Validity Analyses for the School Attitude Measures at Three Grade Levels

Abstract

Concurrent validity studies are reported for the School Attitude Measures (SAM), a recently developed school affective assessment procedure. The SAM has five subscales (School Motivation, Academic Self Concept-Performance Based, Academic Self Concept-Referenced Based, Student Control over Performance, Student Instructional Mastery). The studies were conducted at three grade levels (5th, 8th, llth) with a total sample of 153 subjects. Four types of validity analyses were conducted. First the SAM was linked to measures of cognitive development (relative standing in class, standardized achievement, ability). Second, ratings from the students' significant others (teacher, parent, academic peers) were investigated. Third, an index of within class academic engagement was tested. Finally, the SAM subscales were correlated with a measure of general self-esteem. The results indicated that the SAM shows promising concurrent validity related to the criterion measures investigated.