Degree Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

1991

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Curriculum and Instruction

First Advisor

Jim Sweeney

Abstract

The primary purpose of the study was to determine if the school's climate is a pervasive concept or if teachers and classified staff have a different view of life in the school. The study was designed to determine if there were differences in how certified staff view the school and if the perceptions of the school-based classified staff differ by buildings. The study also examined the influence of six selected factors on the perceptions of classified staff;Two hundred fifty-five certified staff members and one hundred ninety-three classified staff members completed the survey instruments. Two instruments were used: (1) School Improvement Inventory (SII); and (2) School Improvement for Classified Staff (SII/C). The School Improvement Inventory for Classified Staff (SII/C) was specifically developed for this study by the researcher. The development of this instrument marked one of the first known attempts to assess the climate of the school as perceived by the classified staff. Dr. Jim Sweeney of Iowa State University supervised the development of the School Improvement Inventory for Classified Staff (SII/C) and its subsequent format;Treatment of data was performed by the Iowa State University Computer Center using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-X). Fifteen hypotheses were designed to assess the climate of the school district. Differences between the means of assessment of district and school-based classified staff's views of cohesiveness, esprit and goal orientation of the work unit were tested through the use of t-tests and paired data. T-Tests were also utilized to compare the assessment of cohesiveness, esprit, and goal orientation by the certified staff. Tests for one-way analysis of variance and tests for homogeneity were also used to test the null hypotheses. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated using the stepwise multiple regression statistic to determine the relationships between the three climate variables and the six other factors that may influence the school-based classified staff's view of the school;The study yielded a number of very important findings that have implications for school leaders and staff.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31274/rtd-180813-9359

Publisher

Digital Repository @ Iowa State University, http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/

Copyright Owner

Linda Mae Turner Fortenberry

Language

en

Proquest ID

AAI9220963

File Format

application/pdf

File Size

131 pages

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