A Gutyman Scale Factor Structure of Comprehensiveness

Abstract

The aim of this study was to empirically test the ideal type theory of comprehensiveness which encompasses four major factors: openness versus selectivity in student intake; student oriented curriculum adapted to student needs versus achievement oriented curriculum; flexible placement of students in a variety of learning programs versus rigid student placement in streams, tracks and settings; and advancement of social integration among students versus perpetuation of social segregation. The School Comprehensiveness Questionnaire was administered to a representative sample of 37 comprehensive high school principals in order to assess their schools' level of functioning on the four factors of comprehensiveness. An analysis of the data indicates that the four factors form a unidimensional and cumulative Guttman Scale structure. The results of the study illuminate comprehensiveness as a hierarchical educational concept, and suggest that the Guttman Scale of comprehensiveness may be utilized as an instrument for measuring the degree of comprehensiveness of individual schools.