Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale
TSESPermission: Free for research use. Free for non-commercial academic research, with no license fee. Cite the original publication.
A 24-item measure (also a 12-item short form) of teachers' self-efficacy across three domains: student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management.
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Reliability & validation
Subscales
Scoring
- Efficacy in Student Engagement
- Mean of items 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 14, 22
- Efficacy in Instructional Strategies
- Mean of items 7, 10, 11, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24
- Efficacy in Classroom Management
- Mean of items 3, 5, 8, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21
- Score range
- 1–9
- Reverse-keyed items
- None
Item groupings are for the 24-item long form. The developers advise running a factor analysis on your own sample, as the groupings can vary slightly.
Response anchors
Nothing · 2 · Very Little · 4 · Some Influence · 6 · Quite A Bit · 8 · A Great Deal
Known limitations
The three factors are highly correlated and less stable with preservice teachers; the long (24-item) and short (12-item) forms are not always interchangeable.
Original citation
Tschannen-Moran, M., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2001). Teacher efficacy: Capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(7), 783-805.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(01)00036-1Questions researchers ask
What does the TSES measure?
A 24-item measure (also a 12-item short form) of teachers' self-efficacy across three domains: student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management.
How many items does the TSES have?
The Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) has 24 items across 3 subscales: Efficacy in Student Engagement, Efficacy in Instructional Strategies, Efficacy in Classroom Management.
Is the TSES free to use?
The TSES is free to use for non-commercial academic research. You don't need to pay a license fee, but you should always cite the original publication.
Is the TSES reliable?
Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.94. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.
Who developed the TSES, and how do I cite it?
Tschannen-Moran, M., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2001). Teacher efficacy: Capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(7), 783-805. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(01)00036-1
How do you score the TSES?
Efficacy in Student Engagement: Mean of items 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 14, 22. Efficacy in Instructional Strategies: Mean of items 7, 10, 11, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24. Efficacy in Classroom Management: Mean of items 3, 5, 8, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21. Score range 1–9. Reverse-keyed items: None.
Related scales
Library entry verified September 2026. Metadata is provided for reference. Questionnaires are built in Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing, and can be taken to Qualtrics, Google Forms or Microsoft Forms, with their CSV responses brought back for scoring.