A STUDY or "TEACHER MORALE AS IT RELATES : T0 TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF' PARENT ATTITUDES TheSis for the Degree of Ph. D. »' MICHiGAN STATE UNIVERSITY JOHN FREURICK BAHNSEN I V 1970 -—. _- 5% :Hrrw'fli U1: J'CISiCy I _ ‘W..- This is to certify that the thesis entitled A STUDY OF TEACHER MORALE AS IT RELATES . TO TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF PARENT ATTITUDES presented by John Fredrick Bahnsen ‘ 3 has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ph . D degree in Educat ion Dr. Louis Romano Major professor Date March 194, 1970 0—169 L, -. "dam 1\\1\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Michigan Star-gr: I; w ‘ ABSTRACT A STUDY OF TEACHER MORALE AS IT RELATES TO TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF PARENT ATTITUDES By John Fredrick Bahnsen Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to determine the rela- tionship between parent attitudes toward the school and teacher perceptions of these attitudes as a factor of teacher morale. Specifically, the study attempted to answer the following questions: 1. Will there be a relationship between the level at which teachers perceive parent attitudes and the level of teacher morale? 2. Will there be a relationship between the accuracy of teacher perceptions of parent attitudes and the level of teacher morale? 3. Will elementary teachers be more accurate in their perceptions of parent attitudes than Junior and senior high teachers? A. Will teachers who reside in or near the district in which they teach have a more accurate perception of John Fredrick Bahnsen parent attitudes than teachers who reside at greater distance? 5. Will teachers who reside in or near the district have higher morale than those who reside more distant? 6. Will there be a significant difference between the morale of teachers who attended school within the dis- trict and those who did not attend within the district? 7. Will there be a significant difference between teacher morale as perceived by parents and the actual level of teacher morale? Procedure In an effort to reduce uncontrolled socio—economic and related variables, the study was intra-district in nature, concentrating upon one K-12 public school district in Michigan. Data concerning the study's four variables (teacher morale, parent attitudes, teacher perceptions of parent attitudes, and parent perceptions of teacher attitudes) were gathered by the use of four instruments. The Purdue Teacher Opinionaire was used to provide a measure of individual teacher morale and general group morale; to measure parental attitudes concerning the school, the School Opinion Survey for Parents was developed; an adaptation of this instrument was used to measure the perceptivity of teachers to parent attitudes; and the measurement of parent perceptions of John Fredrick Bahnsen teacher attitudes necessitated the development of an adap- tation of the Purdue instrument. From the personal data, teachers were divided into three groups according to teaching level, two groups accord— ing to residence location, and two groups according to for— mer school attendance within the district. The data gathered were analyzed for intercorrelation among variables and dif- ferences between means by analysis of variance. Major Findings l. A strong correlation was found between the level at which a teacher perceives parent attitudes and the general level of a teacher's morale. A Pearson correlation coeffi- cient of .75, significant at the .001 alpha level, was established. 2. Accuracy of teacher perceptions of parental attitudes was found to correlate significantly with teacher morale. A Pearson correlation coefficient of .60 was realized, significant at the .001 level. 3. The accuracy of perception of parent attitudes of elementary teachers was significantly greater than that of junior and senior high teachers. An overall difference between group means was significant at the .002 level. A. Teachers who reside in or within a five-minute automobile ride of the district had greater accuracy of per- ception of parent attitudes than teachers who lived beyond John Fredrick Bahnsen these limits. Differences between means were significant at the .05 level. 5. Teachers who reside in or within a five—minute automobile ride of the district were found to possess a higher level of morale, significant at the .05 level. 6. Teachers who at one time attended school within the district were found to have no significant difference in morale level as compared to teachers who had never attended school within the district. 7. Parent perceptions of teacher attitudes were shown to be exceedingly accurate, far more accurate than teacher perceptions of parent attitudes. Questions for Further Study 1. In light of the many factors known to be related to teacher morale, how significant a role does this study's focus (teacher perceptions of parent attitudes) play in morale determination? 2. Why are elementary teachers more perceptive of parent attitudes than teachers of more advanced levels? 3. Why are parents more perceptive of teacher attitudes than teachers of parent attitudes? A. Would the replication of this study within a district of differing socio—economic structure, size, and geographical location produce significantly different results? A STUDY OF TEACHER MORALE AS IT RELATES TO TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF PARENT ATTITUDES By John Fredrick Bahnsen A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of School Administration and Higher Education 1970 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is with the utmost sincerity that I acknowledge the guidance and encouragement given to me by my chairman, Dr. Louis Romano. His willing assistance made a difficult task much easier, more worthwhile, and certainly more enjoyable. The direction given to me in matters of research design and statistical analysis by Mr. John Schweitzer of the university's Research Consultation Office was invaluable. Additionally, I wish to thank Dr. Clyde Campbell, Dr. William Sweetland, and Dr. James McKee for serving on my committee and offering assistance whenever requested and encouragement whenever needed. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V Chapter I. THE PROBLEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Need for the Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Importance to Education . . . . . . . . . . 3 Theoretical Foundation of Study . . . . . . 6 Definition of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Delimitations of the Study. . . . . . 10 Hypotheses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1N Attitude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1U Morale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Morale Studies in Education . . . . . . . . . . 33 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 III. DESIGN OF THE STUDY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Selecting the Sample District . . . . . . . . . 5A Selection of Sample Parents . . . . . . . . . . 56 Attitude Survey Technique . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The Teacher Morale Instrument . . . . . . . 59 The School Opinion Survey for Parents . . . . . 62 Perceptions of Parent Attitudes Instrument. . . 68 Parent Perceptions of Teacher Attitudes Scale . 69 Mechanics of Survey Administration. . . . . . . 70 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 IV. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Null Hypothesis 1 . 75 Null Hypothesis 2 . 78 Null Hypothesis 3 . 79 Null Hypothesis A . 83 iii Chapter Page Null Hypothesis 5 8A Null Hypothesis 6 88 Null Hypothesis 7 91 Null Hypothesis 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9A V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . 99 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Purposes of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Limitations of the Study. . . . . . . . . . . 100 Review of the Literature. . . . . . . . . . . 101 Design of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Hypothesis 1. 103 Hypothesis 2. 10A Hypothesis 3. 105 Hypothesis A. 107 Hypothesis 5. 107 Hypothesis 6. 108 Hypothesis 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Hypothesis 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Implications. . . . . . . . . . . 110 Questions for Further Study . . . . . . . . . . 113 Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11A BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 APPENDIXES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Appendix A. School Opinion Survey for Parents . . . . 126 Appendix B. Teacher Perceptions of Parent Attitudes . 133 Appendix C. Letter of Transmittal Sent to Parents with the School Opinion Survey. . . . . 139 Appendix D. Follow-Up Letter to Parents . . . . . . . 1A1 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Test-Retest Correlations for Purdue Teacher Opinionaire Factor Scores 3.2 School Opinion Survey for Parents 3.3 Teacher Perceptions of Parent Attitudes 3.A Parent Perceptions of Teacher Attitudes A.l Means and Standard Deviations of Teachers' Scores on Morale, Perception, and Accuracy of Perception. A.2 Congruence Between Teacher Morale Level and Teacher Perceptions of Parent Attitudes A.3 Analysis of Variance of Group Means for Accuracy of Perception by Teaching Level. A.A Means and Standard Deviations of Accuracy of Perception Scores of Elementary, Junior High and Senior High Teachers. . A.5 Mean Difference and Approximate Significance Probability of the "F" Statistic. . . . . A.6 Teacher Accuracy of Perception of Parent Attitudes Grouped by Residence Location A.7 Analysis of Variance of Group Means for Accuracy of Perception Grouped by Teacher Residence Location. . . . . . . A.8 Mean Perception Scores of "In-Near" and "Far" Teachers Grouped by Teaching Level. A.9 Analysis of Variance of Group Perception Means for Elementary Teachers Who Reside "In-Near" and "Far" Page 61 66 69 70 76 77 80 81 83 85 86 87 87 Table Page A.1O Analysis of Variance of Group Perception Means for Junior High Teachers Who Reside "In-Near" and "Far". .f. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 A.ll Means and Standard Deviations of Teacher Morale Scores Grouped by Residence Location . . . . . . 89 A.l2 Analysis of Variance of Group Morale Means for Teachers Who Reside "In-Near" and "Far". . . . . 90 A.13 Mean Morale Scores of "In-Near" and "Far" Teachers Grouped by Teaching Level . . . . . . . 91 A.1A Analysis of Variance of Group Means for Teachers Who Did and Did Not Attend Within the District . 92 vi CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze the attitudes of parents toward the school and to determine the relation- ship of teacher perceptions of these attitudes to teacher morale. Need for the Study Recognition of the importance of morale in education is not of recent origin, as over 50 years ago the president of Clark University acknowledged its vital importance when he wrote: While we can hardly accuse our educational system as a whole of having low morale, there is no factor of our 'new' European civilization that would profit more by a higher tone of its morale than our entire system from kindergarten to the university 1 Although the importance, then, of morale has long been recognized, it is apparent that man's understanding of it is still fragmentary. Numerous articles have appeared in recent years which attest to the vital and pervasive nature of interest in morale in the industrial, military, —k 1G. Stanley Hall, Morale: The Supreme Standard of Eflfe and Conduct (New York: Appleton and Company, 1920), D. 271. business, and educational worlds. In general, these articles and many of the research studies on this subject "leave much to be desired in the way of techniques used and in the treat- ment of data."2 As a consequence of the relatively small amount of research conducted in this area, there are remaining many problems to be resolved and insights to be gained. Although stated in reference to the industrial scene, Yuzuk's state— ment is a clear expression of this concern. The concept of morale, with its multiplicity of connotations and implications, poses one of the most vexing problems which confronts the contemporary industrial scene . . . . A glance beyond the semantic vagaries associated with this term will reveal that morale, be it employee attitude, job satisfaction, or progress toward a common goal, does exist. Morale, and its assessment, have indeed become the industrialists' necessary commodity, the employees' panacea, and the researchers' problem. "Common sense" and "folk wisdom," as important as these may seem to the solution of many of society's prob- lems, are insufficient to grapple with the illusory concept of morale, its definition, and the analysis of its factors. As Yuzuk indicated, this is the "researchers' problem." Importance to Education Redefer, who has perhaps been responsible for more morale research studies in the educational field than any 2Daniel E. Griffiths, Human Relations igfiSchool Administration (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1956), p. 15A. 3Ronald P. Yuzuk, Assessment of Employee Morale (Columbus: Ohio State University, 19617, p. 1. other investigator, has called for further research into the factors influencing teacher morale. He justified this interest in morale by stating that "faculty morale is a good barometer of the quality and excellence of the school's educational program."u The general need for intensive research in morale was clearly stated by Davis when he wrote in the early 1960's: There is a wealth of convincing evidence that we are just now beginning to understand morale and its effects on organizations. We have learned that it has many parts existing in a nebulous, complicated structure. Though we can measure morale generally, each situation and each person is specifically different.5 The need, therefore, for further studies in morale is quite clear. It is appropriate that attempts be made to identify all possible factors which may have a significant relationship to teacher morale. This study's purpose, then, to assess the relationship of teacher perceptions of parent attitudes to teacher morale, is simply an attempt to add to the understanding of another possible factor contributing to morale formulation. The role of the school has been variously described as a preserver and reflector of society's attitudes and mores, as a directing influence to guide society, or as a “Frederick L. Redefer, "The School Board and Teacher Morale," The American School Board Journal, CVL (July, 1962), D. 5. 5Keith Davis, Human Relations at Work (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1962), p. 83. democratic force which searches for the best of the culture for purposes of perpetuation while simultaneously being sensitive to the ever—changing demands of an expanding society. Regardless of which of the above philosophies one most closely follows, it is almost universally agreed that the school's job can best be done with an awareness of the attitudinal climate of the professional staff, coupled with staff cognizance of community attitudes and perceptions con- cerning the school program. As advocated by Doll, the school program must be based "firmly in home-school-community relationships, and school—community planning is therefore much needed."6 Basic to this study is the belief that teacher aware- ness of community attitudes concerning the school, its pro- gram, and its personnel is a significant factor in the determination of the general level of teacher morale. In spite of Hand's straightforward advice over 20 years ago that teachers can be effective "only to the degree to which they continuously increase their knowledge of the attitudes with which they are confronted,"7 few studies have been undertaken to determine the specific relationship of non- teacher group attitudes upon teacher morale. An outstanding exception to this avoidance practice was the study of Minzey. 6Ronald C. Doll, Curriculum Improvement: Decision- Making and Process (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 196A), p. 62. 7Harold C. Hand, What People Think About Their Schools (New York: World Book Company, 19A5), p. 2. Although his study will be reviewed in greater detail in Chapter II, it should be pointed out at this time that his study focused upon the relationship of teacher morale and student attitudes. The purpose of the present study, in contrast, is to assess the interrelationship of parent and teacher attitudes and teacher perceptions of these attitudes as an additional factor of morale. The school administrator and the school board member have long directed their atten- tion to internal conditions exclusively to determine the nature and state of teacher morale. For this reason it is proposed in this study to look outside the school for some clues to determination of teacher morale. As stated by Professor Thompson of Indiana University: My personal belief is that we tend to stress inter— nal relations and structures to the point where we fail to see the significance of external relations or the 8 interaction between internal and external activities. Morse, in her study of the white—collar worker, approached the matter of morale from the aspiration point of view. The underlying generalization was that the level of satisfaction is a function of both the level of aspira- tion or need—tension level and the amount of return from the environment. To understand thoroughly employee morale, fur- ther research into the determinants of employee satisfaction and the factors which determine the amount of environmental return to the employee is needed. She stated: 8Andrew W. Halpin, Administrative Theory in Education (New York: Collier-Macmillan Co., 1958), p. 37. 6 It is not enough to know that the individual's sat- isfaction depends upon the strength of his needs and the amount of tension-reduction which the environment affords. It is necessary to know what these needs are and how they are produced. We also want to know just what elements of the env§ronment provide for the ful- fillment of these needs. It is to the "just what elements of the environment" that this present study addresses itself. Theoretical Foundation of Study To undertake a study of such a nebulous concept as "morale" without first clearly stating the theoretical foun- dation upon which it is constructed would create a high degree of abstruseness, if not utter confusion. Therefore, it is important that an explanation of the Herzberg theory of motivator-hygiene be given at this point, even though additional and more detailed reference will be made to it in a later chapter. The theory holds that factors which account for job satisfaction and factors whiCh account for job dissatisfaction are not arranged along the same concep- tual continuum but are mutually exclusive.10 Thusly, cer- tain job factors which produce satisfaction when present do not produce dissatisfaction when absent. Similarly, the elimination of dissatisfiers does not result in positive motivation and high morale. Herzberg identified two levels 9Nancy C. Morse, Satisfactions in the White-Collar {g2 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1953), p. 112. 