The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire for Revised Secondary Schools (OCDQ-RS)

Abstract

The Organizational Climate Description for Secondary Schools (OCDQ-RS) is a widely utilized psychological scale designed to measure the perceived climate of secondary education institutions. Developed as a refinement of earlier models, the OCDQ-RS focuses on specific behaviors and interactions among faculty members and the principal, providing a comprehensive assessment of the school’s internal environment. The instrument categorizes these behaviors into five distinct dimensions: Supportive, Directive, Engaged, Frustrated, and Intimate behaviors. It is used primarily by researchers and administrators seeking to understand and improve school effectiveness and teacher morale.

Keywords

Organizational Climate, Secondary Schools, Teacher Morale, Principal Behavior, School Administration, Psychological Scale, Faculty Relations, OCDQ-RS.

Authors

Wayne K. Hoy, Cecil J. Tarter, Robert B. Kottkamp.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the OCDQ-RS is to empirically measure and describe the organizational climate within secondary school settings. By quantifying teacher perceptions of principal behavior and colleague interactions, the instrument allows researchers and practitioners to diagnose the health, openness, and effectiveness of the school environment. This diagnostic function is crucial for identifying areas of conflict or frustration and developing targeted interventions aimed at fostering a more supportive and engaged teaching environment.

The scale helps differentiate between various types of school climates, ranging from ‘open’ (characterized by supportive leadership and high teacher engagement) to ‘closed’ (marked by directive leadership and teacher frustration). Understanding these climate types is fundamental for improving administrative practices and ultimately enhancing instructional quality and student outcomes.

Construct

The OCDQ-RS measures the construct of Organizational Climate, specifically focusing on the shared perceptions of the teaching staff regarding the policies, procedures, and interpersonal dynamics within the school. This climate is operationalized through five sub-constructs, or factors, which capture different facets of faculty-to-faculty and principal-to-faculty relationships.

The five measured dimensions are:

• Supportive Behavior (S): Reflects the principal’s behavior aimed at helping teachers, showing concern for their welfare, and using constructive criticism.
• Directive Behavior (D): Measures the principal’s controlling, monitoring, and autocratic tendencies, often associated with excessive supervision.
• Engaged Behavior (E): Captures the faculty’s dedication to teaching, pride in the school, and positive interactions with students and colleagues, often indicating high morale.
• Frustrated Behavior (F): Reflects aspects of the environment that inhibit teaching, such as excessive paperwork, routine duties, and annoying teacher mannerisms.
• Intimate Behavior (Int): Describes the extent of close, personal, and social relationships among the faculty members outside of professional duties.

Validity

While specific detailed validity studies (e.g., criterion-related validity correlations) are often found in the primary academic literature, the OCDQ-RS is generally recognized for strong construct validity, established through rigorous factor analysis confirming the five-factor structure. The items were developed to align theoretically with established organizational theory models, ensuring that the scale measures what it intends to measure—the specific behavioral manifestations of school climate.

Furthermore, the instrument has demonstrated strong discriminant validity, successfully distinguishing schools with demonstrably different characteristics (e.g., high-performing versus low-performing schools) based on their measured organizational climate profiles.

Reliability

The internal consistency, a key measure of reliability, is reported to be high across all five subscales, typically assessed using Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients. The source content provides the following alpha values, indicating excellent to acceptable internal consistency for research purposes:

• Supportive: .91
• Directive: .87
• Engaged: .85
• Frustrated: .85
• Intimate: .71

The high reliability scores, particularly for the core dimensions of Supportive and Directive behavior, suggest that the items within each factor are highly correlated and consistently measure the intended underlying construct.

Factor Analysis

The development of the OCDQ-RS was grounded in robust factor analysis procedures, which confirmed the existence of five distinct factors (Supportive, Directive, Engaged, Frustrated, and Intimate). This structure was derived empirically from large samples of secondary school faculty perceptions, distinguishing it from earlier, less differentiated instruments.

The factor structure provides a comprehensive profile of the school climate, separating dimensions related to principal leadership style (Supportive and Directive) from dimensions related to teacher collegial behavior and morale (Engaged, Frustrated, and Intimate). This clear delineation is essential for targeted research and administrative improvement efforts.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire, Psychological Scale

Format: The instrument uses a 4-point Likert scale response format, where respondents indicate the frequency of the described behavior:

• 1 = rarely occurs
• 2 = sometimes occurs
• 3 = often occurs
• 4 = very frequently occurs

Language Available: Primarily English, though adaptations and translations exist in various international educational research contexts.

Population Group: Educational Professionals (Faculty/Teachers)

Age Group: Adult (Teachers working in secondary schools)

Population Details: Teachers and educators employed in secondary school institutions (typically grades 7-12).

Test Methodology: The scale consists of 34 items. Scoring involves summing the responses for items loading onto the specific factors (S, D, E, F, Int). Standardized scores can be calculated using the formula: Standardized Scores = [100(Items mean – mean) / std] + 500, allowing for comparison across different samples and facilitating interpretation relative to a normative group.

Keywords

School climate assessment, Educational leadership, Principal behavior, Faculty relations, Measurement instrument, Organizational effectiveness, Secondary education.

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Authors

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

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

Correspondence Address: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The OCDQ-RS is commonly used in academic research. While permission for non-commercial academic use is often granted freely by the developers, users should verify current permissions and licensing requirements directly with the primary authors (W. K. Hoy and C. J. Tarter). The seminal work detailing the structure of the OCDQ-RS was published in 1991, refining earlier versions of the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire.

The original PDF of the instrument and related materials can be downloaded here: http://www.waynekhoy.com/pdfs/ocdq-rs.pdf

Reference’s

• Hoy, W. K., Tarter, C. J., & Kottkamp, R. B. (1991). Open schools/healthy schools: Measuring organizational climate. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
• Hoy, W. K., & Tarter, C. J. (1997). The road to open and healthy schools: A handbook for change, Elementary Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

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Items of the THE Organizational Climate Description for Secondary Schools (OCDQ-RS)

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

1. The mannerisms of teachers at this school are annoying.
2. Teachers have too many committee requirements.
3. Teachers spend time after school with students who have individual problems.
4. Teachers are proud of their school
5. The principal sets an example by working hard himself/herself.
6. The principal compliments teachers.
7. Teacher-principal conferences are dominated by the principal.
8. Routine duties interfere with the job of teaching.
9. Teachers interrupt other faculty members who are talking in faculty meetings.
10. Student government has an influence on school policy.
11. Teachers are friendly with students.
12. The principal rules with an iron fist.
13. The principal monitors everything teachers do.
14. Teachers’ closest friends are other faculty members at this school.
15. Administrative paper work is burdensome at this school.
16. Teachers help and support each other.
17. Pupils solve their problems through logical reasoning.
18. The principal closely checks teacher activities.
19. The principal is autocratic.
20. The morale of teachers is high.
21. Teachers know the family background of other faculty members.
22. Assigned non-teaching duties are excessive.
23. The principal goes out of his/her way to help teachers.
24. The principal explains his/her reason for criticism to teachers.
25. The principal is available after school to help teachers when assistance is needed.
26. Teachers invite other faculty members to visit them at home.
27. Teachers socialize with each other on a regular basis.
28. Teachers really enjoy working here.
29. The principal uses constructive criticism.
30. The principal looks out for the personal welfare of the faculty.
31. The principal supervises teachers closely.
32. The principal talks more than listens.
33. Pupils are trusted to work together without supervision.
34. Teachers respect the personal competence of their colleagues.