Profile of a School – POS
Measures the perceptions of organizational functioning, leadership, communication, and climate within a school system.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Profile of a School – POS was developed by Rensis Likert (1980). It is designed to measure School Organizational Climate. The scale is intended for use with Teachers, administrators, and school staff.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 65 items organized into 6 factors/subscales: Leadership, Motivation, Communication, Interaction-Influence, Decision Making, Goal Setting.
| Factor / Subscale | Items | N |
|---|---|---|
| Leadership | 26,27,28,42,44,45,46,47,52,59,60,62 | 12 |
| Motivation | 16,23,24,25,33,48 | 6 |
| Communication | 6,7,17,18,19,20,29,49,50,51 | 10 |
| Interaction-Influence | 1,2,3,4,5,10,11,12,13,14,21,22,30,31,34,35,36,37,38,39,53,54,55 | 23 |
| Decision Making | 8,9,15,32,40,41,43,56,57,58,61 | 11 |
| Goal Setting | 63,64,65 | 3 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = Very Little (1), 2 = Very Little (2), 3 = Some (3), 4 = Some (4), 5 = Considerable (5), 6 = Considerable (6), 7 = Very Great (7), 8 = Very Great (8).
The scale includes 1 reverse-scored items to reduce acquiescence bias.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 65 to 520. Interpretation guidelines:
- System 1: Exploitive-Authoritative: 65 – 195
- System 2: Benevolent-Authoritative: 196 – 325
- System 3: Consultative: 326 – 455
- System 4: Participative Group: 456 – 520
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.90-0.95.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.