10Thomas J. Sergiovanni, "New Evidence on Teacher Morale: A Proposal for Staff Differentiation," The North Central Association Quarterly, XLII (Winter, 1968), p. 261. of needs: hygienic needs and motivator needs, with the for- mer focusing on dissatisfaction factors and the latter focus- ing on satisfaction factors. Hygiene factors Operate on a continuum running from dissatisfaction to no dissatisfaction. Factors of supervision, company policy, working conditions, salary, and security are examples of hygiene considerations. Motivator factors operate on a continuum from no satisfac- tion to satisfaction and include achievement, recognition, advancement, work itself, and responsibility. As stated by Whitsett and Winslow, these factors "provide satisfaction for the human need of psycholOgical growth or competence and act as reinforcement for the 'built in' generator that we usually call motivation."ll It should be pointed out salary, although considered by Herzberg to be a hygiene factor, bears a strong influence upon advancement and recognition, which are motivators. It is essential, then, that it be clearly understood that factors which contribute to dissatisfaction are sepa- rate and distinct from those which contribute to satisfac- tion. The motivator-hygiene theory makes no claim that there should be any fixed order of importance among either moti- vator or hygiene factors, as individual differences would make this difficult to imagine. It should be further noted that this theory's distinction between intrinsic and 11David A. Whitsett and Erik K. Winslow, "An Analysis 7 of Studies Critical of the Motivator-Hygiene Theory,‘ Personnel Psychology, XX (Winter, 1967), D- 395. extrinsic (motivator-hygiene) factors has been substantiated by numerous studies since 1959.12 The instruments used in this present study, there— fore, were selected and developed bearing in mind the theo- retical considerations just outlined and with the realization that a theory "is only useful 9£_not useful [italics in the original] . . . and acceptance or rejection of it is deter- mined by its utility, not by its truth or falsity."l3 Definition of Terms Teacher Morale — The attitudes of individuals and groups toward their work environment and toward voluntary cooperation to the full extent of their ability in the best interests of the organization.lu Specific factors to be included are: teacher rapport with the principal, rapport among teachers, teaching load, salary, curriculum issues, teacher status, community support, school facilities, and community pressures. Perception — The awareness of the environment gained through direct or intuitive cognition. Behavior is viewed 15 as a function of perception. 12Ibid., p. All. 13C. S. Hall and G. Lindzey, Theories of Personality (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1957), p. 11. luDavis, op. cit., pp. 76-77. 15Arthur W. Combs (ed.), Perceiving, Behaving, Becoming (Washington, D.C.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1962), p. 50. Attitude — A feeling or emotion toward a fact or condition. The sum-total of one's inclinations and feel— ings about any specific topic.16 School Environment - Those factors which include the school program, educational services, school organiza— tion, school plant, and community relations. Community - A group of people with a common char- acteristic (residence within a given school district). Satisfier - A factor of the teaching environment which produces a feeling of achievement,‘Tecognition, 17 responsibility, and advancement. Dissatisfier - A factor of the school environment which does not produce a feeling of job satisfaction but is often the cause of dissatisfaction (policy, administra- tion, supervision, salary, and working conditions).18 Accuracy - The degree of difference between the mean (I) parent attitude and the perception of the teacher of that attitude. Purdue Teacher Opinionaire - An instrument designed to measure teacher morale. A total score indicating the 16L. L. Thurstone and E. J. Chave, The Measurement 9£_Attitude (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929), D. 6. l7Frederick Herzberg, Work and the Nature of Man (New York: World Publishing Company, 1966), pp. 70-89. 18Ibid. —_ 10 general level of a teacher's morale and sub—scores of the 19 various factors of morale are given. Delimitations of the Study 1. This study involves the teachers and parents of one Michigan school district in an in-depth analysis of the interrelatedness of teacher morale, parent attitudes, and teacher perceptions of these attitudes. 2. The validity of the study is affected by the degree of frankness and sincerity of requpse to the instru- ments administered. 3. The study concentrates on one aspect of teacher morale, the hypothesized relationship between teacher per— ceptions of parent attitudes and morale. A. The findings of a relationship between the fac- tors cited in the previous statement will be viewed as cor- relational and not causal. Hypotheses The following hypothesis will be investigated to determine if there exists a correlation between the level at which teachers perceive parent attitudes concerning the school's program and teacher morale: Hypothesis I - There will be a positive cor- PElation between the level at which teachers perceive g 19Ralph R. Bentley and Averno M. Rempel, Manual for the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire (West Lafayette, Indiana, g 1967), p. 1. ll parent attitudes and the general level of teacher morale. The following three hypotheses will be investi— gated to determine if the accuracy of teacher perceptions of parent attitudes and their actual attitudes is a factor in determining the general level of teacher morale: Hypothesis II - There will be a relationship between the accuracy of teacher perceptions of parent attitudes and the level of teacher morale. Hypothesis III - The accuracy of perceptions of parental attitudes of elementary teachers will be signifi- cantly greater than that of those of junior and senior high school teachers. Hypothesis IV - The accuracy of perceptions of secondary teachers will be significantly less than those of elementary and junior high school teachers. The following hypothesis will be investigated to determine if teacher residence location is a factor in the degree of congruence between teacher-perceived parent atti- tudes and actual parent attitudes: Hypothesis V - Teachers who reside within the dis- trict will have a significantly more accurate perception of parent attitudes than teachers who reside outside the dis- trict. The following two hypotheses will be investigated to determine if teacher residence location is a factor in teacher morale: 12 Hypothesis VI — Teachers who reside within the district will have a higher level of general morale than teachers who reside outside the district. Hypothesis VII - Teachers who at one time attended school within the district will have higher general morale than teachers who did not attend within the district. The last hypothesis will be investigated to deter- mine the degree of congruence between parent perceptions of teacher morale and the actual teacher morale level: Hypothesis VIII - Parents will perceive teacher morale at a lower level than shown by the analysis of the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire. Overview It has been the intent of this first chapter to describe the purpose of the study and to explain why there is a need for further research in the area of morale, spe- cifically teacher morale. It was essential that the theo- retical basis upon which the study was devised and upon which instrumentation was constructed be explained in some detail. Concepts vital to the understanding of the study were then explained, followed by a statement of eight hypotheses to be investigated. In Chapter II, a detailed review of the literature relating to the definition and assessment of attitude will be followed by a review of morale studies and the implica- tions in the fields of business, industry, and the military. 13 A comprehensive review of morale studies in education will then be given, emphasizing those studies particularly rele- vant to this research effort. The chapter's final section will briefly summarize the findings of these educational morale studies. The design of the study will be described in Chap- ter III, including a description of the population and the nature of the sample used. Geographical location and other vital demographic data will be included. This chapter will include a description of measuring devices used and esti- mates of their reliability. Methods of administration of the instruments and their scoring will be followed by a statement of the statistical methodology to be used. Chapter IV will be devoted to an analysis of the data gathered in this study. Findings will be given in the same order as were the hypotheses presented in Chapter I. The last chapter will contain a summary of the study and the conclusions reached. Concluding this chapter will be implications and a list of recommendations for further study. Having presented the purpose of this study, its need, its hypotheses, and its theoretical base, it is now essential that a review of the literature as it relates to attitude and morale be undertaken. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE A review of the literature for this study will con- sist of an analysis of the historical development of the concept "attitude," its various psychological aspects as revealed in the literature, an overview of the development of interest in morale in the military and commercial worlds, and an intensive review of morale studies in education. Morale studies which bear special significance to this study will be examined in depth. A review of the literature in this manner will pro- vide a theoretical structure against which the subsequent analysis of data pertaining to parental attitudes and teacher morale can be viewed with greater clarity. Attitude Studies devoted to the assessment and measurement of attitudes are neither new nor rare. Research relating to attitude analysis was first undertaken more than 100 years ago by Herbert Spencer, who used the term "attitude" solely is a mentalistic manner. His following statement clearly showed this approach: 1A 15 Arriving at correct judgments on disputed questions, much depends on the attitude of mind we preserve while listening to, or taking part, in the controversy: and for the preservation of a right attitude it is needful that we should learn how true, and yet how untrue, are average human beliefs.l Six years later, Alexander Bain continued this mentalistic application of attitude by stating, "The forces of the mind may have got into a set track or attitude ."2 Toward the end of the nineteenth century the concept of "motor attitudes" became popular, withdrawing from the earlier mentalistic viewpoint. For example, Giddings pro- posed motor attitudes as the basis for an understanding of emotional expression,3 building upon an earlier theory wherein the process of a perception was considered to be in large part a consequence of muscular preparation for "set."u Contemporary scholars tend to refrain from the explicit labeling of an attitude, however, as either mental or motor, thus avoiding the dualistic body-mind dilemma. Current usage draws from both points of view without the use 1Herbert Spencer, First Principles (New York: A. L. Burt Publishers, 1862), p. i, citing Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. II, p. 799- 2Alexander Bain, Mental Science (New York: D. Apple- ton and Company, 1868), p. A28, citing Handbook of Social '7 BfiYChology, Vol. II, p. _90, 3F. H. Giddings, The Principles of Sociology (New YOrk: Macmillan and Company, 1896), p. 108. “Carl A. Murchison (ed.), Handbook of Social Psychol- EEX (New York: Clark University Press, 1935), p. 799. 16 of a qualifying adjective, thereby retaining both original meanings: a "mental aptness and a motor set."5 Today, attitude research comprises one of the most popular areas of concern for the researcher. As stated by Allport more than 30 years ago, "The concept of attitude is probably the most distinctive and indispensable concept in contemporary American social psychology."6 A similar obser- vation recently made by Shaw and Wright parallels this thought: "It is not surprising that the study of attitudes has occupied a central place in social psychology during the past fifty years."7 It is well to point out the popularity of attitude studies, but it is far more important, although difficult, to clarify what is actually meant by the term "attitude." A cursory examination of the literature would appear to reveal a great breadth of meaning, an intense conflict of opinion, and a condition of extreme incongruity. For example, Baldwin perceived attitude as readiness for atten- tion or action,8 Chave as a "complex of feelings, desires, fears, convictions, prejudices or other tendencies that have given a set or readiness to act to a person because k SIbid. 6Ibid., p. 798. 7Marvin E. Shaw and Jack M. Wright, Scales for the Mgasurement of Attitudes (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1967), p. l. 8Allport, loc. cit. l7 9 of varied experiences," Cantril as an "enduring state of readiness of mental organization which predisposes an indi- vidual to react in a characteristic way to any object or 10 situation with which it is related," and Bogardus as a "tendency to act toward or against something in the environ- ment which becomes thereby a positive or negative value."11 A review of attitude literature would be incomplete without reference to the work of L. L. Thurstone, who wrote numerous books and articles devoted to attitude measurement. Thurstone, in 1928, wrote perhaps one of the clearest defi- nitions of the concept "attitude." He described attitude as simply "the sum total of a man's inclinations and feel- ings, prejudice or bias, preconceived notions, ideas, threats, and convictions about any specific topic."12 A closer examination of these early twentieth cen— tury definitions of attitudes reveals, however, a common theme running throughout: the preparation or readiness for response. Attitude is not seen as overt, but preparatory; not as behavior, but as the precondition of behavior. 9E. J. Chave, "A New Type Scale for Measuring Atti- tudes," Religious Education, XXIII (April, 1928), p. 36A. lOH. Cantril, "Attitudes in the Making," Understand- ing the Child, IV (193A), p. 13. 11E. S. Bogardus, Fundamentals of Social Psychology (New York: Century, 1931), p. 62. 12L. L. Thurstone, "Attitudes Can Be Measured," The American Journal of Sociology, XXXIII (January, 1928), p. 531. 18 Allport captured the essence of these early definitions in his statement: An attitude is a disposition to act which is built up by the integration of numerous specific responses of a similar type, but which exists as a general neural "set," and when activated by a specific stimulus results in behavior that is more obviously a functiop3of the disposition than of the activating stimulus. Although present—day researchers such as Rokeach and Eysenck tend to view attitudes as a very non-directional, generalized, and pervasive disposition of the individual,lu the overwhelming majority of researchers of this subject view attitudes as possessing a specific referent, or spe- cific group of referents. As a consequence, modern writers tend to stress such terms as "social object," "class of objects," and similar terms. English and English defined attitude as "an enduring learned predisposition to behave in a consistent way toward 15 a given class of objects." Anderson and Fishbein consider a social object a "concept" and define attitude as the "16 "evaluative dimension of a concept. By "evaluative" 13Gordon W. Allport, "The Composition of Political Attitudes," American Journal of Sociology, XXXV (September, 1929), p. 221. 1“Shaw and Wright, op. cit., p. 2. 15H. B. English and A. C. English, A Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychological and Psychoanalytic Terms (New York: McKay Publishing Company, 1958), p. 50. 16L. R. Anderson and M. Fishbein, "Prediction of Attitude from Number, Strength, and Evaluative Aspect of Beliefs About the Attitude Object," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, II (September, 1965), p. A37. 19 these writers mean the preferability—nonpreferability regarding a characteristic of the object. Although many additional definitions of "attitude" could be cited and analyzed, little purpose would be served. These unstated definitions plus those previously cited seem to be summarized best by Cardno when he stated: Attitude entails an existing predisposition to respond to social objects which, in interaction with situational and dispositional variables, guides and directs the overt behavior of the individual.17 Having establishes an historical and psychological base for the meaning of attitude, it is appropriate that a concise but thorough description be made of the various parameters of the construct "attitude." One of the most obvious yet basic characteristics is the varying quality and intensity of an attitude on a continuum from positive to negative.18 This positive through neutral to negative characteristic, often referred to as valence, is an atti- tude's qualitative aspect. The intensity or strength relates to the location of an attitude along this same con- tinuum, with those attitudes most distant from the neutral position (either positive or negative) the most intense. Relative to the neutral point on the attitude con- tinuum, there are at least two possible interpretations. The first and most obvious is that no attitude is held toward 17J. A. Cardno, "The Notion of Attitude," Psycholog- ical Reports, I (1955), p. 3A5. 