Abstract

The purpose of this study was two-fold. One was to develop a teacher rating scale of school adjustment behavior for elementary school students, which was composed of behavioral indicators reported by teachers as important for school adjustment and observable in the classroom. The other was to rest its reliability and validity (e.g., construct, discriminant, criterion-related). Two-hundred fifty-nine elementary school teachers participated in the initial survey of free responses on behaviors that could be displayed by well-adjusted students. From this survey, 1,823 behavioral indicators were collected. A preliminary set of behavioral indicators rated as observable in the classroom by 18 elementary school teachers was administered to 288 elementary school teachers, who were asked to rare the appropriateness of each item for observing school adjustment behavior. A secondary set of items was used for the teacher rating scale of school adjustment behavior for elementary school students. Both the teacher rating scale and a criterion test (the Korean version of T-CRS) were administerd to 181 elementary school teachers, and the data were collected from 524 elementary school students at grades 1 through 6. The data were analyzed by item-total correlations, principal component analyses, correlations among factors, MANOVA, ANOVA, t-tests, correlations between scores on the teacher rating scale and scores on the criterion test, and internal consistency coefficients. The results were summarized as follows. First, the factor regarding school learning was extracted as a significant factor from all of the elementary grades; however, 'basic learning behaviors' was from lower grades but 'academic competence' was from higher grades. In addition, factors regarding adjustment to school life, rule observance, and peer relations were extracted as significant factors throughout the elementary grades. Second, correlations among factors extracted from each grade were all significantly positive and above the moderate level. Third, gender differences at the 1st grade were nor significant. Also, gender differences in the 'academic competence' at the 4th grade and in the 'peer relations/teacher relations' at the 5th grade were not significant. However, gender differences in other factors and totals were found significant. Fourth, differences in school adjustment behavior by the level of academic achievement were all significant. Fifth, scores from the teacher rating scale were positively related to scores from the criterion test. Sixth, the internal consistency coefficients of the teacher rating scale were all above .90. These findings support that the teacher rating scale of school adjustment behavior is valid and reliable and consists of both grade-general and grade-specific items. The results of this study imply that a valid and reliable teacher rating stale of school adjustment behavior for elementary school students be useful for school counseling and school psychological interventions. Finally, the limitations of this study and the suggestions for further research were presented.