School Satisfaction Rating Scale Development
Abstract
This study describes the development of the Universal Secondary School Satisfaction Scale (USSC), designed to assess secondary school students’ perceptions of their learning environment in a Ugandan context. The scale was developed through a comprehensive literature review and qualitative insights from interviews and focus groups with content domain experts, resulting in a 12-item measure covering four key domains: student-content interaction, student-student interaction, student–teacher interaction, and overall student satisfaction. A sample of 50 senior four students (33 girls and 17 boys, aged 12 to 17 years, with a mean age of 15) from a government “seed school” completed the survey. Data analysis indicated high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .78), with most items showing adequate difficulty and variability, and inter-item correlations exceeding .30, supporting the scale’s reliability. Item analysis showed that while most items contributed meaningfully to the overall scale, one reverse-coded item had a slightly lower item-total correlation but was retained for content validity. The findings suggest that the USSC is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring student satisfaction in secondary schools, providing valuable insights for educators and policymakers seeking to improve learning environments.
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