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New engineering educators need to be equipped with instruments that can provide easy and meaningful insight into students’ self-directed learning (SDL) status so they can better foster students’ success. Students who are self-directed learners can independently initiate and take full responsibility for learning, effectively utilize available resources in the pursuit of their goals, develop awareness of their learning, and demonstrate the appropriate attitude essential for individual and collaborative learning. Despite these benefits, developing SDL skills in engineering students is often overlooked. To address this, educators have a facilitating role to play in the development of engineering students’ SDL skills, however, this role can be challenging for them due to the (a) high cost of using SDL instruments, especially in a large classroom and (b) uncertainty about the validity of SDL instruments. Moreover, these challenges may be more pronounced for new engineering educators. This study addresses these challenges by reporting the validity evidence for an SDL assessment instrument called the Self-Rating Scale of Self-Directed Learning (SRSSDL). The SRSSDL instrument has been widely utilized in medical education, but in this study, it was modified for the engineering education context. The utility of this 8-constructs, 46-item scale was demonstrated in engineering education with 111 undergraduate students across all academic levels, and the validity test was conducted in line with the contemporary validity framework. The result of the validity test of the SRSSDL revealed inconsistencies or instability of its constructs in the engineering education context.