Student ratings of teaching quality in primary school: Dimensions and prediction of student outcomes
Section snippets
Theoretical framework
While student evaluations and student feedback are very common in higher education research and practice (Marsh, 2007), ratings of students in primary school are often neglected. It is an open question whether ratings of teaching quality by primary school students are reliable and valid measures (De Jong & Westerhof, 2001). Consistently, most of the previous studies of student ratings have considered only secondary school or college students. Furthermore, existing studies that do include
Research questions and hypotheses
We investigate the application of the three basic dimensions of teaching quality to student ratings in primary school. The theoretical insights outlined above lead to the following research questions:
- (1)
Can teaching quality in grade three be assessed according to a three-dimensional structure of cognitive activation, supportive climate, and classroom management? We expect that a latent factor model with three dimensions at each level (within and between classes) will best fit the data (Hypothesis
Sample
All analyses of Research Question 1 draw on data from a total of 1556 German third grade students in 89 classes. The average student age was 8.8 years (SD = .51). Analyses of Research Questions 2 and 3 (prediction of outcomes) draw on data from a subsample of 1070 third grade students in 54 classes. These students participated in an intervention study and could be assessed in the longitudinal design described in Section 3.2. The average student age in the subsample was 8.8 years (SD = .50). In both
Descriptive results
The means and standard deviations of the teaching quality scale scores were comparable (Table 2). Note that items focussing on science education were used to examine the factorial structure (Section 4.2) and that items focussing on the specific teaching unit were used to predict student outcomes (Section 4.3).
Factorial structure (Research Question 1)
We specified a three-dimensional model of teaching quality with the indicator variables of each factor outlined above. Items were assumed to load on the same factor at both levels
Discussion
This article presents assessments of the factorial validity and predictive power of primary school students' ratings of teaching quality. We methodologically investigated the dimensional structure of these ratings and their partial independence from teacher popularity as a potential confounder. Substantively, we were able to confirm classroom management to be predictive of student learning, whereas supportive climate and cognitive activation are predictive of students' interest. Theoretically,
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their very helpful and constructive feedback. Earlier versions of this article benefited much from discussions with José-Felipe Martinez, Jan Hochweber, and Tanja Könen. This research was funded by the Hessian initiative for the development of scientific and economic excellence (LOEWE).
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