The aim of this research is to develop a scale to determine the language teaching methods used by English teachers. The research sample consisted of 300 English teachers who taught at Duzce University and in primary schools, secondary schools and high schools in the Provincial Management of National Education in the city of Duzce in 2013-2014 academic Year. Data collected were subjected to Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis and the Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient was computed. The Exploratory Factor Analysis results showed that the scale consisted of 5 factors. These factors were named as Active Teaching Method, Listening Based Teaching Method, Four Basic Skills Based Method, Speaking Based Method and Grammar Based Method. The total variance explained by the 5 factors was determined to be 54.69%. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis results confirmed the 5-factors structure. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient was computed as .89. It is thought that this scale can be used to identify language teaching methods that English teachers use as a reliable and valid scale.

The aim of the present study is to identify primary school principals' self-monitoring skills. The study adopted the general survey model and its population comprised primary school principals serving in the city of Diyarbakir, Turkey, while 292 of these constituted the sample. Self-Monitoring Scale was used as the data collection instrument. In data analysis, descriptive statistics, t-test, homogeneity of variances, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's test were used. The primary school principals' mean self-monitoring score was found to be 9.72. In addition, primary school principals' self-monitoring skills did not significantly vary in terms of gender and length of service. On the other hand, primary school principals who were class teachers had a higher level of self-monitoring skills than subject teachers; Faculty of Education graduates had a higher level of self-monitoring skills than those of other faculties', teachers serving as principals had a higher level of self-monitoring skills than both principals and assistant principals at a significant level.

The purpose of this study was to adapt “Distributed Leadership Scale” originally developed by Davis into Turkish Language. A total of 386 participants including teachers employed in high schools in Tokat participated in the study. Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were performed to test the structural validity of the scale. EFA results illustrated that adapted scale consisted of seven factors. In the light of the original scale form, these factors were named as “School Organization”, “School Vision”, “School Culture”, “Instructional Program”, “Artifacts”, “Teacher Leadership”, “Principal Leadership”. The scale consisted of 34 items and reliability coefficients for the subscales from .75 and .92. Results finally revealed that Distributed Leadership Scale-Turkish Adapted Form is a valid and reliable measurement tool to be used in describing the distributed leadership behaviors in schools.

The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid measurement tool which will reveal teachers’ self-competences in education process. Participants of the study are 300 teachers working at state primary schools in the province of Gaziantep, Results of the exploratory factor analysis administered to the scale in order to determine its construct validity, indicated that it has four sub-dimensions. In accordance with the results of confirmatory factor analysis RMSEA was measured .050 level fit index. The determined levels for GFI is found to be 0.88, whereas for AGFI, 0.85 for NFI, 0.94 for CFI 0.98 and 0.94 for RFI. Also, non normed fit index, (NNFI) has been observed as 0.97. Four dimensions of the scale which was composed of 23 items account for approximately 54% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of internal consistency was counted .86 for the first dimension; .82 for the second dimension, .67 for the third dimension, .70 for the fourth dimension, and .92 for the entire scale. The scale, developed in order to measure teachers’ self-efficacy in the teaching process, proved to be valid and reliable based on the results of the related analyses.

Different forms of the performance management system have been implemented in many countries for some years. As in other countries, in 1999 the government of Botswana took a decision to implement a performance management system (PMS) across the entire public service including schools. The government explained the purpose for which this reform was being implemented. Using grounded theory, school heads, deputy school heads and heads of houses in twenty-two of the twenty-seven schools were interviewed about senior management team’s perceptions of the implementation process in senior secondary schools in Botswana. These members of the senior management team are responsible for the implementation process of the PMS in schools. This paper looks at participants’ perceptions regarding the expected benefits of the PMS in senior secondary schools.

The main objective of this study is to examine the attitudes of preschool teacher candidates and teacher candidates in other branches towards scientific research in terms of some variables. Survey method was used. The study group consists of 547 teacher candidates studying in education faculty of a private university in the spring term of 2015-2016 in Istanbul province. Personal Information Form, Scale of Attitude towards Scientific Research were used as data collection tool. According to the results; Preschool teacher candidates’ levels of reluctance to help researchers and negative attitudes towards research are lower when compared to Turkish language teacher candidates. Preschool teacher candidates’ positive attitudes towards researchs and researchers are higher when compared to Turkish language teacher candidates. Guidence and psychological counselor candidates’ negative attitudes towards research are lower when compared to Turkish language teacher candidates. The levels of reluctance to help researchers of male teacher candidates are higher when compared to female teacher candidates. Negative attitudes towards research of the teacher candidates who do not take the course of scientific research methods are higher when compared to the teacher candidates who take the research methods course. The teacher candidates’ attitudes towards research do not vary by age, grade level and the academic success average.

