Experiments in the Validity of Preservice Teacher Stage Scoring of Moral Thought Statements

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to replicate earlier studies of teacher stage scoring ability. In the first experiment the 2 original rater guides created by Kohlberg were compared. In the second experiment the 2 original Kohlberg rater guides were combined and compared to the Porter and Taylor rater guide. In both experiments there was no significant difference between rater guide treatments. Teachers could correctly stage score only 51% of the moral thought statements in experiment 1 and only 44% in experiment 2. Further analyses indicated that teachers were being influenced by the content of moral thought while stage scoring. Therefore, until research indicates what factors cause successful use of Kohlberg's stage scoring system, teachers should refrain from stage scoring because the validity of their stage scoring is open to serious question.