Development of the teaching in urban schools scale

This study presents the development of a 91-item instrument to measure what pre-service teachers know about effective teaching in urban schools. The instrument, Teaching in Urban Schools Scale, was piloted and then refined and conducted with 248 graduate students in a teacher education program. Validity of the scale was investigated and revealed evidence of discriminant and content validity and a reliability coefficient of .91. Results also indicated that certification and number of program credits completed bore no significant influence on respondents' knowledge base. However, participants who expressed interest in teaching in urban schools scored significantly higher on the instrument.