18J. E. McGrath Social Psychology (New York: Holt Publishing Company, 196A), p. 13, 20 the social object in question. However, it may be equally correct to say that the neutral point represents the point of balance between positive and negative attitudes, a state 19 of ambivalence. This confusion in interpretation has caused many researchers to omit a neutral response category from their attitude scales, preferring to use only state- ments or questions which vary from slight to intense on the negative and positive sides of the neutral position. This practice will be followed in the attitude scales used in this research. A second characteristic suggests that attitudes are evaluative reactions which give rise to motivation. Thus, one perceives attitudes as based upon the conception of the object by the person holding the attitude. The conception is essentially "the act of placing two or more psychological "20 To be entities in some relationship with one another. more specific, the object of the attitude is placed in some relationship with the goals of the individual. Motivation is seen as the product of attitude and will be more intense in direct relation to the goal's importance to the individ- ual. Motivation thus produced by attitudes, in interaction with situational characteristics, determines overt behavior. 19L. Guttman, "The Principle Components of Scalable Attitudes," Mathematical Thinking in the Social Sciences (Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press, 195“), p. 255- 20Anderson, op. cit., p. A38. 21 Additionally, attitudes are characterized by specific referents, concrete or abstract. Contact with the object or situation in question may be direct or the result of indirect contact.21 A fourth dimension of attitude considers the source of attitudes. Attitudes are not acquired innately or as a result of growth and maturation. Rather, they are learned through social interaction with objects, events, and situa— tions.22 It should be observed that since attitudes are learned, they are subject to change, a fact which holds much promise for education. To relegate attitude development to the process of maturation would remove one of education's most important functions, that of facilitating meaningful change. A deeper examination of attitude characteristics reveals that varying degrees of interrelatedness exist. Attitudes which possess similar referents form subsystems, with several subsystems forming an attitudinal system. Although similarity in referent classes must be considered the primary basis for interrelatedness, similarity in valence also plays a role.23 For example, all those things which a 21M. Sherif and C. W. Sherif, An Outline of Social Psychology (New York: Harper and Row Company, 1956), pp. 122-155. 22Ibid. 23D. Krech, R. Crutchfield, and E. Ballachey, The Individual in Society (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1962):p. 1A2. 22 person likes about teaching would be considered to have a common valence. The sixth and final characteristic would appear at first glance to be in conflict with the fourth, which main- tained that attitudes are learned and subject to alteration. This final attribute suggests that attitudes are relatively stable and lasting. The key word here is "relatively." Whereas in the fourth statement a generalized point was made, it is here specifically indicated that the greater the centrality of a given attitude or complex of attitudes the more resistant to change such attitudes are.2u The extreme difficulty in changing central attitudes is based upon two points: (1) The change of a central attitude involves many peripheral attitude changes, resulting in a certain inertia on the part of these central attitudes: and (2) central attitudes possess greater value to the individual.25 Both of these factors tend to cause central attitudes to be rela- tively stable and enduring. A summary of attitude literature, then, reveals attitude as existing along a continuum of positivity and negativity, having a specific referent or class of referents, being evaluative in nature, needing to be learned, being varyingly interrelated, and being relatively stable. 2”T. Newcomb, R. Turner, and P. Converse, Social E§yChology (New York: Holt Publishing Company, 1965), p. 209. 25 Shaw and Wright, op. cit., p. 9. 23 Morale The literature reveals that interest in morale dates back only slightly more than 50 years, as contrasted to the century-old interest in analysis of attitudes. According to Suehr, systematic inquiry into the nature of morale began with World War I and resulted in 13 books on the subject by the end of 1919.26 The military aspects of health, humor, work, justice, gregariousness, and adventure as they related 27 28 to morale were explored extensively by Goddard, Hocking, and Munson.29 It would be inaccurate to assume, however, that all early morale interests were directed to military applica- tions. For as early as 1918 Goddard prophetically stated, "Morale is a war word but its mission will not end with the war."30 It was inevitable that interest in morale broaden to the non-military provinces of business and industry in the 1930's and 19AO's. Management learned in this period that monetary factors were not of the greatest concern to employees. A study conducted by Houser in a large 26John H. Suehr, "A Study of Morale in Education" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Colorado, 1961). 27Harold C. Goddard, Morale (New York: J. H. Doran Company, 1918). 28William E. Hocking, Morale and Its Enemies (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1918). 29Edward L. Munson, The Management of Man (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1921). 3OGoddard, op. cit., p. 1. 2A merchandising organization indicated that salary was exceeded in importancy by 20 other job factors. Heading the list were "receiving help necessary to get results expected by manage- ment," "being encouraged to offer suggestions and try out better methods," and "being able to find out whether work is improving."31 Hersey, in a study of union and non—union employees, found that 1A factors were considered by these employees to be of significance relative to morale. Amount of pay, as in the Houser study, was not of greatest importance. Although this study found the financial aspects of the job to be important, factors such as "steady employment," "fair adjustment of grievances," and "safety" were shown to be of significantly greater concern.32 Still further evidence of the importance of non- monetary factors in morale determination was seen in a study reported by Roberts. Factors of promotion procedures, favoritism, and communication with employees of company pol- icies exceeded financial considerations.33 A study of world-wide interest was that conducted at the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company, 31J. D. Houser, What People Want from Business (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1938), p. 29. 32R. B. Hersey, "Psychology of Workers," Personnel Journal, XIV (1936), pp. 291-296. 33E. B. Roberts, "Tests to Determine Objectively the Effectiveness of an Industrial Relations Program," Office Management Series (American Management Association, 1938), Number 8A, pp. 32- 37 25 initially undertaken to determine the effect upon production of varying illumination. In this experiment, whatever was done relative to the level of illumination had a favorable effect on employee job performance. According to Tiffin: The only reasonable explanation seemed to be that employees in the experimental group considered them- selves a rather special group of employees, and that they were responding in a favorable manner to whatevefl changes management made in their working conditions.3 Roethlisberger, in his detailed analysis of this same Hawthorne study, concluded "what physical health is to a physical organism, morale is to a cooperative system. Lack of morale, like lack of health, cannot often be reduced to some one simple cause."35 The direction of change in job status was found, by Super, to be of greater importance in effecting an increase in job satisfaction than the amount of change in job status.36 Kolstad found that the morale of successful employees was significantly better than that of the struggling employees and concluded from this that employees should not be placed nor kept on jobs in which they are unable to achieve a 3”Joseph Tiffin, Industrial Psychology (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1952), p. A65. .35F. J. Roethlisberger, Management and Morale (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1956), p. 192. 36D. E. Super, "Occupational Level and Job Satis- faction," Journal of Applied Psychology, XXIII (1939), pp. 5A7-56ET 26 reasonable degree of success.37 In addition, the training of supervisors in the solution of problems unique to the supervisory job has been shown to affect favorably employee morale.38 Mayo illustrated the importance of group solidarity in the small groups which are almost inevitably and auto— matically formed in any employment Situation. The close relationship between "belonging" to the group and the gen- eral level of employee morale was clearly documented. He stated: For all of us the feeling of security and certainty derives always from assured membership of a group. If this is lost, no monetary gain, no job guarantee, can be sufficient compensation. Studies by Tindall and Kerr concentrated on the creation of favorable working conditions, as contrasted to the reduction or total elimination of unfavorable condi- tions. Both studies experimented with the use of music on the job to speed production and improve morale. In each case favorable results were reported.“0 It should be noted, 37A. Kolstad, "Employee Attitudes in a Department Store," Journal of Applied Psychology, XXII (1938), pp. A70- A79. 38R. McMurray, "So You Handle People," Society for the Advancement of Management Journal, 11 (1937), pp. 168-172. 39Elton Mayo, The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization (Andover, Massachusetts: Andover Press, 19A5), p. 76. “0G. Tindall, "Rhythm for the Restless," Personnel Journal, XVI (1937), pp. l20—12A: W. Kerr, "Psychological Effects of Music as Reported by 162 Defense Trainees," Psychological Record, V (19A2), pp. 205-212- however, that Kirkpatrick found "no highly significant or conclusive research" concerning the effect of music on out- put or employee morale.“1 Building upon these studies conducted prior to the conclusion of World War II, post-war researchers added still more data to assist investigators in the assessment, measure- ment, and understanding of morale. Shortly after the war, Stouffer pointed out that the findings and experience gained from wartime morale studies should not be limited to wartime application, as such studies have implications of general social importance and should be applied to civilian insti- tutions.“2 In keeping with the spirit of this admonition, Sears, Roebuck, and Company conducted a study among its 12,000 employees to determine the general level of morale. Accord— ing to Worthy, the most important conclusion reached in this study was that there was no simple explanation for any given state of employee morale. Rather, the study indicated the existence of a highly complex set of interdependent factors which, in combination, produced a particular level of A3 employee satisfaction or dissatisfaction. As was shown in “1F. H. Kirkpatrick, "Music in Industry," Journal of Applied Psychology, XXVII (June, 19A3), p. 273. 142S. A. Stouffer, "A Study of Attitudes," Scientific American, CLXXX (May, 19A9), p. 12. u3J. C. Worthy, "Factors Influencing Employee Morale," Harvard Business Review, XXVIII (January, 1950), pp. 65-67. 28 numerous pre—war studies of morale, factors relating to financial compensation and length of work week were shown to rank far down the list of factors influencing employee attitudes. From this was concluded that if the only basis management can conceive for employee loyalty and cooperation is salary and short hours, there "can never be enough money "AA This study also or short enough hours to do the job. brought to bear much evidence that good equipment, pleasant surroundings, and the like cannot, of themselves, develop high morale. The absence of these factors, however, can be a source of great difficulty. Herzberg, drawing data from the aforementioned study and others of a similar nature, was the first researcher to label job dissatisfiers and job satisfiers as "hygiene" fac- tors and "motivator" factors, respectively. In establishing two groups of factors he clearly showed that morale cannot be simply measured along a continuum of one set of factors. Herzberg's research determined that elements involved in producing job satisfaction are separate and distinct from the factors which lead to job dissatisfaction.”5 Thus, the opposite of job satisfaction is not job dissatisfaction, but rather pp job satisfaction. Similarly, the opposite of job dissatisfaction is pp job dissatisfaction, not satisfaction. ““Ibic., p. 66. uSFrederick Herzberg, Work and the Nature of Man (New York: World Publishing Company, 1966), p. 75- 29 Job satisfaction is, therefore, made up of two unipolar traits. He found five factors which were motivators: achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, and advancement. These contributed little to job dissatisfac- tion. Conversely, the factors of hygiene (company policy, salary, administration, supervision, interpersonal rela— tions, and working conditions) contribute little to job satisfaction. As Herzberg pointed out, the hygiene fac- tors fail to possess the characteristics necessary for the creation of a sense of growth, as they do not relate to the task. Another aspect of his research which is of great significance relates to permanence of effect. The hygiene seeker, as he is motivated by the nature of the environ— mental work conditions, must receive rewards of salary, short hours, and the like to feel rewarded. The effect of such rewards, however, is of short duration. The effect of improved hygiene lasts only a short time. We will find that demands for improved salary, working conditions, interpersonal relations, etc. will continue to occupy the personnel administrator without hope of escaping the question, 'What have you done for me 1ately?' Hygiene acts like heroin - 1E takes more and more to produce less and less effect. 6 The findings of a recent study conducted by the American Management Association parallel quite closely those of the earlier Herzberg study. The A.M.A. found that the u61bid., p. 170. 30 elements of employment which create the greatest amount of unhappiness are factors peripheral to the task - work rules, lighting, coffee breaks, titles, and the like. Those fac— tors producing high morale were found to be challenge, achievement, responsibility, growth, advancement, and recog— nition.u7 According to Davis, most post—war morale studies in business and industry have consistently shown the following six factors to be significant: 1. Adequacy of immediate supervision. As part of the contact between the organization and the employee, the supervisor has the largest influ— ence on day-to-day activities. 2. Satisfaction with the job itself. This recog- nizes the intrinsic satisfactions in having a job one enjoys, doing it well, and feeling it gives one an opportunity to grow. 3. Compatibility with fellow workers. Man finds work more satisfying when he has the acceptance of fellow employees. A. Satisfactory organizational purpose and effec- tiveness. One prefers to work with an organiza- tion which has worthwhile purposes and accomplishes them efficiently. 5. Reasonable satisfaction with economic and related rewards. Employees expect adequate reward for helping the organization attain its goals. 6. General physical and mental health. Off-the- job factors and general emotiopgl tone of the employee are referred to here. u7John S. Morgan, Managing the Young Adults (New York: American Management Association, Inc., 1967), p. 76. u8Keith Davis, Human Relations at Work (New York: McGraw~Hill Book Company, 1962): p. 78. 31 The relationship of morale to productivity has been examined in several studies in recent years. Strauss found little evidence that high morale is necessarily associated with high productivity. He maintained that just the reverse may be true. "Workers may be well satisfied to 'goof—off' in a department where the work pace is extremely slow."L49 Davis also reported that it is quite possible to increase productivity with either favorable or unfavorable shifts in morale. Although it is possible to achieve high productivity with low morale, he pointed out that extremes of this condition cannot be maintained over a long period of time. People may accept dissatisfactions in the "short run," but in the "long run" resistance will be developed.50 In addition to the morale studies in industry and business reviewed up to this point, the following list, although not exhaustive, will serve to complete the review of the findings of other studies: 1. A positive correlation between job satisfaction and performance ratings of office employees.51 ugGeorge Strauss and Leonard Sayles, Personnel: The Human Problems of Management (New Jersey: Prentice- Hall, Inc., 1967), p. 135. 50 Davis, op. cit., p. 82. 51C. H. Laushe and B. F. Nagle, "Productivity and Attitude Toward the Supervisor," Journal of Applied Psychol- ogy, XXXVII (1953), pp. 159—162. 32 2. A correlgtion between turnover and employee morale.5 3. A curvilinear relationship between tenure and high morale.53 A. A positive correlation betweEn level of occu- pation and level of morale.5 5. A relationship between skill level and morale.55 6. No significant relationship between accident rate and job satisfaction. 6 7. No proven relationship between general morale level and tardiness.5 8. A strong, positive correlpgion between morale and low absenteeism rate. 9. Satisfaction related to both the level of aspir- ation and the amount of return from the environ- ment.59 52W. Giese and H. Ruter, "An Objective Analysis of Morale," Journal of Applied Psychology, XXXIII (19A9), pp. A21—A27. 53A. Kolstad, "Attitudes of Employees and Their Supervisors," Personnel, XX (19AA), pp. A2l-250. SuF. Herzberg and others, Job Attitudes: Review of Research and Opinion (Pittsburgh: Psychological Service of Pittsburgh, 1957), p. 20. 55E. Roper, "Fortune Survey," Fortune, XXXIV (19A6), pp. 5-6. 56R. Stagner, D. Flebbe, and E. Wood, "Working on the Railroad: A Study of Job Satisfaction," Personnel Psy- chology, V (1952), DP- 293-306. 57R. Van Zelst and W. Kerr, "Workers' Attitudes Toward Merit Rating," Personnel Psychology, VI (1953), pp. 159-172. 