Development of the Primary Teacher Questionnaire

Abstract This study describes the development of the Primary Teacher Questionnaire (PTQ), a self-report teacher beliefs scale based on the National Association for the Education of Young Children Position Statement on Developmentally Appropriate Practice in the Primary Grades. The study was conducted in three phases: item development, initial testing and scale refinement, and field testing. In the field test, a 42-item version of the PTQ, consisting of an 18-item developmentally based subscale (DAP) and a 24-item traditionally based subscale (TRAD), was administered to 144 elementary and early childhood preservice and inservice teachers. Each subscale highly differentiated respondents on the basis of background in early childhood education. In addition, the PTQ subscales were internally consistent, with high reliability estimates (DAP = .802; TRAD = .867). Factor analysis showed two factors that, although they did not account for a high proportion of the scale variation, did show item clusters that were highly consistent with the logical structure of the guidelines on which the PTQ was based. The PTQ appears to be a useful instrument for examining teacher beliefs about appropriate practice in primary-grade settings.