Disaggregating between and within-classroom variation in student behaviour: A multi-level factor analysis of teacher ratings of student prosociality and aggression

Abstract

Teacher ratings of student behaviours vary systematically both at the student and teacher/classroom level. Multi - level confirmatory factor analysis (ML - CFA) can disaggregate between - and within - teacher/classroom variance identify an optimal psychometric model at each level and test correlates of the resulting dimensions In this stud y, 2 50 teachers (37% male) rated an average of 4.02 students (51% male ; aged 10 at time 1 and 11 at time 2 ) from a normative sample of Swiss youth Substantial and unidimensional between – teacher variation in ratings of both prosociality and aggression were identified and this was stable across time These dimensions were not associated at the between - teacher/classroom level with teacher-gender nor teacher- student relationship although they were associated with teacher relationships at the within - teacher/classroom level There was little between - teacher/classroom variation observed in student self - reports of prosocial and aggressive behavior and multi - level CFA was not possible for these ratings Future research should aim to identify sources of between - teacher/classroom variation This should include factors that influence negative and positive teacher perceptions of and response biases related to student behavior as well as student behavior itself.