58Ibid. 59Nancy C. Morse, Satisfactions in the White-Collar Job (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1953), p. 139- 33 To conclude this discussion of industrial and busi— ness world findings concerning morale, it should be empha— sized that, despite apparent inconsistencies due to differences in types of measurement and criteria, correla— tional studies have clearly established morale as an ingredient basic to employee performance and efficiency. Morale Studies in Education Unlike morale studies in the military, the indus- trial, and the business world, educational morale studies are relatively new endeavors. It is only since the end of World War II that the professional journals in education have devoted significant space to this topic. By 1955 the Education Index listed over 80 articles on morale, all written since 19A7.6O Although the growing interest can be viewed in a favorable light, it must be noted that the num- ber of true research studies devoted to morale in education is quite small, and "the greater proportion of these leave much to be desired in the way of techniques used and in the treatment of data."61 However, the 1A year period since Griffiths made this statement has seen, in addition to many articles, several excellent studies conducted in this impor- tant area. 60Daniel E. Griffiths, Human Relations in School Administration (New York: Appleton—Century-Crofts, Inc., 1956), p. 1AA? 61 Ibid., p. 15A. 3A 'Phc ikxllowiiur list, :llthcuufli not 51 compliflxa list;(5f all educational morale studies, constitutes an overview of significant recent studies in this area and will serve as an introduction to the more detailed analyses of studies to be reviewed later in this chapter. 1. Teacher morale as it relgges to public-relations and personnel practices. 2. School adm nistration practices as they relate to morale. 3 3. Merit rating and teacher morale.6l4 A. The role of the school principal as a teacher morale builder. 66 5. Supervisory counselling and teacher morale. 6. Teacher mogale as it relates to the quality of education. 7 62Harold C. Hand, What People Think About Their Schools: Values and Methods of Public-Opinion Polling as Applied to School Systems (New York: World Book Company, 19A5), p. 2. 63James A. Van Zwoll, School Personnel Administration (New York: Appleton—Century-Crofts, Inc., 196A), p. 187. 6“B. J. Chandler, "Merit Rating Not Detrimental to Teacher Morale," The Nation's Schools, LXI (April, 1958), pp. 58-59. 65Harley Lautenschlager, "The Role of the Principal as a Morale Builder," Peabody Journal of Education, XXXIV (March, 1957), pp. 258-262. 66Don H. Otto, "Supervisory Counselling and Teacher Morale," The Teachers College Journal, XXIX (December, 1957), pp. A2—A3. 67F. L. Redefer, "Toward a Theory of Educational Administration," School and Society, LXXXVII (March, 1959), pp. 135-137. 35 68 7. The relationship of teacher morale to turnover. 69 8. The school board and teacher morale. 9. Motivation-hygiene theory sHerzberg) as it relates to teacher morale. O 10. Teacher attitudes toward various types of organ- izational patterns. 11. Teacher morale as it relates to working condi— tions, pay, and communications.72 12. Morale as it relates to varying levels of teach- ing experience.73 13. Congruence pf course work and teaching assignment to morale.7 1A. Relationship of teacher authoritarianism and morale.75 68L. Leopold and J. Yarborough, "What 1600 School People Think About Teacher Morale," American School Board Journal, CXIX (December, 19AA), p. 29. 69L. Redefer, "The School Board and Teacher Morale," American School Board Journal, CVL (July, 1962), pp. 5—7. 70T. J. Sergiovanni, "New Evidence on Teacher Morale,‘ The North Central Association Quarterly, XLII, p. 261. f 71James H. Hughes, Human Relations in Educational Organizations (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1957), p. 197. 72H. Moore and N. Walters, Personnel Administration in Education (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1955), p. 171. 73Marie J. Brinkman, "Factors Related to Teacher Morale in Three Junior High Schools" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Wayne State University, 1966). 7L‘Ibid. 75Merlyn Gubser, "Authoritarianism Among Teachers and School Principals and Its Possible Relationship to Fac- ulty Morale" (UnpubliShed Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon, 1968). 36 15. Relationship between administrative behavior and teacher morale.7 16. Teaching level as a variable related to morale. 7 17. Factors of instigutional climate pertaining to faculty morale.7 18. The relationship of teacher morale to job efficiency.7 19. The relgtion of teacher morale to produc— tivity. O 20. The relation of teacher morale tg socio- economic level of the community. 1 21. The developpent of a teacher morale measuring instrument. 2 76D. B. Lambert, "A Study of the Relationship Between Teacher Morale and the School Principal's Leader Behavior" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Auburn University, 1968). 77Donald E. Houston, "Teaching Level as a Situational Variable Related to Staff Morale" (Unpublished Doctoral dis- sertation, Purdue University, 1968). 78Orville E. Bowers, "Elements of Institutional Cli- mate Pertaining to Faculty Morale in Colleges" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Missouri, 1968). 79Ralph E. Plant, "An Investigation of Some Corre- lates of Teacher Job Satisfaction" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Cornell University, 1966). 80John M. Crothers, "An Analysis of Joint Variations in Morale and Productivity" (Unpublished Doctoral disserta- tion, University of Tennessee, 1965). 81Robert Westfall, "Socio-Economic Status of a School Attendance Center in an Urban Area as a Factor in the Morale of Its Elementary School Teachers" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Purdue University, 1967). 82John H. Suehr, "A Study of Morale in Education Utilizing Incomplete Sentences," Journal of Educational 52222322. LVI (October. 1962), pp. 75—81. 37 8A 22. The relation of teacher morale to salary.83 23. Curriculum development as it relates to morale. 2A. Identification of teacher morale factors.85 25. Teacher self—concept as it relates to morale.86 26. Union, non—union membership and morale.87 27. Teacher morale and class size.88 28. Effects of administrative changes on morale.89 9O 29. Relationship of student attitudes to morale. 83Clement Thompson, "The Morale of Senior High School Teachers in the New York City Public School System and Attitude Toward the Single Salary Schedule" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, New York University, 1957). 8”William E. Coffman, "Teacher Morale and Curric— ulum Development," Journal of Experimental Education, XIX (June, 1951), pp. 305-331. 85F. L. Redefer, "Factors That Affect Teacher Morale," Nation's Schools, LXIII (February, 1959), p. 59. 86Norman Brust, "The Relationship Between Some Factors of School Organizational Climate and Some Factors of Teacher Self—Concept" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Delaware, 1966). 87H. Collins and N. Nelson, "A Study of Teacher Morale: Union (A. F. T. ) Teachers Versus Non- Union (N. E. A. ) Teachers," Journal of Educational Research, LXII (September, 1968), pp. 3- 10. 88"Morale-Building Changes," National Education Association Journal, LVII (March, 1968), p. 20. 89J. A. Hurley, "Effects of Administrative Changes on Teacher Morale" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University, 1968). 90J. D. Minzey, "A Study of the Relationship Between Teacher Morale and Student Attitudes Toward Their School Environment" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1967). 38 30. Relationship of dogmatism of principals and teacher morale.9l 31. Teacher morale as a function of perceived super- visory behavioral style.9 In an intensive study completed in the mid—1960's by Redefer, 10,000 teachers and 50 school systems were stud— ied. Of major significance was the determination that per- sonnel policies and practices rather than salary levels were the key to high or low morale among teachers. Although important, salary was not shown to be the primary determinant of good teacher-administrator-school board relations. High morale existed "to the degree that teachers freely and con- sciously released and focused what skills, knowledge, and abilities they possessed to achieve known and accepted edu— cational objectives which they have actively participated in formulating."93 The study further revealed a high correlation between morale and a teacher's feeling of freedom to choose instruc- tional materials and to discuss controversial issues. His statement, "The quality of the educational program is a reflection of the morale of the staff," indicates clearly 91J. E. Green, "The Relationship Between Dogmatism of Principals and Teachers and Teacher's Morale in Twelve Selected Secondary Schools of Michigan" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1966). 92A. Blumberg and W. Weber, "Teacher Morale as a Function of Perceived Supervisor Behavioral Style," Journal of Educational Research, LXII (November, 1968), pp. 109-113. 93F. L. Redefer, "Studies of Teacher Morale," School and Society, VIIIC (February 22, 196A), p. 6A. 39 the importance this researcher placed on the achievement of high level morale in a school environment.9u A study conducted by Griffiths revealed a composite of factors which affect morale of teachers. He concluded the first and most important factor to be the school admin- istrator, as his manner of fulfilling his role set the climate for morale in the school. He stated: If we assume that the prime job of the school admin- istrator is to release the creative capacities of the teachers on his faculty, then more and more attention must be paid to factors of morale.95 Such a conclusion is confirmed by Schultz, who stated that the factor most teachers identify "as being most crucial to happiness in their position is the administrator."96 The second area of importance, according to Griffiths, is that of satisfaction of teacher needs. He asserted that security, recognition, job satisfaction, and advancement are essential. Thirdly, morale necessitates the establishment of a team spirit, a feeling that all members are striving toward commonly held purposes. Lastly, although morale is essentially a group concept, he pointed out the necessity for the staff to be composed of mature individuals who can 9A 95 Ibid. Griffiths, op. cit., p. 1A5. 96Raymond E. Schultz, "Keeping Up Teacher Morale," Nation's Schools, L (October, 1952), p. 56. A0 "take success or failure in stride and move ahead to meet each challenge as it arises."97 The study by Schultz referred to previously approached the analysis of teacher morale from a slightly different per- spective. This study assessed the attitudes of 776 recent graduates of the University of Illinois who were in teaching positions. A list of 39 statements of job satisfaction was used to determine the A8 most satisfied teachers and the A8 least satisfied teachers. The areas of greatest incongru- ence between the two groups were those of feelings of pres— tige in teaching,-satisfaction with teaching, opinions concerning adequacy of facilities and equipment, feelings concerning staff relationships, opportunity to express opin— ions on school problems, supervision, adequacy of school board, promotion policy, and adequacy of salary. On the basis of personal data collected, two factors were found to be related to teacher morale: sex and marital status. A higher proportion of male teachers were found to be dissat- isfied with teaching than were women, and more of the dis- satisfied teachers were married than were single. Schultz pointed out that since 35 of the least satisfied group were married compared with 27 of the most satisfied group, there is "some evidence concluding that increased family and finan- cial responsibility results in teacher dissatisfaction."98 97 98 Griffiths, op. cit., p. 156. Schultz, op. cit., p. 53. Al He found, however, no significant difference between the two groups on the following factors: degree held, teaching subjects or level, population of the teaching community, and the length of time in the present position. A study conducted in Colorado in the early 1960's made use of incomplete sentences to determine the general level of a teacher's morale. From A0 partial statements to be concluded by the teacher (Teaching school..., administrative policies..., etc.) Suehr concluded that: 1. Teachers from higher socio—economic status have higher general morale. 2. AS among students, personality differences exist among teachers. 3. Cause-and—effect relationships are evidence in the area of morale. A. The incomplete sentence method covers a broader area of "trouble spots" and is more discrim- inating. 5. Communication is probably the most vital area in the morale process. 6. Although much is known about student motivation, little is known about teacher motivation. 7. Human relations seem to be the key concept to motivation. 8., The type of man entering public school teaching might possibly be different from the man enter- ing medicine, law, or business. 9. The determinants of a teacher's morale are pluralistic and interactional. Suehr concluded his significant study by stating: There is no subject more worthy of investigation in education than morale, but it will take far-sighted, A2 imaginative people to accept the challenge adequately to study this area.99 Conclusions reached in a study by Wotring provided information in several other areas relative to morale. He concluded that morale level differs significantly among schools, the difference resulting from the way teachers feel their personal needs are being met. The inability of teach- ers to influence curriculum, faculty meetings, and policy is a major source of dissatisfaction. The function of adminis- tration is the most important ingredient of high teacher morale. A final, though not too startling, conclusion reached in this study established that there is a high degree of interrelatedness of teacher morale factors.100 A 1966 study by Napier reaffirmed several factors which were generally believed to be associated with teacher morale. From a sampling of over 700 Nebraska teachers he reported the following factors to be "associated with" high teacher morale: administrator understanding and apprecia- tion, teacher confidence in administrative competence, administrative support of teachers in matters of student discipline, teacher participation in policy formulation, adequacy of facilities and equipment, teaching assignments commensurate with training, fair distribution of extra- 99 lOOJarvis C. Wotring, "Teacher Morale and Evaluation of Teachers" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1965). Suehr, op. cit., p. 81. A3 curricular assignments, provision of professional training through the in-service program, job security, adequate pol- icy for leaves of absence, fair and equitable distribution of teaching load, and salaries comparable with other pro- fessions requiring equal training.101 Although no attempt was made to rank these pre- selected factors in order of importance nor to indicate how closely associated with morale each was, this study did indicate some basic relationships upon which future studies will most likely be based. The congruence of perceptions of various school- related groups concerning factors which affect teacher morale was the subject of an East Texas State University study in the mid 1960's. This study's findings will be reviewed briefly as they relate closely to one area of inter- est of this present study: that of parent perceptions of teacher attitudes. Hood's study, however, examined the rela- tionship of congruence of teachers', principals', central office administrators', and school board members' perceptions of the importance of certain factors which were believed to affect teacher morale and the congruence of perceptions of the state of teacher morale of the various groups. Among the findings of this study, the following are sufficiently significant to report: 101Thomas G. Napier, "Teacher Morale" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska Teachers College, 1966). AA 1. A much higher degree of congruence was found to exist between elementary teachers and principals. 2. A higher degree of congruence of perceptions was found between central office administration and all teachers than existed between school board members and all teachers. 3. The highest degree of congruence of perception of the level of teacher morale occurred between elementary teachers and principals, and the lowest occurred between school board members and all teachers. A. In addition, school board members and central office administrators perceived morale as being lower than teachers perceived it to be, while principals of all levels perceived teacher morale as being higher than teachers perceived it to be.102 It should be noted that the study just reviewed employed an instrument to assess teacher morale which was developed expressly for this study. In light of the exist- ence of several recognized instruments for the measurement of teacher morale which have high validity and reliability ratings, one must evaluate the study's findings with this in mind. A study completed about the same time as the Hood research explored the relationship between dogmatism of prin- cipals and teachers and teacher morale. This study by Green concluded that dogmatism is related to a teacher's level of morale: open-minded teachers having higher morale than closed-minded teachers. However, it was determined that the 102Evans C. Hood, "A Study of Congruence of Percep- tions Concerning Factors Which Affect Teacher Morale" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, East Texas State Univer— sity, 1965). A5 open- or closed-mindedness of principals was independent of teacher morale. In addition, a principal's degree of dog— matism had no effect on his ability to estimate how teachers perceived his behavior. It was determined that low morale teachers feel more tired at the end of a day's work if they feel they are not realizing their fullest potential in teaching. A final conclusion reached in this study was that dissatisfaction of teachers with parents, children, faculty meetings, and channels of communication indicated human relations to be a central determiner of morale.103 The comparison of factors related to teacher satis- faction and dissatisfaction with those enumerated in Herzberg's study of accountants and engineers was the basis for Johnson's 1967 study of teacher morale. Among his major conclusions were: 1. Similarities between the Herzberg study and his study indicated that industrial research in the area of job satisfaction should be utilized in the educational environment. 2. Educators should concern themselves with the motivating factors of achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, and interper- sonal relations to increase teacher satisfaction. 3. Administrators must take steps to remove barriers of communication concerning the rights and duties that are assigned to each role or position in the system. 