The development and validation of the Decent Education Scale and the Retrospective Decent Education Scale

Decent education is a new construct grounded within the psychology of working theory (Duffy et al., 2022), referring to high-school education that ensures adequate physical safety, psychological safety, an equitable environment, social belongingness, quality instruction, and postgraduation programming. In this multistudy research, we report the development and validation of the French and English versions of the Decent Education Scale (DES) and Retrospective DES (RDES), assessing students' perceptions of their current and past educational experiences. Study 1 gathered data from 445 French-speaking Swiss high-school students to refine items and provide evidence for the psychometric properties of the French DES. Study 2 gathered data from 284 U.S. high-school students to validate the English DES. In addition, to develop and validate the RDES parallel efforts were implemented among U.S. college students in Study 3 (N = 656) and Study 4 (N = 543). Consistent findings across studies resulted in an 18-item DES and RDES with six three-item subscales. Structural analyses revealed that a correlational model best fit the six-subscale DES and RDES. However higher order and bifactor models, both with a general factor, also yielded strong fit. Validity was further demonstrated with scale scores predicting school need satisfaction and school burnout (Study 1), college-going self-efficacy and outcome expectations (Study 2), as well as social support, academic self-efficacy, work volition, and college readiness (Study 4). Implications and recommendations for using the DES in research and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).