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Validation of a school environment survey among Colombian teachers

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Abstract

The article explores the validity and reliability of an instrument for measuring for the School Environment (SE) among 3610 teachers in Medellín, Colombia during 2011. A multilevel exploratory factorial analysis established through 20 items that the instrument identifies four dimensions of SE on an individual level: communication between school and teachers, between teachers and parents, teacher involvement in school decisions, sense of security (respect-safeness) and academic expectations. At a group level, the same items measure a general dimension of SE. Based upon these analyses, the instrument produced a valid and reliable school environment measure that differentiates among schools.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Universidad EAFIT (Grand No. 817161). The authors would like to thank Medellín city secretary of education for providing the data, Susana Castañeda Sánchez for her assistance with this project and Isabel Montes for her comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Business-School of Management, Universidad EAFIT, Medellín, Colombia

    Juan Pablo Román-Calderón

  2. School of Economics and Finance, Universidad EAFIT, Medellín, Colombia

    Mónica Patricia Ospina-Londoño & José David Garcés-Ceballos

  3. Resource Economics Department, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA

    José David Garcés-Ceballos

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  1. Juan Pablo Román-Calderón
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Correspondence to Juan Pablo Román-Calderón.

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Román-Calderón, J.P., Ospina-Londoño, M.P. & Garcés-Ceballos, J.D. Validation of a school environment survey among Colombian teachers. Learning Environ Res 20, 403–415 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-017-9234-0

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