103Green, 100. cit. A6 A. Administrators must recognize the importance of carrying out policies fairly and consis- tently. 0“ The analysis of factors relating to job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction in respect to their duration was the subject of a Cornell University study by Adair in 1967. The researcher analyzed data collected in tape recorded inter- views and categorized those factors which produced positive attitudes toward teaching and those which produced negative ones. The positive factors of recognition and interpersonal relations with students produced good feelings which tended to persist. Seldom did they promote attitude changes that were merely transient. Negative feelings toward the job of teaching were rooted in school policy, administrative char- acteristics, job structure, interpersonal relations with superiors, and lack of administrative support in disciplin- ary situations. Each of the important dissatisfiers was either extrinsic to the actual task of teaching or was con- cerned with those factors which tend to set the limits for success in teaching. The negative feelings generated by these factors were generally of shorter duration than those feelings resulting from the more positive factors.105 lO“Eldon D. Johnson, "An Analysis of Factors Related to Teacher Satisfaction—Dissatisfaction" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Auburn University, 1967). 105John Adair, "A Study of Job Factors That Affect Teacher Morale" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Cornell University, 1967. A7 Of considerable influence upon this present study was the one done by Minzey in 1967. His efforts to assess the relationship between teacher morale and student atti- tudes toward their school environment provided background material and suggestions for further research, some of which have been modified and incorporated into this current study. Among Minzey's major findings were the following: 1. Teacher morale differs significantly between schools, the difference being primarily one of intensity rather than area. 2. Students are more homogenous in their attitudes as a group than are teachers and are little affected by the morale of their teachers. 3. Teachers and students differ markedly in their attitudes about the school environment. A. Students have a very accurate perception of their teachers' morale. 5. Teachers are not able to predict stugent atti- tudes with any degree of accuracy.10 Although many implications can be drawn from this study, three are especially significant. There is need to include more than staff attitudes in any attempt to assess and improve the school climate. (The present study, there- fore, attempts to assess parental attitudes concerning the school program.) Secondly, the perceptiveness of students as seen in their accuracy of assessment of a factor so sub- tle as teacher morale would seem to indicate the appropriate- ness of further study and use of student perception in other areas. Finally, there is need to know more about the 106Minzey, loc. cit. A8 criteria which teachers use to make their somewhat inaccurate evaluations of student attitudes. Morale as a function of perceived supervisor behav- ioral style was the subject of a study only recently com- pleted by Blumberg and Weber. .Making use of Suehr's incomplete sentence form referred to earlier, it was deter- mined that teacher morale was strongly affected by the way a teacher perceived the individual behavior style of the supervisor. (Supervisors whose style was perceived as being "indirect" fostered higher morale among their subordinates than did those who were perceived as being "direct." Attri- butes of "indirectness" were acceptance of ideas from teach- ers, praise of teachers, asking of non-critical questions about teaching behavior, and seeking opinions about teach— ing problems. A "direct" supervisor, however, gives only his own opinions about teaching problems, suggests things be done in a specific way, and criticizes teacher behavior. Teachers who perceived supervisory behavior to be quite indirect were characterized by the highest level of general morale. On the other hand, those teachers in the Blumberg- Weber sample who perceived supervisory behavior to be direct possessed the lowest level of morale.107 It is important that one more study be reviewed, as its findings provided the basis for the selection of the morale instrument to be used in this present study. Bentley 10[Blumberg and Weber, loc. cit. A9 and Rempel endeavored to identify the factors which were the ingredients in the concept "teacher morale." The detailed steps which were followed will not be reviewed here. How— ever, the factors these researchers found to be related to teacher morale are as follows: 1. 10. Teacher rapport with principal. (How the teacher feels about the principal - his professional competency, his interest in teachers and their work, his ability to communicate, and his skill in human relations.) Satisfaction with teaching. (How the teacher feels about students and the teaching process.) Rapport among teachers. (How the teacher feels about his relationships with other teachers.) Of importance is the teacher's opinion concern- ing cooperation, preparation, ethics, influence, interests, and competency of his peers. Teacher Salary. (How a teacher feels about salary and salary policies.) Teacher load. (How a teacher feels about record keeping, clerical work, community demands on time, extra-curricular activities, and keeping up to date professionally.) Curriculum issues. (Teacher reactions concern- ing the adequacy of the school program in meet— ing student needs.) Teacher status. (Teacher feelings about pres- tige, security, and benefits afforded by teach- ing.) Community support of education. (How a teacher perceives community willingness to support edu- cation.) School facilities and services. (How adequate are the facilities, supplies, and equipment.) Community pressures. (Community expectations with respect to the teacher's personal freedom 50 to discpss controversial issues in the class- room.10 These factors Bentley and Rempel found to be highly correlated with general teacher morale. Based upon these 10 factors they developed the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire, designed to provide a measure of teacher morale. Since 1961 this instrument has been widely used by researchers who were in need of instrumentation of proven validity and reliabil— ity. Summary This chapter's intent has been to review the general writings and specific studies which are relevant to this particular investigation. Building upon an historical per— ' the param- spective relative to the meaning of "attitude,' eters of this construct were shown to be as follows: 1. The quality of an attitude varies from positive through neutral to negative. 2. Attitudes give rise to motivation. 3. Attitudes are characterized by specific refer- ents, either concrete or abstract. A. Attitudes are learned through social interaction. Attitudes have varying degrees of interrelated— ness. U1 6. Attitudes are relatively stable and lasting. Morale, although by definition closely related to attitude, was treated separately. Early twentieth century 108Ralph R. Bentley and Averno M. Rempel, Manual for the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire (West Lafayette, Indiana, 1967), p. A. morale studies in the military, business, and industrial worlds were reviewed and found to concentrate upon the analysis of various general factors which contribute to the multidimensional nature of morale. In summary, the factors of high significance were: 1. 2. 6 . Adequacy of immediate supervision. Satisfaction with the job itself. Compatibility with fellow workers. Satisfactory organizational purposes and effectiveness. Reasonable satisfaction with economic and related rewards. General physical and mental health. The chapter's section on the review of non-education oriented studies concluded with a discussion of nine rela— tionships 1. Shown to be significant relative to general morale. A positive correlation between job satisfaction and performance. A correlation between employee morale and turn- over. A curvilinear relationship between tenure and high morale. A positive correlation between level of occu- pation and level of morale. A relationship between skill level and morale. No significant relationship between accident rate and job satisfaction. No proven relationship between general morale level and tardiness. A strong, positive correlation between morale and low absenteeism. 52 Satisfaction related to both the level of aspiration and the amount of return from the environment. The final section of the chapter presented a chron— ological review of morale studies in education, devoting special attention to those studies particularly relevant to this study. Among the many findings, the following were shown to bear special significance in the determination of morale level: 1. 10. 11. 12. 13. Personnel policies and practices more important than economic considerations. Freedom to choose instructional materials and to discuss controversial issues vital to morale. Prime importance of the school administrator. Necessity to receive recognition for work done and to possess a degree of job satisfaction. Necessity to establish a feeling of team spirit. Correlation between sex and marital status and teacher morale. No significance in degree held, subject taught, or length of time in present position. Positive correlation between teachers from high socio-economic status and high morale. Determinants of teacher morale shown to be pluralistic and interactional. Ability to influence curriculum and policy important. Positive correlation between Open-mindedness and high morale. Low morale frequently rooted in policy, admin- istrative characteristics, relations with supervisors, and lack of administrative support in disciplinary matters. Positive correlation between indirect adminis- trative style and high morale. CHAPTER III DESIGN OF THE STUDY In order to determine the relationship of teacher perceptions of parent attitudes concerning the school environ— ment to teacher morale, it was determined that four variables had to be measured: teacher morale, parent attitudes, teacher perceptions of parent attitudes, and parent percep— tions of teacher attitudes. The Purdue Teacher Opinionaire was selected to pro- vide a measure of individual teacher morale and general group morale.l To measure parental attitudes concerning the school, an instrument specifically for this purpose was developed, the School Opinion Survey for Parents. An adap- tation of this instrument was used to measure the percep- tivity of teachers to parent attitudes. The measurement of parent perceptions of teacher attitudes necessitated the development of an adaptation of the Purdue instrument, des- cribed in detail later in this chapter. An analysis of the data obtained from the administra- tion of these instruments and an assessment of teacher data lRalph Bentley and Averno Rempel, The Purdue Teacher Opinionaire (West Lafayette, Indiana: The University Book Store, 1967). 53 5A was expected to provide information needed to test the proposed hypotheses. Selecting the Sample District As the nature of the study necessitated an in-depth assessment of the internal factors of teacher perceptions of parental attitudes and teacher morale, it was not deemed necessary or appropriate to include more than one district in the study. The inclusion of additional districts would merely have resulted in the unwarranted introduction of an undetermined number of uncontrolled variables.2 This prob- lem was recognized by Borg when he stated: In many educational research problems, it is impos— sible for the research worker to control some of the important variables that could have an effect upon the research findings.3 It became, then, a matter of selecting a district wherein permission would be granted by the superintendent and board of education to conduct the necessary activities required by the study. In addition, it was considered essential that the district employ at least 100 teachers in order to provide a sufficiently broad base of assessment, yet not so large that it would be prohibitive in time and expense to involve each full-time teacher in the study. Any district which had administered the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire 2N. M. Downie and R. W. Heath, Basic Statistical Methods (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1965), p. 119. 3Walter Borg, Educational Research: An Introduction (New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1963), p. 171. 55 to its staff within the last five years was also excluded as a possible choice. It is obvious that the first criterion for selection was the most critical. However, a district was found in which the superintendent and the board of education were anxious to learn more about the general morale level of its teachers and about community attitudes concerning the var- ious aspects of the school program. The Michigan district selected is a four square mile "island in and of itself"u having approximately $8,000 equal- ized valuation behind each child. The homes in the district are generally modest, single—family dwellings. Although there is no industry within the district to support school taxes, most of the working population is employed in industry located in a neighboring school district. Consistent with the second criterion of district selection, an effort was made to administer the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire and the adapted version of the School Opinion Survey to each teacher from kindergarten through grade twelve. Eight of the district's 102 teachers were absent during the days of the administration of the instru- ments. However, the resultant 9A assessments were deemed sufficient to satisfy the purposes of the study. “George T. Roumell, Jr., Report of the Fact Finder: Bendle Public Schools (Flint: State of Michigan Employment Relations Commission, 1969), p. 2. 56 Selection of Sample Parents Although it was decided to involve the entire teacher population of the district, it was determined that a random sample of parents would be adequate for the purposes of this study. As the sole criterion of selection in this sample was the fact of being a parent of a child in a public school within the district, the school records were used to provide this information. A master student file arranged by grade level and located in the district's central office was used for this purpose. A consecutive number was assigned to each student, his parent's name determined, and the mailing address verified. Working then from a table of random num— bers,5 seven parents were randomly selected at each of the 13 grade levels. This procedure yielded 91 parent names. Duplicate parent selections were eliminated. It should be pointed out that this method of selec- tion using 13 different populations is the stratified random sample technique. In explanation of this procedure Ardmore stated: 7 Establishing subpopulations or strata, as they are called, may result in a better sample design than a simple random sample, since the survey could then be carried out at less cost and in a shorter time. If strata are set up, the sample design will then require that a simple random sample be selected from each stratum separately. Each stratum will be treated as a separate and independent population. 5Sidney J. Ardmore, Introduction to Statistical Analysis and Inference for Psychology and Education (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1966), pp. A98—A99. 57 Experience in other studies which have involved parents has revealed that it is unlikely that responses will greatly exceed 50 per cent. As Hand stated, "It is probably Utopian to expect that more than half to two—thirds of the 6 parents will return usable replies." Attitude Survey Technique It would be improper to assume that the researcher has only one method at his disposal to assess individual and group attitudes, that being through the use of attitude surveys. Other techniques which might be used are: The supervisor's or executive's impressions. An analysis of production or other records. The guided interview. The unguided interview. 7 A combination of any of the foregoing methods. U'I-C'UONl—J These methods, according to Edwards, have several disadvantages, however. There is a general reluctance to express opinion or feelings directly to an interviewer. More accurate responses are obtained when responses are anonymously put in writing. Secondly, psychological find- ings have revealed that many people are not "aware" of their feelings and may verbally express totally opposite attitudes. Thirdly, feelings are often mixed and confused. The objec- tivity and insight desired by the interviewer is extremely 6Harold C. Hand, What People Think About Their Schools (New York: World Book Company, 19A5), p. 80. 7Walter Scott, Robert Clothier, and William Spriegel, Personnel Management (New York: McGraw—Hill Book Company, 195A), p. A56. 58 difficult to obtain in "spur of the moment" responses to an interviewer's questions.8 With reference to direct observation of behavior to analyze attitudes, Edwards recognized the limitation of num— bers and time. Such observations, of necessity, would be extremely time consuming and limited to a very few individ- uals. In addition, overt behavior is often designed to conceal actual feelings, thus further confusing the analysis. There is no one-to-one correspondence between overt behavior and attitudes.9 Therefore, it was decided in the interest of objec- tivity and precision of analysis that the attitude survey technique be used in this study. As suggested by Baker: One of the most important factors in building and maintaining good morale is a continuing and current knowledge of employees' attitudes toward their jobs, the supervisors, the management of the company, and the policies of the company. This canlBe accomplished first by some form of attitude survey. The desire for a "quick and convenient measure of attitudes that could be used with large groups"11 has led to the development of attitude scales. More specifically, this study will use the Likert-type scales wherein numerous 8Allen E. Edwards, Techniques of Attitude Scale Construction (New York: Appleton-Century—Crofts, Inc., 1957), p. 5. 9 10Alton W. Baker, Personnel Management In Small Plants Ibid., p. 7. (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University, 1955), p. 195. llEdwards, op. cit., p. 9. 