Preliminary Development of the Children’s Overall Satisfaction with Schooling Scale (COSSS)

Schooling is associated with a broad set of outcomes other than just learning. For example, factors related to satisfaction with schooling and school learning are also factors that are known to be related to overall life satisfaction. Because of the importance of school satisfaction in the holistic well-being of students, we have developed a reliable, six-item scale meant to measure elementary-school-aged students’ overall satisfaction with schooling. The scale was developed by administering an initial set of 25 items, from an item pool developed by the Finnish National Board of Education, to 331 Finnish and Dutch students aged from six to 13. After factor and item analysis, six items were chosen for a final response set. The Finnish and Dutch versions of the six-item scale have been shown to exhibit high unidimensionality, internal consistency, and high test-retest reliability. Finnish, Dutch, and English versions of the scale are presented here along with guidelines for the scale’s administration, scoring, and interpretation.