Professor-Student Rapport Scale Predicts Student Outcomes

Rapport traditionally has been measured in therapy or in other one-on-one relationships such as with roommates. As yet, no scale is available to measure professor–student rapport. In this study, 51 undergraduates created items to measure professor–student rapport, and subsequently, 195 different college students rated their agreement with items based on their professor. Factor analysis revealed 1 meaningful component of professor–student rapport represented by 34 items. Rapport correlated with professor immediacy, providing convergent validity. Hierarchical linear regression with immediacy entered first and rapport entered second revealed significant improvement in prediction of student attitudes toward the instructor and the course as well as student motivation, perceptions of learning, and self-reported grades. Thus, we propose that professor–student rapport as measured by the current scale serves as a useful predictor of valuable student outcomes.