59 statements are given, to which the respondent reacts along a continuum from positive to negative. Writing in 1932, Likert indicated the advantages of this method to be as follows: First, the method does away with the use of raters or judges and the errors arising therefrom; second, it is less laborious to construct an attitude scale by this method; and third, the method yields the same reliability with fewer items.12 He found that scores based upon the relatively sim- ple assignment of integral weights correlated .99 with the more complicated normal deviate systems of weights commonly used at that time.13 The unique contribution of attitude surveys is summed up well by Davis when he stated: Whereas the typical opinion survey only counts and classifies answers, the attitude survey assigns scores to the answers and mathematically analyzes them.1“ The Teacher Morale Instrument Historically, two basic approaches have been used in the process of measurement of teacher morale. The first technique requires the individual to estimate his own morale or job satisfaction and was first used by Hoppock in 1935.15 l2Rensis Likert, "A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes," Archives of Psychology, CXL (June, 1932), p. A2. l3Edwards, op. cit., p. 151. 1“Keith Davis, Human Relations At Work (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1962), p. 83. 15R. Hoppock, Job Satisfaction (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1935). 60 The second approach consists of: asking the individual to make qualitative judgments and express his feelings about the persons and things in his environment that may be related to his morale. These responses are appropriately weighted and quantified so that a total score or index can be assigned.16 The Purdue Teacher Opinionaire is a product of this latter approach. The instrument was validated against peer judgments made by teachers at the time they responded to the Opinionaire. Details of this technique have been reported by the authors in the Journal of Experimental Edu— cation and will, therefore, be omitted from the body of this study. The reliability of the instrument was determined by the test-retest method and found to be .87 for the total with the following table indicating factor reliability scores for the 10 factors which Bentley and Rempel considered as essential components of the multidimensional character of morale. The Opinionaire was administered by Bentley and Rempel to randomly selected faculties with 20 or more teach- ers in Oregon and Indiana. Four weeks later the instrument was readministered to the same faculties, obtaining data from 3,023 teachers. 16Bentley and Rempel, op. cit., p. 2. 61 TABLE 3.1 TEST-RETEST CORRELATIONS FOR PURDUE TEACHER OPINIONAIRE FACTOR SCORES“ Factor Correlation 1 Teacher Rapport with Principal .88 2 Satisfaction with Teaching .8A 3 Rapport Among Teachers .80 A Teacher Salary .81 5 Teacher Load .77 6 Curriculum Issues .76 7 Teacher Status .81 8 Community Support of Education .78 9 School Facilities and Services .80 10 Community Pressures .62 Total Score .87 *Ralph Bentley and Averno Rempel, The Purdue Teacher Opinionaire (West Lafayette, Indiana: The University Book Store, 1967). l7 19 Studies by Houston, Lambert,18 Brinkman, and Gubser2O are examples of research efforts which have used 17Donald E. Houston, "Teaching Level As a Situational Variable Related to Staff Morale" (Unpublished Doctoral dis- sertation, Purdue University, 1968). 18D. B. Lambert, "A Study of the Relationship Between Teacher Morale and the School Principal's Leader Behavior" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Auburn University, 1968). 19Marie J. Brinkman, "Factors Related to Teacher Morale in Three Junior High Schools" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Wayne State University, 1966). O 20M. Gubser, "Authoritarianism Among Teachers and School Principals and Its Possible Relationship to Faculty Morale" (Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon, 1968). 62 the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire as an integral part of their research design. The School Opinion Survey for Parents Although a review of the literature revealed two instruments designed to assess parent attitudes concerning 21’22 neither was so constructed that the school environment, the various statistical analyses required by this study could be accomplished. Therefore, upon the recommendation of the Michigan State University Research Department, an Opinionaire for parents was constructed. Borg's following recommenda- tions were used as a guide to the general approach taken: In many cases the research worker wishes to measure an attitude for which no scale is available. The author, for example, recently found it necessary to develop a scale to measure teachers' attitudes toward ability grouping. Satisfactory attitude scales can be developed by the research worker if he follows closely the pro- cedures outlined in textbooks on psychological testing. The Likert technique is usually the easiest megpod of developing scales needed in research projects. The first step in the writing of the School Opinion Survey was the development of a list of factors considered important by educational leaders and parents relative to the school: program, facilities, personnel, etc. Educators from public schools, central administrative offices, the 21Hand, loc. cit. 22Herbert Rudman, What Do You Think About Your School? (East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University, 1957). 23Borg, op. cit., p. 110. 63 university, and parents were asked to submit statements designed to reflect areas of parental interest. In addi- tion, factors revealed from an extensive review of approp- riate literature were added to this list. At this point duplications were eliminated, as were inappropriate areas about which parents would have little or no knowledge. A list was then compiled, using the following 1A suggestions offered by Edwards: 1. Avoid statements that refer to the past rather than to the present. 2. Avoid statements that are factual or capable of being interpreted as factual. 3. Avoid statements that may be interpreted in more than one way. A. Avoid statements that are irrelevant to the psychological object under consideration. 5. Avoid statements that are likely to be endorsed by almost everyone or by almost no one. 6. Select statements that are believed to cover the entire range of the affective scale of interest. 7. Keep the language of the statements simple, clear, and direct. 8. Statements should be short, rarely exceeding 20 words. 9. Each statement should contain only one complete thought. 10. Statements containing universals such as "all, always, none" and "never" often introduce ambi- guity and should be avoided. 11. Words such as "only, just, merely" and others of a similar nature should be used with care and moderation in writing statements. 6A 12. Whenever possible, statements should be in the form of simple sentences rather than in the form of compound or complex sentences. 13. Avoid the use of words that may not be under— stood by those who are to be given the completed scale. 1A. Avoid the use of double negatives.2u Particular importance was placed upon items two and three. It was deemed especially important to eliminate from consideration all statements about the psychological object which were factual or which might be interpreted as factual. Items which might be considered ambiguous were eliminated or reworded. To insure the elimination of these two problems, the following method advocated by Edwards was used. Several parents were asked to respond to the statements as they would if they had favorable attitudes toward the object under con- sideration. These same individuals were then asked to respond as if they had unfavorable attitudes. The statements wherein it was possible for them to give similar responses of acceptance or rejection were then eliminated from the instrument on the assumption that these would not likely be discriminative in the attitude scale.25 To minimize possible respondent response sets that might be generated if only favorable or unfavorable state- ments were included in the scale, approximately one-half of ¥ 2“Edwards, 0p. cit., pp. l3—1A. 25Ibid., p. 13. 65 the statements were negative in nature and randomly distrib— uted throughout the instrument. An Opinionaire containing A5 statements was then developed and pre—tested with a group of 30 parents, none of whom resided in the school district to be used in this study. Upon return of the 30 trial instruments, a check upon the opinionaire's reliability was undertaken. The Wright and Porter program to test for internal consistency using the Hoyt Reliability technique was applied to the data collected.26 The split—half correlation method of estimating internal consistency is basic to this technique. It is pos- sible, however, in the Hoyt Reliability method to utilize the ultimate number of split—halves theoretically possible to exist in the instrument and to express this as an average. The reliability of the trial version of the School Opinion Survey was established at .9055, or .91. As a result of this unusually high reliability level, it was decided that the instrument should not be revised rel- ative to content. Minor changes in format, however, were executed. Table 3.2 shows the statements of the survey as it was used with the study's parent sample. 26D. Wright and A. Porter, An Adaptation of Baker's Test Analysis Package for Use on the Michigan State Univer- sity CDC 3600 Computer (East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University, 1968). 66 TABLE 3.2 ' SCHOOL OPINION SURVEY FOR PARENTS“ 10. ll. 12. 13. 1A. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. My child likes school. My child's teacher gives help when he needs it. What my child learns in school is of real value to him. My child does not have enough variety of subjects available to him. The school my child attends is overcrowded. The physical education equipment and facilities at my child's school are inadequate. I feel there is a good relationship between our community and the school. I feel the newspaper should carry much more information about our school and district. I am unhappy with the school's method of reporting my child's progress (report cards, conferences, etc.). Communication between parents, teachers, administrators, and the school board could be greatly improved. The district is providing a good educational program for the amount of taxes now paid to our schools. Too much time in school is devoted to testing. Many important changes should be made to improve the quality of education in our school. The district needs many more classes for children with special needs (speech correction, remedial reading, physically and mentally handicapped, etc. ). Our school should do much more to teach good citizenship. The principal always seems interested in my child's progress in school. The cost of education is excessive in our district. The school, in general, is meeting my child's needs. I consider my child's teacher to be a skilled, professional educator. My child has ample opportunity to attend school parties, games, clubs, and other activities. My child's school has an insufficient amount of laboratory and classroom equipment. My child is well liked and respected by his classmates. ”Response choices and directions omitted. 23. 2A. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 3A. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. A0. A1. A2. A3. AA. “5. 67 TABLE 3.2-—Continued I feel the social status of teachers in our district is quite high. My child's teacher doesn't really "know" my child. My child's school compares favorably with other schools that I know. I am required to spend more money for such things as workbooks and school supplies than I want to. My child's teacher seems interested in teaching. I feel the school could do a much better job of informing parents about the school. Parent-teacher relationships are quite satisfactory. My child's teacher has good disCipline in the class. I would not be willing to pay higher school taxes. Most schools in neighboring districts offer better educational programs than my child's district. I show much interest in my child's school work and school-related activities. Much more time should be devoted to teaching the "3 R's" than is presently being done. I am quite pleased with my child's school. My child's school building is not an adequate facility. Teachers in our district are overly concerned about salary and "fringe" benefits. My child's school is doing a good job of teaching the values of democracy. Our P.T.A. assists the school in the improvement of the educa- tional program. I am not satisfied with the school my child attends. Much of what my child is learning will be of little use to him as an adult. The amount of homework assigned to my child seems about right. I am proud of our district's school system. I feel that parent-teacher conferences are generally a waste of time. My child is well liked and respected by his teacher. “Response choices and directions omitted. 68 Following the pattern established in the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire, each statement was followed by the letters A, PA, PD, and D. Parents were instructed to circle one response only for each statement. A circle around "A" denoted agreement with the statement; around "PA," probable agreement; around "PD," probable disagreement; and around "D," disagreement. Although the methods used in the administration of the School Opinion Survey will be described later in this chapter, the function of this instrument should be made clear at this time. In order to determine the degree of accuracy of teacher perceptions of parental attitudes essen— tial to hypotheses 2, 3, A, and 5, it became necessary to devise a means of measuring attitudes of parents. The scores obtained on the School Opinion Survey were averaged and the mean (I) used as a basis for the determination of the "typi- cal" level of parent attitudes within the district. Against this mean score, each teacher's perception of parent atti- tudes score was compared. Perceptions of Parent Attitudes Instrument An adaptation of the School Opinion Survey was devel— oped to obtain the "accuracy of perception" score for each teacher. To enable exact and legitimate comparison between the mean (X) parent score and a given teacher's perception score, statements used in the two instruments had to be almost identical. 69 Using the A5 statements in the School Opinion Survey, teachers were asked to indicate how they perceived the "typi- cal" parent attitude. Although it is not necessary to list all A5 adapted statements (see Appendix B for complete form), the following will serve to illustrate the method used. TABLE 3.3 TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF PARENT ATTITUDES* The typical parent in this school community feels that 1. ...his child likes school. 2. ...his child's teacher provides help when needed. 3. ...what his child learns is of real value to him. etc. *Response choices and directions omitted. To each of these statements, in a manner similar to that explained earlier for the School Opinion Survey, the teacher indicated that the typical parent would agree, prob- ably agree, probably disagree, or disagree. Using a four point scale, the total score received by a teacher could then be compared to the actual mean (X) score of the parents. Parent Perceptions of Teacher Attitudes Scale In order that the degree of congruence between par- ent perceptions of teacher morale and the actual level of teacher morale be determined as required by Hypothesis Seven, an adaptation of the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire was developed 70 for parents. (See Appendix A for complete form.) Twenty statements were carefully and proportionately selected from the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire and revised for parents. Care was taken to make selections which were representative of the 10 factors comprising the Purdue instrument. Parents were instructed to express how they believed teachers felt about these 20 statements. The following are illustrative. TABLE 3.A PARENT PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHER ATTITUDES* 2. Teachers feel the number of hours they work is unreasonable. A. Teachers feel their principal makes work easier and more pleasant for them. 19. Teachers in our school feel well satisfied with their present teaching position. etc. *Response choices and directions omitted. Mechanics of Survey Administration As it was essential that frank and honest expressions of attitude be obtained from the district's teachers, the preservation of anonymity became quite important. Therefore, each teacher's Opinionaire and perception scale was not num- bered or coded in any way. In order that comparisons be made between morale and perception as required by Hypothesis One and Hypothesis Two, however, it was necessary that each teacher's two instruments be paired. The physical arrangement 71 of the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire precluded stapling or otherwise fastening it to the perception scale. Therefore, one of these and one perception scale were inserted for each teacher in an unmarked file-type folder and distributed at the appropriate time. Working cooperatively with the superintendent and the four principals of the district, four dates and times were arranged for the survey administration, all within one week of each other. A faculty meeting was called by each principal, during which the first A0 minutes were devoted to the explanation and administration of the two instruments by the researcher. The administration of the School Opinion Survey for Parents and the Parent Perceptions of Teacher Attitudes (see Tables 3.2 and 3.A) was, however, more difficult. Unlike with the teachers, it was impossible to control facil- ities, eliminate distractions, guarantee adequate time, and personally administer the instrument. As pointed out by Hand: The parent poll is far and away the most difficult of any of the three types of polls to conduct. Teachers and pupils can quite easily be called together and their inventories administered under very favorable conditions Unfortunately, none of these conditions obtains in reference to the parents' survey. They cannot all be got together, nor can a representative sample of them be assembled. Instead, inventories must be mailed to them, for the cost of employing the necessary number of trained interviewers would be prohibitive .27 27Hand, op. cit., pp. 79—81. 