The purpose of the study is to develop a valid and reliable scale to measure the teachers’ levels of student-centered education practices. The Exploratory Factor Analysis sample included a total of 426 teachers and the Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the scale was conducted on a total of 160 teachers working in the province of Duzce during the spring term of 2014-2015 education year. Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed to test the construct validity of the scale and the model was tested through the Confirmatory Factor Analysis. For the reliability, Cronbach’s Alpha internal coefficient was calculated and item analysis was performed based on the corrected item total correlation. The final form of the scale included 32 items and one dimension. These 32 items explained 40.04% of the total variance. The results of the item total correlation analysis indicated that none of the item was below 0.30 and the lowest item correlation coefficient was 0.51. Cronbach’s Alpha was found to be 0.95 for the internal consistency of the scale. The reliability and validity results for the Student-Centered Education Scale suggest that this scale is a reliable and valid tool to measure the levels of student-centered educational practices among teachers.

The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Social Efficacy and Outcome Expectations Scale (SEOES) on Turkish. The sample group included two groups of university students (ns= 440, 359). The validity of the scale was assessed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and concurrent validity, and the reliability was assessed using Cronbach Alpha’s internal consistency coefficient, test-retest method and item discrimination. The findings obtained from the exploratory factor analysis showed that 51.2 percent of total variance of the scale was explained and the scale consisted of two sub-dimensions like the original one. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated an acceptable fit to the data. The concurrent validity of the SEOES was respectively studied using (.65) Scale of Perceived Social Self-Efficacy; (.29) Satisfaction With Life Scale; and (-.36) UCLA Loneliness Scale. As for the scale’s reliability, the internal consistency was determined to be .91; .92 for Social Efficacy Scale; and .81 for Outcome Expectations Scale. The results of test-retest result (.90) and the findings of item analysis showed that the items in Turkish version of the scales were compatible with the original one. The present results provide evidence supporting the validity and reliability Turkish version of the SEOES.

This study aims to present the design and pilot testing procedures of the two specific self-report questionnaires were used to measure the two key aspects of reading motivation, self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation in the field of literary (narrative) reading, and the partial factors that jointly shape them. These instruments were outlined in advance, tested on a small scale and finally administered in a pre-post (quasi)experimental-control group research study, in order to investigate the effect of an intervention reading program to 6 graders. The measurement tools have good validity and reliability evidence, but further construct validity analysis should be done.

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale for assessing teachers’ self-determination instruction and to test the validity and reliability of this tool. The subjects included 315 teachers recruited from elementary and junior high schools nationwide in Taiwan. The Teaching Self-Determination Scale (TSDS) developed in this study aimed at assessing the extent to which educators teach students knowledge and skills related to self-determination. The 24-item TSDS is comprised of four subscales including Self-Realization, Psychological Empowerment, Self-Regulation, and Autonomy. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, t tests, and factor analyses. Findings showed that the TSDS has satisfactory psychometric properties. The internal consistency reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s α) ranged from .76 to .93, while the test-retest coefficients ranged from .71 to .87. Findings of the exploratory factor analysis showed that the four TSDS subscale factors can be reasonably extracted, which can explain 59.7% of the total item variance. The confirmatory factor analysis results further indicated a good fit between the measurement model and the sample data (GFI = .96, AGFI = .91, RMSEA = .08, NFI = .97, RFI = .93, IFI = .98, TLI = .95, CFI = .98). Suggestions are provided for future research.

According to Bronfenbrenner’s socio-ecological model, school is an essential microsystem of the developing child. Schools provide important developmental contexts for children and adolescents, as they constitute environments that might either foster or evoke students’ emotional instability. In particular, less is known about the precise and dynamic interplay of students’ socio-environmental aspects in school (i.e., sense of school belonging, social relationships with teachers and peers) and emotional instability (i.e., depressive symptoms, perceived stress, feelings of loneliness) during adolescence. To close this gap, this study examined within- and over-time cross-lagged associations based on data from a quantitative questionnaire-based survey of adolescent students (T1: N= 1088; Mage = 13.70, SD = 0.53) from 23 secondary schools in Brandenburg, Germany. Results of latent cross-lagged panel design supports the mutual relations for within-time associations, which is in line with Bronfenbrenner’s model. However, only the over-time association between school belonging and teacher-student relationship was found to be reciprocal.

