A factor analysis of the pupil control ideology scale

The Pupil Control Ideology (PCI) scale was designed to measure a respondent’s pupil control orientation on a humanistic-custodial continuum. The PCI has been widely used as both a measure of school climate and teacher ideology. In the present study, 362 students majoring in education were administered the PCI, and their responses were examined via a series of factor analyses. An exploratory factor analysis was first conducted in order to determine the factor structure of the PCI. Next, confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the models developed in the exploratory analyses. The results support the theoretical hypothesis that the PCI is unidimensional. However, a reduced 10-item, one-factor scale provided the best description of the actual correlation matrix.