72 It not being possible to assemble a representative, unbiased sample of parents, the mailing of inventories was necessitated. The method of selecting an unbiased, random sample was explained earlier in this chapter and will not be repeated here. Each survey mailed included a pre—stamped, pre-addressed return envelope and a letter of transmittal signed by the district superintendent explaining the purpose of the survey and assuring the parent of his anonymity. To encourage this feeling of anonymity and importance, a post office box was rented expressly for the study under the name of "School Opinion Survey." Eighty—nine per cent of the returned surveys were received within two weeks, with the remaining 11 per cent necessitating a full month for return. An analysis of this latter group of surveys revealed no significant differences in the attitudes expressed from the larger and more promptly returned group. Of the 91 School Opinion Surveys mailed, 60 were returned, representing a 65.9 percent response. In light of Hand's statement quoted earlier in this chapter and the requirement imposed by the Michigan State University Research Department that a minimum of 50 surveys be returned, it would seem apparent that the parent response was more than adequate to establish the "typical" or mean (X) parent attitude essential in Hypotheses 2, 3, A, and 5. 73 Summary The purpose of this chapter has been to explain the procedures and instrumentation used to fulfill the objectives of this study. It was shown why the four variables of teacher morale, parent attitudes, teacher perceptions of par- ent attitudes, and parent perceptions of teacher attitudes had to be accurately measured. Reasons for the selection of the Purdue Teacher Opin- ionaire to measure teacher morale were given, as was informa- tion concerning this instrument's validity and reliability. The manner in which the need to assess parental attitudes was met was explained in some detail, including the basic rationale of the attitude survey technique, the need for the construction of a new instrument using content validity, a description of the resultant School Opinion Survey for Par- ents, and details concerning its .91 reliability. It was shown how an adaptation of the School Opinion Survey was used to measure teacher perceptions of parent attitudes, as was an adaptation of the Purdue Teacher Opin- ionaire used to assess parent perceptions of teacher morale. Several factors governing the selection of the pub— lic school district to be used were listed; an explanation of why this study had to be an intra-district rather than an inter-district study was given; and a brief description of the selected district was supplied. Extensive detail was provided relative to the manner in which parents were selected for the study. Justification 7H for the use of the stratified random sample technique for parent selection was given. The final section of this chapter was devoted to an explanation of the mechanics of test administration used in this study, stressing the need to maintain anonymity among the teachers and parents in order to attain the highest possible level of frank and honest expressions of attitude from both groups. This section was concluded with a report of the percentage (65.9 per cent) of usable School Opinion Survey returns from parents. The following chapter will be devoted to the analy- sis of the data gathered in this study. CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS OF THE DATA It has been the purpose of this study to analyze the attitudes of parents toward the school and to determine the relationship of teacher perceptions of these attitudes to teacher morale. Eight hypotheses were presented in Chap- ter I, around which this study has been developed. Each of these hypotheses has been analyzed separately, and the data obtained and appropriate explanation will be presented in this chapter. Null Hypothesis 1 H = 0. There will be no correlation between 01‘ I'12 the level at which teachers perceive parent attitudes and the general level of teacher morale. The analysis of this hypothesis necessitated the assessment of each teacher's general level of morale and a corresponding measurement of each teacher's perception of parent attitudes. To accomplish the first, the district's 9A teachers were administered the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire. The second necessity was satisfied by the administration of an adaptation of the School Opinion Survey, wherein teachers were instructed to express how they believed parents felt 75 76 about numerous school directed statements. Each teacher's morale score was then paired with his perception score to determine what degree of correlation existed between the two factors, if any. The Pearson product—moment correlation coefficient (r) was used in this analysis and found to be .7A9, a very high, positive correlation. TABLE “.1 MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF TEACHERS' SCORES ON MORALE, PERCEPTION, AND ACCURACY OF PERCEPTION Variable Mean Standard Deviation Morale 307.83 “0.51 Perception 125.63 16.67 Accuracy 18.17 12.01 To determine the significance of "r" (.7A5), the following formula was used: t = r g;2 .l The resultant "t" value of 10.86 was determined to be significant at the .001 alpha level. Therefore, the null hypothesis that there would be no correlation between teacher morale and level of teacher perception of parent attitudes was rejected. Conversely, a strong, positive correlation was estab- lished between a teacher's morale level and a teacher's per- ception level of parent attitudes toward the school and its 1N. M. Downie and R. W. Heath, Basic Statistical Methods (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 19657, P. 156. 77 program. Therefore, the following hypothesis was upheld and shown to be significant at the .001 alpha level: H41: rl2j>0. There will be a positive correlation between the level at which teachers perceive parent atti- tudes and the general level of teacher morale. Expressed differently, the vast majority (78.7 per cent) of the teachers involved in this study perceived par- ent attitudes consistent with their own level of morale. Teachers whose morale was above the mean perceived parent attitudes above the mean. Similarly, teachers whose morale was below the mean perceived parent attitudes below the mean. TABLE A.2 CONGRUENCE BETWEEN TEACHER MORALE LEVEL AND TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF PARENT ATTITUDES Number of Per Cent of Condition Teachers Teachers Above Morale and Perception Means 35 37.2 Below Morale and Perception Means 39 “1.5 Above Morale Mean but Below Perception Mean 15 16.0 Below Morale Mean but Above Perception Mean 5 5.3 Total 9A 100.0 78 Thusly, less than 22 per cent of the teachers tested possessed morale levels and perception levels which were incongruent relative to Hypothesis 1. Null Hypothesis 2 H r = 0. There will be no relationship between 02° 32 the accuracy of teacher perceptions of parent attitudes and the level of teacher morale. This hypothesis necessitated not only the determina- tion of each teacher's morale level but, in addition, the assessment of parent attitudes toward the school and its program. As in Hypothesis 1, the scores teachers received on the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire were used to determine morale level. Parent attitudes were determined from parent responses to the School Opinion Survey for Parents, an instrument described in detail in the preceding chapter. From the responses to this survey, a mean (f) parent atti- tude was ascertained, against which all teacher perceptions of parent attitudes were compared. This comparison deter- mined each teacher's level of accuracy. For the purpose of this study, accuracy has been defined as the degree of dif— ference between the mean parent attitude score and a teach- er's perception score. Although the mean teacher accuracy score was 18.17 points away from the true parental mean (see Table A.1), the degree of relationship between morale and accuracy of perception was quite large. Using the Pearson product—moment 79 correlation technique, a correlation coefficient (r) of .598 was realized. The significance of "r" was tested in the same manner as stated for Hypothesis 1. The "t" value was found to be 7.03, which is significant at the .001 level. The null hypothesis, that there was no correlation between accuracy of teacher perceptions of parent attitudes and teacher morale, was rejected. It became apparent, therefore, that a strong corre- lation between these two variables did, in fact, exist. For this reason, the following hypothesis was upheld and shown to be significant: HA2: r32j>0. There will be a relationship between the accuracy of teacher perceptions of parent attitudes and the level of teacher morale. It is interesting to note that the teachers who scored above the morale mean of 307.8 varied only an average of 12.07 points from the mean parent attitude. Those who scored below the mean on morale, however, varied from the average parent attitude by 25.1 points. Such an observation would tend to indicate that teachers of high morale are gen— erally more perceptive of parent attitudes than teachers of low morale. Null Hypothesis 3 m2+m3 . H03: m1 = ———§———. The accuracy of perception of parental attitudes of elementary teachers will be no greater than that of junior and senior high school teachers. 80 It was decided that the most appropriate technique to analyze the data generated from this hypothesis would be that of analysis of variance. Unlike simple correlations, no analysis of variance technique ignores the interaction between variables. All data are treated at once, and a gen— eral null hypothesis of no difference among the means of the various groups is tested.2 The following two tables summa— rize this study's data requisite to the analysis of vari- ance approach for this hypothesis. TABLE A.3 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF GROUP MEANS FOR ACCURACY OF PERCEPTION BY TEACHING LEVEL Source of Sum of Mean Significance Variance Squares df Squares "F" Level Between Groups 1776.75 2 888.38 6.95 .002 Within Groups 11636.12 91 1773.89 —-—- ---— Total 13412.87 93 127.87 ——-- ---— 21bid., p. 176. 81 TABLE A.A MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF ACCURACY OF PERCEPTION SCORES OF ELEMENTARY, JUNIOR HIGH AND SENIOR HIGH TEACHERS Level Number Means Standard Deviations Elementary 51 1A.A8 10.26 Junior High 22 20.18 12.1A Senior High 21 25.0A 12.81 Overall 9A 18.17 12.01 It was, therefore, readily apparent that the overall level of significance (.002) was sufficient to indicate that differences in group means existed and could be found among the possible comparisons. The Scheffe definition, that a comparison is significant at a given alpha level if the confidence interval for that comparison does not include zero, was used to test for significance. Hays clarified the use of the Scheffe post—hoe comparison test for significance in this manner: It is not a device for rescuing poor experiments by data-juggling. Instead, if the experimenter has found evidence for over-all significance among his experimental groups, he may use this method of post- hoc comparisons to evaluate any interesting compari- sons among means.3 Using the .05 alpha level of significance, the pre- ceding formula was used and found to reveal a significant 3William L. Hays, Statistics (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963), p.IA83. 82 difference between the mean of the elementary teacher accu- racy of perception score and the combined means of the junior and senior high school teachers. Therefore, Null Hypothesis H03 was rejected and the following hypothesis accepted: H : m _E§_i_fli . The ur c of erce tions of A3 l> 2 acc a y p p parent attitudes of elementary teachers will be significantly greater than that of junior and senior high school teachers. Taking advantage of this study's avoidance of the restrictive nature of planned comparison techniques wherein data may be only partly explored, the versatility of the Scheffe post—hoe comparison permitted an assessment of the other two possible comparisons: that of elementary accuracy compared to junior high accuracy and elementary accuracy compared to senior high accuracy. The comparison between the elementary and the junior high levels revealed no sig— nificant difference between group means. Although the dif- ference of 5.71 (20.18 - 1A.A7) between these two group means is certainly observable, the application of the Scheffe test for significance revealed a state of nonsignificance, as the confidence interval included zero within its limits. The other possible comparison, that between the ele— mentary level and the senior high level, revealed a high level of significant difference. Using the same test, the mean difference of 10.57 was sufficient to reveal a signifi- cant difference at the .01 alpha level. The following table serves as a summary of the three relationships existing in this hypothesis. 83 TABLE A.5 MEAN DIFFERENCE AND APPROXIMATE SIGNIFICANCE PROBABILITY OF THE "F" STATISTIC Significance Grouping Mean Difference Level Elementary Accuracy Compared to Junior not High Accuracy 5.71 significant Elementary Accuracy Compared to Senior High Accuracy 10.57 .01 Elementary Accuracy Compared to Junior- Senior High Accuracy 8.1A .05 Null Hypothesis A = m1+m.2 3 2 of senior high school teachers will be no less than that of HOA: m The accuracy of perceptions elementary and junior high teachers. With the exception that Hypothesis A focuses upon the accuracy of perceptions of senior high school teachers, this hypothesis is quite similar to Hypothesis 3. For this reason identical methods of analysis were undertaken. An analysis of variance coupled with the Scheffe post-hoc com- parison test revealed, at the .05 alpha level, a significant difference between the mean of the senior high teacher accu- racy of perception scores and the combined measure of the elementary and junior high teacher mean. Therefore, Null Hypothesis HOA was rejected and the following hypothesis accepted: 8A m1+m2 HA“: m3<:———§————u The accuracy of perceptions of secondary teachers will be significantly less than that of elementary and junior high teachers. The only remaining comparison to be made, that of senior high mean accuracy compared to junior high mean accu- racy, revealed a nonsignificant difference. Of interest, but not basic to either Hypothesis 3 or A, was the degree of correlation which was shown to exist between teaching level and teacher accuracy of perception of parent attitudes. Combining the third and fourth hypotheses for this purpose revealed a simple correlation coefficient of .36A. A correlation of this size based on a sample of 9A is significant at the .001 alpha level. Null Hypothesis 5 H05: m1 = m2. Teachers who reside in or within a five-minute automobile ride of the district will have the same degree of accuracy of perception of parent attitudes as will teachers who reside beyond these limits. To analyze this hypothesis it was necessary, as in Hypothesis 3 and A, to determine the degree of accuracy of teachers' perceptions of parent attitudes. However, teach- ing level was of no concern, with interest redirected to teacher residence location. Working from the personal data sheet which each teacher filled out at the time of the administration of the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire and the adaptation of the School Opinion Survey, an analysis revealed 85 only eight teachers who resided within the district at the time of the study. As results based upon such a small sam- ple might be inconclusive, it was decided to broaden this group to include all teachers who resided within a five- minute automobile ride of the district. This measurement of distance was considered to be less subject to teacher judgment errors than would have been a determination based upon mileage. Such a classification yielded 3A teachers who lived in the district or within five minutes of its borders. TABLE A.6 TEACHER ACCURACY OF PERCEPTION OF PARENT ATTITUDES GROUPED BY RESIDENCE LOCATION Variable Number Mean Standard Deviation "In-near" 3A 1A.O3 8.56 "Far" 60 20.52 13.07 Total 9A 18.17 12.01 An analysis of variance technique was then used to determine if the null hypothesis of no difference could be rejected. The table following shows the information per- tinent to this analysis. 86 TABLE A.7 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF GROUP MEANS FOR ACCURACY OF PERCEPTION GROUPED BY TEACHER RESIDENCE LOCATION Source of Sum of Mean Significance Variance Squares df Squares "F" Level Between Groups 91A.26 l 91A.26 6.73 .011 Within Groups 12A98.61 92 135.85 ---- ---- Total 13A12.87 93 ______ -___ __-_ Using the .05 level of significance to test the difference in the means of the two groups, it was determined that an "F" statistic of 3.95 or larger was needed in order to reject the null hypothesis of no difference. As the "F" statistic attained was 6.729, or well above the level required, Null Hypothesis 5 was rejected and the following hypothesis accepted: HAS: mlj>m2. Teachers who reside in or within a five-minute automobile ride of the district will have a more accurate perception of parent attitudes than will teachers who reside beyond these limits. Although the analysis of Hypothesis 5 could be terminated at this point, it is of interest to note the con- sistent decline in accuracy scores relative to residence location and teaching level. The following table provides this information. 