagree; and Strongly Disagree. Responses are typically scored +1, 0, or −1, resulting in a total score range from −150 (highly traditional/negative) to +150 (highly progressive/positive). Alternative scoring methods, such as the +2 to -2 scale used by Yee and Kriewall, have also been employed.

Keywords

Rapport, teacher development, educational psychology, psychometrics, classroom management, attitude scale, Cook, Leeds, Callis.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source material)

Correspondence Address: Psychological Corporation, 555 Academic Court, San Antonio, TX 78204-2498

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory was originally published in 1951. Copyright is held by the Psychological Corporation (now part of Pearson Assessment). Use typically requires permission and payment of associated fees to the publisher.

Reference’s

• Cook, W. W., et al. (1951). Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory. Psychological Corporation, 555 Academic Court, San Antonio, TX 78204-2498.
• Johnson, W. A. (1983). Personality correlates of preferences for preprofessional training by special education and regular class trainees. Education 103:360–68.
• Yee, A. H. (1970). Do principals’ interpersonal attitudes agree with those of teachers and pupils? Educational Administration Quarterly 6:1–13.
• Yee, A. H., and Fruchter, B. (1971). Factor content of the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory. American Educational Research Journal 8:119–33.

Items of the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory

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

5. Teaching never gets monotonous.
6. A teacher should not be expected to do more work than he is paid for.
7. Teachers can be in the wrong as well as pupils.

From the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory. Copyright 1951 by the Psychological Corporation.