Background. Education is one of the critical aspects for a country. Indonesia is one of the countries that emphasize education as the nation’s goal. It is shown by how Indonesia’s government put 20% of their total state expenditure (APBN) for education and has a mandatory education program for all Indonesia’s citizens. However, Indonesia’s education quality is still below the average of worldwide education quality and need a lot of improvement. Based on literature studies, the key to improving the quality of education is having an effective teacher. The main characteristic of effective teachers is high expectation of student and oneself, termed as Teacher’s Academic Optimism. Several studies stated that teacher’s academic optimism can affect teacher’s mindset and action strongly, as well as affect student’s achievement and their motivation to learn. Even though teacher’s academic optimism is a critical characteristic, there is a lack of research about teacher’s academic optimism measurement, especially in Indonesia. This study aims to construct a scale of teacher’s academic optimism measurement that is reliable, valid, has good functioning item, as well as norm to interpret scores.

Methods. Teachers Academic Optimism (OAG) scale is consist of 3 subscales, that is teacher’s sense of efficacy (TSES), teacher trust in student and parent (TTSP), and academic emphasis (AE). OAG scale is formed as self-report instrumentation using 6-point Likert scale, ranging from Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (6). The participant of the study were secondary school teachers in 15 schools in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi (n = 295, M_age= 47.4). Participant is selected by using convenience non-probability sampling method. We developed item pool and had the scale evaluated by expert and teachers for its qualitative analysis. Then, we performed psychometric test as followed: Cronbach’s Alpha for measuring reliability; confirmatory factor analysis, convergent evidence, and internal consistency for construct validity test; proportion of endorsement, item discrimination, and factor loading for item analysis; lastly norm development using standard score.

Results. The results showed that the OAG scale is a reliable (α = 0.917), has a good fit with proposed model (RMSEA = 0.077, CFI = 0.96), valid in measuring teacher’s academic optimism because it correlates with theoretically related dispositional optimism (r = 0.468, n = 295, p < 01, one-tailed) and has good internal consistency validity between dimensions and total score. The scale consists of 30 items with good discriminating power. The norms used for OAG Scale is within group norms with normalized standard score method (M = 10, SD = 3)

Conclusions. The purpose of this study is to construct a teacher's academic optimism scale for the secondary school teacher. By this study, it proved that the OAG scale is a reliable, valid, have a good item and have a norm to interpret the raw score.

Added-Values. This study is expected to broaden the research about teacher's academic optimism, especially test construction. This study can construct a good scale that can distinguish individual differences in teacher's academic optimism. This scale can be the basis for evaluation and training to improve teacher effectiveness. In addition, this OAG scale result can be a consideration for teacher placement in school, especially for a special needs student or student with minimal access to education.

Keywords:

Psychological Test Construction; Teacher’s Academic Optimism; Effective Teacher

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