Teacher Academic Optimism: Elementary Teacher (TAOS-E)

Abstract

The Teacher Academic Optimism: Elementary Teacher (TAOS-E) scale is an 11-item psychometric instrument designed to measure the specific disposition of individual elementary school teachers regarding their belief in their ability to teach, their trust in students and parents, and their commitment to high academic performance. This disposition, known as academic optimism, is hypothesized to be a critical predictor of school effectiveness and student achievement outcomes. The scale is structured around three core, correlated factors that combine to form the overarching construct.

Keywords

academic optimism, teacher efficacy, trust, academic emphasis, elementary education, school climate, psychometrics, educational leadership

Authors

Wayne K. Hoy, Anita Woolfolk Hoy, K. S. Beard, C. J. Tarter, N. Kurz

Purpose

The primary purpose of the TAOS-E scale is to quantify and analyze the degree of academic optimism held by individual teachers working in the elementary school setting. By measuring this disposition, researchers and administrators can better understand the psychological factors that drive teacher behavior, instructional quality, and ultimately, student success. The instrument allows for the calculation of specific subscale scores, providing a nuanced view of the teacher’s professional orientation toward their students and the educational community.

Construct

The TAOS-E measures the unified, higher-order construct of Teacher Academic Optimism, which is defined by the synergistic interaction of three distinct yet related first-order factors:

• Teacher Sense of Self-Efficacy (SE): This factor measures the teacher’s belief in their capability to organize and execute courses of action required to successfully accomplish specific teaching tasks, such as motivating students and maintaining classroom control.
• Trust in Students and Parents (T): This factor assesses the teacher’s willingness to be vulnerable to students and their parents based on the confidence that they are dependable, reliable, and supportive of the teacher’s mission.
• Academic Emphasis (AE): This factor gauges the extent to which the school environment is characterized by clear, pressuring expectations for academic achievement, including demanding high-quality work and challenging students to excel.

The scale posits that it is the combination of these three factors—high efficacy, deep trust, and a strong push for achievement—that constitutes the powerful disposition of academic optimism.

Validity

The validity of the TAOS-E scale has been established through research confirming the hypothesized three-factor structure. Studies, such as those conducted by Beard, Hoy, and Woolfolk Hoy (2009), utilized factor analytic techniques to confirm that the scale items load appropriately onto the three intended sub-constructs, thus providing evidence for construct validity. Furthermore, the development of the scale was grounded in established theoretical frameworks linking teacher efficacy, trust, and academic press to positive educational outcomes, supporting its theoretical grounding as a measure of a unified construct linked to student achievement.

Reliability

The internal consistency reliability of the TAOS-E subscales demonstrates strong to acceptable reliability coefficients, as typically measured by Cronbach’s Alpha. The reported coefficients for the three factors are:

• Teacher Sense of Self-Efficacy (SE): 0.73
• Trust in Student and Parents (T): 0.79
• Academic Emphasis (AE): 0.71

These values indicate that the items within each subscale reliably measure the targeted psychological attribute, demonstrating adequate internal consistency for research purposes in the field of educational psychometrics.

Factor Analysis

The TAOS-E scale is the product of rigorous scale development involving factor analysis to delineate its structure. The analysis confirmed a clear, three-dimensional structure comprising Teacher Sense of Self-Efficacy, Trust in Student and Parents, and Academic Emphasis. These three factors are empirically distinct but theoretically linked, forming a higher-order latent variable representing overall Teacher Academic Optimism. This factorial structure supports the use of both subscale scores and a composite total score for comprehensive measurement of the construct.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychometric survey/Attitude scale

Format: 11 items utilizing a 5-point Likert-type response scale with mixed anchor definitions.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Teachers

Age Group: Adult (Professionals)

Population Details: Elementary School Teachers (K-6)

Test Methodology: Calculation involves summing and averaging item scores within each of the three subscales (SE, T, AE). A standard score calculation is also provided for normalized comparison: Standard score = [100 X (items mean – Scale mean) / std] + 500.

Keywords

education psychology, school effectiveness, teacher behavior, psychometrics, scale development, organizational behavior, internal consistency

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Not provided in source)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Not provided in source)

Correspondence Address: Correspondence can typically be directed via the primary author’s academic website, www.waynekhoy.com.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The instrument was developed and tested around 2008-2009, based on the publication dates of the validation studies. The instrument is often made available for academic use by the authors through their professional websites, suggesting that it may be used without a specific licensing fee for non-commercial research. The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://www.waynekhoy.com/pdfs/taos-e.pdf

Reference’s

• Beard, K. S., Hoy, W. K., & Woolfolk Hoy, A (2009). Academic optimism of individual teachers: Confirming a new construct. Working Paper, Ohio State University.
• Hoy, W. K., Tarter, C. J., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2006). Academic optimism of schools: A force for student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 43 (3) 425-446.
• Woolfolk Hoy, A., Hoy, W. K., Kurz, N. (2008). Teacher’s academic optimism: the development and test of a new construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 821-834.

Items of the Teacher Academic Optimism: Elementary Teacher (TAOS-E)

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

• 1. How much can you do to get students to believe they can do well in school work?
• 2. To what extent can you craft good questions for your students?
• 3. How much can you do to get children to follow classroom rules?
• 4. I trust the parents of my students
• 5. I can count on parent support.
• 6. I trust my students.
• 7. I have confidence in my students.
• 8. I ask students to explain how they get their answers.
• 9. I don’t accept shoddy work from my students.
• 10. I give my students challenging work.
• 11. I press my students to achieve academically.

Scoring and Subscales:

Teacher Sense of Self Efficacy (0.73)‚ Trust in Student and Parents (0.79)‚ Academic Emphasis (0.71)

Items 1-3: 1=
 Nothing‚ 2=Very Little‚ 4=Some Influence‚ 4=Quite a bit‚ 5= A Great Deal frequently
occurs.

Items 4-11: 1= Never‚ 2= Rarely‚ 3= Sometimes‚ 4= Often‚ 5= Always

1. Self-Efficacy (SE): Sum the scores of items 1‚ 2‚ and 3‚ and then divide by 3.
2. Trust (T): Sum the scores of items 4‚ 5‚ 6‚ and 7‚ and then divide by 4.
3. Academic Emphasis (AE): Sum scores for items 8‚ 9‚ 10‚ and 11‚ then divide by 4.
4. Standard score= [100X (items mean – Scale mean)/ std]+500