Individuals face negative events throughout their lives and such events can cause problems in every aspect of life. A high level of resilience is required to cope with such negative events. There are various factors that affect resilience. Hope is one of those factors. This factor provides a strong structure to individuals and keeps identified objectives alive. Based on this view, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between resilience and constant hope of students studying in a sports science department. Accordingly, the study group of this study consisted of 203 students with 91 female and 112 male students studying in a sports science faculty/school of physical education and sports of universities. The data collection tools of this study were the “Resilience Scale” and the “Constant Hope Scale”. Additionally, to collect information about the students, the “Personal Information Form” developed by the researchers was adopted during the data collection process. The analysis of the obtained data was done with descriptive statistics, t-test for independent two groups, one- way variance analysis (Anova), and Pearson Correlation. To determine which groups caused the statistical difference after one-way variance analysis (Anova), the Tukey HSD multiple comparative test was applied. The results of the study indicated that the data obtained on a scale basis had normal distribution. While there was no significant difference for gender between the relationship of resilience and constant hope, there was a statistically significant difference between different age groups. Additionally, the correlation analysis indicated that there was a positive, moderate level relationship between the two scales.

The aim of this study is to explain and predict prospective preschool teachers’ academic achievements depending on goal orientations they adopt, their critical thinking dispositions and self-regulation skills. Research sample constitutes of 265 prospective preschool teachers attending the Faculty of Educational Sciences in Cukurova University. Research data were collected with the 2x2Achievement Goal Orientations Scale, Self-Regulation Questionnaire and Critical Thinking Disposition Scale. Demographical information about prospective teachers’ gender, age, grade level and academic grade point averages were obtained with the personal information form. For the analysis of research data, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and discriminant analysis were used. In this study; it was concluded that prospective teachers with high level of learning approach orientation, critical thinking disposition and self-regulation skills had higher levels of academic achievement. However, it was determined that distinguishing variables among prospective preschool teachers with low, medium and high level of academic achievement included learning approach, performance approach goal orientation and critical thinking disposition and self-regulation skills. Correct classification percentage of distinguishing variables according to prospective preschool teachers’ levels of academic achievement was determined as 48.8%. Considering the fact that prospective teachers’ achievement-goal orientations, critical thinking dispositions and self-regulation skills may increase their academic achievement and shape their future teaching performances, it is suggested to implement programs that will contribute to the development of such skills and orientations among prospective preschool teachers.

This research aims to complete Turkish adaptation, validity and reliability studies for the Math and Me Survey developed by Adelson and McCoach for use in determining the students’ attitudes towards mathematics in the transition from primary school to middle school. Within the scope of validity and reliability studies for the scale, data gathered from 1169 primary school students had item analysis, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis performed. In line with this, 18 items from the original scale were translated to Turkish and item equivalence between the original English and Turkish translation was ensured. During item analysis to determine the construct validity of the scale, an item with low item total correlation value was removed from the scale. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was calculated as .93. The Cronbach alpha coefficients from the scale subdimensions of Enjoyment and Self-Perception were calculated as .91 and .88. The confirmatory factor analysis results for the scale revealed perfect fit with the construct determined in the exploratory factor analysis results. Thus, the Math and Me survey can be said to be a valid and reliable tool for use in Turkish culture.

The inorganic chemistry is one of the essential courses in the education of pre-service chemistry teachers. This study investigates the differences between the adopted learning approaches and achievements of Turkish pre-service chemistry teachers' who received the inorganic chemistry course from the same lecturer. The purposes of this study are to explore the relationship between the inorganic chemistry achievements and the adopted learning approaches of pre-service chemistry teachers and to examine the effect of their learning approaches on their inorganic chemistry achievements. This study was conducted with 127 pre-service chemistry teachers from the Department of Chemistry Education at one of the public university in Turkey. “The Study Process Questionnaire” and “The Inorganic Chemistry Achievement Exams” were used as the data collection tools. The descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used for the data analysis. The results of the study displayed that (1) there is a significant relationship between the pre-service chemistry teachers’ inorganic chemistry achievement and their learning approach; (2) their learning approach has 34 % effect on their inorganic chemistry achievements according to Somers'd value.

This study aims to conduct validity and reliability analysis of Organizational Structure Scale-University version (OSS-U) that enables us to determine organizational structures of universities. The scale was developed based on the Axiomatic Theory by Hage, literature review and expert opinions. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 655 faculty members working at state universities in Turkey. Psychometric features of the scale were tested with three different models. The content validity of the suggested models was tested with Lawshe Analysis; the construct validity with Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) while the reliability was tested with Cronbach alpha which is a measure of internal consistency. As a result of the analyses conducted, all of these three models were determined to be valid and reliable with the relevant sample. It was also revealed that OSS-U can be used as model 1 in which nine dimensions (number of occupational specialties, professional training, professional activities, participation in decisions, hierarchy of authority, standardization, professional latitude, difference in rewards and difference in status) describe one single concept (University Structure), or model 2 in which four subscales (Complexity Scale, Centralization Scale, Formalization Scale and Stratification Scale) are independent pieces of an umbrella term (University Structure) or model 3, as a combination of these two models (model 1 + model 2), where combined subscales that have dimensions in itself describe a hypernym (University).

The aim of this study was to adapt and validate Mindful Self-Care Scale (MSCS) with a normative Turkish sample. Participants of the study were 330 university students (232 females and 97 males) along with the age mean of 20.22 (SD=1.32). In order to validate the six factor structure of Mindful Self-care Scale, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. For providing evidence over convergent validity, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale-Adolescent version (Brown, West, Loverich & Biegel, 2011) was concurrently used. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis  displayed satisfactory evidence for the six factor Mindful Self-Care Scale (χ2 / df = 1.7; GFI = 0.87, CFI = 0.92; TLI = .91; RMSEA = 0.05). The scale was also found to be significantly correlated to Mindful Attention Awareness Scale-Adolescent (r=.27, p<.001). Also, the Cronbach Alpha value for the whole scale was found .89 yielding satisfactory evidence for the internal consistency of the instrument. The results of the study tentatively yielded that the Mindful Self-Care Scale is a valid and reliable assessment tool of self-care in Turkish culture. As well, further studies examining the psychometric properties of Mindful Self-Care Scale are still needed with larger and diverse samples.

Chorus education, which is being practiced within the framework of music education’s branch of voice training, has significant impacts on an individual’s philosophy of life, self-confidence level and socialization. An individual assesses his own life satisfaction level cognitively in terms of many aspects. Chorus education can be seen as the most prominent and contributing aspect as it helps people feel satisfied and happy and moreover, it makes their life more meaningful in various ways. The study aims to interpret the effect of choral participations of middle school students on their life satisfaction. Accordingly, in this research, ‘satisfaction with life scale’ developed by Diener, Emmons, Laresen and Griffin  - later translated in Turkish by Koker - has been used. To that end, middle school students’ satisfaction with life has been investigated through comparisons done within the context of factors such as; gender, age, grade, previous musical instrument experiences as well as choral participation. As a result of the research, it has been identified that the life satisfaction does not vary significantly according to gender, age, grade or previous musical instrument experiences; yet it has been found that that there is a positive effect of choral participation on students’ life with satisfaction.

This study aims to assess the effects of teaching programming with mBlock on self-efficacy perceptions and attitudes considering programming. Particularly, this study tries to research whether there is a gender difference in middle school students or not. The study was conducted in pre-test/post-test quasi experimental design. The participants of the study which was completed in twelve weeks were 82 middle school students. The data were collected through “Educational Computer Games Assisted Learning Coding Attitude Scale” and “Computer Programming Self-efficacy Scale”. The results of the research indicate that although the self-efficacy perceptions of boys towards programming were higher than the girls’ at the beginning of the research, this difference was closed at the end of the research. The results also show that teaching programming with mBlock to middle school students did not cause gender differences in self-efficacy perceptions and attitudes regarding programming. Although girls’ attitudes regarding programming were slightly higher than boys’, the difference was not considered to be significant. In addition, it was found that programming with mBlock significantly increased students' self-efficacy perceptions and attitudes towards programming. As a result, teaching programming with mBlock can provide similar possibilities for both genders in self-efficacy perceptions and attitudes regarding programming.

This paper aims to test the reliability and validity of the Turkish adaptation of DeBaryshe and Binder's Parent Reading Belief Inventory (PRBI) and to investigate parents' literacy beliefs. The primary focus of this paper is to explore parents’ beliefs and practices and their relatedness on the emergent literacy of their children aged 3–7 (M=69.8 months; SD= 9.33 months). As data collection tools, we availed ourselves of the Parent Reading Belief Inventory,(PRBI), Home Literacy Inventory (HLI) and Child Literacy Behaviours (CLB). In addition, the Personal Information Form, prepared by the researchers, was utilized. Moreover, confirmatory factor analyses were performed on samples of parents from Adana, a city in southern Turkey (N= 952). The study showed that a seven-factor structure in the original form of the PRBI was validated , excluding items 8, 30 and 31. Consistent with the results of the confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis, it can be concluded that the PRBI is a valid and reliable tool to investigate the process of parents' literacy activities with their children in Turkey.