87 TABLE A.8 MEAN PERCEPTION SCORES OF "IN-NEAR" AND "FAR" TEACHERS GROUPED BY TEACHING LEVEL Variable Elementary Junior High Senior High Total "In-near" 138.65 131.00 122.17 130.61 "Far" 125.90 116.57 11A.67 119.05 The actual parent mean attitude score as determined by the School Opinion Survey for Parents was 139.7. From Table A.9 it can thus be seen that the ”in—near" group of teachers consistently scored more accurately than did the corresponding "far" group. The following two tables show the pertinent data for an analysis of variance and "F" statistic. TABLE A.9 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF GROUP PERCEPTION MEANS FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS WHO RESIDE "IN-NEAR" AND "FAR" Source of Sum of Mean Significance Variance Squares df Squares "F" Level Between Groups 1975.3A l 1975.3A 9.75 .01 Within Groups 9927.26 A9 202.59 --—- --— Total 11902.60 50 ...... ---- _-_ 88 TABLE A.10 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF GROUP PERCEPTION MEANS FOR JUNIOR HIGH TEACHERS WHO RESIDE "IN-NEAR" AND "FAR" Source of Sum of Mean Significance Variance Squares df Squares "F" Level Between Groups 1059.3 1 1059.3 5.35 .05 Within Groups 3960.0 20 198.0 ---— -—— Total 5019.3 21 ----- --—— --- No table for analysis of variance for senior high teachers has been constructed as the "F" statistic failed to be significant. The overall degree of correlation which was shown to exist between residence location and teacher accuracy of parent attitudes was determined to be .261, a correlation which is significant at the .02 alpha level. Null Hypothesis 6 H06: m1 = m2. Teachers who live in or within a five-minute automobile ride of the district will have the same level of general morale as will teachers who reside beyond these limits. An analysis of this hypothesis necessitated, basi- cally, two operations: the division of the 9A teachers into residence location groups as done for Hypothesis 5, and the assessment of the morale level of each teacher. Results 89 from the administration of the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire supplied the required morale information, and a review of the personal data sheets enabled the division of the teachers into the "in—near" and "far" groups. The mean morale score of the 60 teachers of the "far" group was established at 301.52, or 6.31 points below the mean for all 9A teachers tested. Conversely, the mean mor- ale score for the ”in-near" group was 318.97, or 11.1A points above the mean for all teachers and l7.A5 points above the mean for those teachers comprising the "far" cate- gory. Table A.11 summarizes these data. TABLE A.11 MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF TEACHER MORALE SCORES GROUPED BY RESIDENCE LOCATION Variable Number Mean Standard Deviation "In-near" 3A 318.97 Al.25 "Far" 60 301.52 39.03 Total 9A 307.83 A0.51 As with the preceding hypothesis, an analysis of variance technique was then used to evaluate the null hypoth— esis of "no difference." The following table contains the data which were necessary for this analysis. 90 TABLE A.12 ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF GROUP MORALE MEANS FOR TEACHERS WHO RESIDE "IN-NEAR" AND "FAR" Source of Sum of Mean Significance Variance Squares df Squares "F" Level Between Groups 6611.32 1 6611.32 A.17 .OAA Within Groups 1A6039.95 92 1587.39 ---- ---- Total 152651.27 93 __-_ ____ ____ As the "F" statistic reported in the preceding table was sufficiently large to reject the null hypothesis, the following hypothesis was accepted: $96: mlfi’m2' Teachers who reside in or within a five—minute automobile ride of the district will have a higher general level of morale than those who reside beyond these limits. In addition to the foregoing analysis of data essential to Hypothesis 6, it is of considerable interest to observe the pattern of decline in teacher morale scores when grouped by teaching level and residency location. The next table provides this information. The sharp decline of the "in-near" groups when viewed by teaching level is quite apparent in the following table. However, a slight deviation from this pattern can be seen in the "far" group in relation to junior high and senior high teachers. 91 TABLE A.13 MEAN MORALE SCORES OF "IN-NEAR" AND "FAR" TEACHERS GROUPED BY TEACHING LEVEL Variable Elementary Junior High Senior High Total "In-near" 333.35 302.13 295.67 318.97 "Far" 318.35 282.1A 28A.73 301.52 A further analysis of the data revealed an overall correlation to exist between teacher morale and residence location. The correlation (r) of .21 was found to be sig- nificant at the .05 level. Null Hypothesis 7 H07: 1 - m2 = 0. There will be no difference between the morale of teachers who attended school within m the district and those who did not attend within the dis- trict. Data for this hypothesis were gathered by isolating the morale scores for those teachers who had at one time attended school within the district. From information from the personal data sheets, 10 teachers were found to meet this criterion. The mean morale score of these teachers (306.8) was then compared to the mean score for the other 8A teachers in the study (307.95), a difference of only 1.15 points. I. I ‘II II '1 III \II In TABLE A.1A ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF GROUP MEANS FOR TEACHERS WHO DID AND DID NOT ATTEND WITHIN THE DISTRICT Source of Sum of Mean Significance Variance Squares df Squares "F" Level Between Groups 11.87 1 11.87 .00715 .933* Within Groups 152639.A1 92 1659.12 ——— --- Total 152651.28 93 -——- ——- ——- *Not significant. As shown in the preceding table, an "F" statistic of only .00715 was revealed. As no "F" ratio less than 1.0 can have significance, no further analysis was undertaken. Null Hypothesis 7 could not, therefore, be rejected. A condition not revealed in the foregoing brief analysis should be mentioned, however. 0f the 10 teachers who had attended within the district, seven were elementary teachers, whose mean morale score was lA.l9 points above the average of the non~attenders, or 322.1A. The scores of the three remaining junior and senior high school teachers were sufficiently low, however, to reduce the group mean, when compared to the mean of the non-attenders, to a level of insignificance. 93 Null Hypothesis 8 H08: ml - m2 = 0. There will be no difference between teacher morale as perceived by parents and the actual level of teacher morale. Two factors had to be studied to permit an examina— tion of this hypothesis: the general level of teacher mor- ale within the district without regard to teaching level, residence, or attendance, and level at which parents per- ceived teacher morale. Although the mean morale level of the district's teachers had already been established, the level at which parents perceived teacher morale had to be determined. By using the method described in Chapter III, wherein 20 items from the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire were reacted to by parents as they thought teachers would respond, the parent perception mean was established and compared to the corresponding teacher mean for the same items. The mean teacher score was 59.88, compared to the mean parent perception score of 60.56, a difference of only .68. This data, when tested for differences between means for uncor— related data, was not found to be significant. Null Hypothesis 8 was not rejected. Not revealed in the foregoing data, however, was the high correlation which existed between the score of a par- ent's attitude and parent perception of teacher morale. Using the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient, which is a product—moment correlation coefficient for ranked data, 9A a correlation (rho) of .68A was generated, significant at the .001 alpha level. Summary In this chapter the hypotheses stated in Chapter I were stated in their null form and analyzed. Those which could be rejected in the null form were restated as direc- tional, or delta hypotheses. For purposes of summarization, the eight hypotheses will now be stated in question form and answered on the basis of the statistical data gathered. Question 1 — Will there by a relationship between the level at which teachers perceive parent attitudes and the level of teacher morale? The data revealed a high correlation of .75 between these two variables, significant at the .001 alpha level. Teachers whose morale level was above the mean of the dis- trict perceived parent attitudes above the mean. Conversely, teachers who perceived parent attitudes below the mean pos- sessed a morale level which was also below the district mean. Only 21 per cent of the teachers did not reflect this pat— tern. Therefore, on the basis of these data, a relationship was observed between the level at which teachers perceive parent attitudes and teacher morale. Question 2 - Will there be a relationship between the accuracy of teacher perceptions of parent attitudes and the level of teacher morale? A correlation coefficient of .60, significant at the .001 level, established a definite relationship between the 95 variables of accuracy of perception and teacher morale. Teachers who scored above the district morale mean were con- sistently more accurate in their perception of parent atti- tudes concerning the school, with an average discrepancy of only 12.07 points. However, teachers who scored below the district morale mean were shown to be, on the average, 25.1 points away from the parent attitude mean. The correlation between these two factors, therefore, was quite evident. Question 3 - Will elementary teachers be more accu- rate in their perception of parent attitudes than junior and senior high school teachers? The analysis of variance technique was applied to the data of this question, revealing a significant differ— ence between the accuracy mean of elementary teachers and the combined means of junior and senior high teachers. The "F" statistic generated was tested and found to be signifi— cant at the .05 level. In addition to this basic analysis, the Scheffe post-hoe tests for significant differences between elementary and junior high accuracy mean scores and elementary and senior high accuracy mean scores were reported, which indicated the elementary-junior high com— parison of difference to lack significance at the .05 level but the elementary—senior high comparison to be significant at the .01 level. It can, therefore, be stated that a relationship between teaching level and accuracy of per— ception of parent attitudes was found. 96 Question A - Will senior high school teachers be less accurate in their perception of parent attitudes than elementary and junior high teachers? An analysis of variance, coupled with the Scheffe post-hoe comparison test, revealed a significant difference between the mean of the senior high teacher accuracy score and the combined mean of the elementary and junior high teacher score. The difference was found to be significant at the .05 level. Question 5 - Will teachers who reside in or within a five minute automobile ride of the district have a more accurate percep— tion of parent attitudes than teachers who reside beyond these limits? The data revealed a significant difference between the means of these two variables. Teachers who resided in or near the district had a mean accuracy score of 1A.029, as compared to a mean accuracy score of 20.520 for teachers who lived at a greater distance from the district. An analysis of variance technique generated an "F" statistic of 6.73, significant at the .01 alpha level. Beyond this basic analysis, two additional analyses were made. In the first, accuracy scores of elementary teachers who comprised the "in-near" group were compared to scores of teachers in the "far" category, revealing an "F" statistic of 9.75, significant at the .01 level. The second additional analy- sis was identical to the preceding one with the exception that junior high teachers' scores were used. A slightly 97 lower "F" statistic of 5.35 was generated, significant at the .05 level. On the basis of these findings, a strong relation— ship between teacher residence location and accuracy of perception of parent attitudes was recognized. Question 6 — Will teachers who reside in or within a five-minute automobile ride of the district have higher morale than those who reside beyond these limits? An analysis of the data related to this question revealed that teachers of the "in-near" group had a mean morale score of 318.97, or 11.1A points above the mean for all teachers and l7.A5 points above the mean of those teach- ers in the "far" category. As was done with the five pre- ceding hypotheses, the null hypothesis of "no difference" was rejected as a result of a generated "F" statistic of A.16, significant at the .05 level. On the strength of these data, it can be assumed that a strong relationship did exist between teacher residence location and teacher morale. Question 7 — Will there be a significant difference between the morale of teachers who attended school within the district and those who did not attend within the district? No significant difference between these two variables was found. The fact of school attendance as a child within the district had no observable effect upon teacher morale. Question 8 — Will there be a significant difference between teacher morale as perceived by parents and the actual level of teacher morale? 98 As stated in the preceding question, no significant difference between these two variables was found. Parents were, in fact, extremely accurate in their assessment of teacher morale. The final chapter will be devoted to a concise summary of the research, conclusions, implications, and suggestions for further study. [Ill-Ill! {<33 v I‘ll: . ll! II! J 1!] E ’1'?) 1" I It. )I‘llI‘l A (‘ CHAPTER V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS This final chapter will be devoted to a summary of the study, followed by a discussion of the conclusions gen- erated from the analysis of the data, and concluded with recommendations for further research. Summary Purposes of the Study l. The basic purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the general level of teacher morale and teacher ability to perceive parent attitudes concerning the school's program, facilities, services, and staff. 2. Closely allied with this purpose was the desire to ascertain if teachers who were quite accurate in percep- tion of parent attitudes had higher morale than less per- ceptively accurate teachers. 3. The study additionally sought to determine if there existed significant differences between the mean (I) accuracy levels of elementary, junior high, and senior high .school teachers relative to estimating parental attitudes concerning the school. 99 100 A. To explore the relationship between teacher resi- dence location (in or near the district as opposed to a dis— tant location) and general morale and perception levels was 0 a further purpose of this study. 5. A minor purpose of the study was to assess the relationship, if any, which might exist between attendance within the district of teachers as former students and teacher morale. 6. The study's final purpose was to determine how accurately parents perceived teacher attitudes concerning the various aspects of the school and its program. In order to explore these six related yet distinctly different purposes, eight hypotheses were developed. These will be discussed later in this chapter under Conclusions. Limitations of the Study 1. This study involved all the teachers and a ran- domly selected sample of parents of one Michigan school district in an in-depth analysis of the interrelatedness of teacher morale, parent attitudes, teacher perceptions of these attitudes, and parent perceptions of teacher attitudes. 2. The validity of the study was a function of the degree of frankness and sincerity of teacher and parent responses to the instruments administered. 3. The study explored only the following specific variables as they might be related to teacher morale and perception: level of teacher perception of parent attitudes, . 1 .)1| \ 20?. fl XI )II‘IL‘ ‘IIIIII (1 I/ll: 101 accuracy of perception, teaching levels as related to per- ception, teacher residence location, and parent perceptions of teacher morale. A. Relationships found between the variables cited and teacher morale were considered correlational only, not causal. Review of the Literature A review of the literature for this study consisted of an analysis of the historical development of the concept "attitude" and its various psychological aSpects, an over- view of the development of interest in morale in the military and commercial worlds, and an intensive review of morale studies in education. Morale studies which were related to this study were examined in depth. Major findings of pre- vious morale Studies in education which were particularly significant were as follows: 1. Personnel policies and practices more important than economic consideration. Prime importance of the school administrator. Necessity to receive recognition for work done and to possess a degree of job satisfaction. Correlation between sex, marital status, and morale. No significance in degree held, subject taught, or length of time in present position. Positive correlation between teachers from high socio-economic status and high morale. Determinants of teacher morale shown to be pluralistic and interactional. 102 8. Ability to influence curriculum and policy important. 9. Positive Correlation between open-mindedness and high morale. 10. Low morale frequently rooted in policy, admin- istrative characteristics, relations with super- visors, and lack of administrative support in disciplinary matters. 11. Positive correlation between indirect administra— tive style and high morale. Design of the Study In order to determine and measure relationships among the variables of this study four instruments were used. The Purdue Teacher Opinionaire was selected to measure teacher morale, and an adaptation of this instrument was used to determine the perceptivity of parents to teacher morale. The assessment of parent attitudes concerning the school was accomplished through the use of the School Opinion Survey for Parents, written specifically for this study. An adap- tation of this device was used to measure the degree of teacher perceptivity to parent attitudes concerning the school and its program. As the nature of the study necessitated an in-depth assessment of the internal factors of teacher perceptions and teacher morale, it was deemed inappropriate to include more than one district in the study. The introduction of undetermined and uncontrolled variables would have resulted from the inclusion of additional districts. 103 Although it was determined that all teachers within the district would be surveyed, it was necessary to conduct a stratified random sampling of district parents. Seven sets of parents with children at each of the 13 grade levels were randomly selected to receive the School Opinion Survey. The survey was mailed to these 91 sets of parents along with a letter of transmittal and a pre-addressed and stamped envelope for return. A 66 per cent response was realized. Adaptations of this instrument and the Purdue Teacher Opin- ionaire were administered to the teachers of the district as part of regularly scheduled faculty meetings. Data from the administration of the study's four instruments and the teachers' personal data sheets were punched on computer data cards and submitted to Michigan State University's CDC 3600 computer for computational purposes. Conclusions Hypothesis 1 — There will be a positive correlation between the level at which teachers perceive parent attitudes and the general level of teacher morale. The relationship between the two factors of this hypothesis proved to be the strongest of any within the study. A Pearson correlation coefficient (r) of .7A9 was found to exist, significant at the .001 alpha level, thus establishing a very strong correlation between a teacher's morale level and a teacher's perception level of parent attitudes. Having accepted this hypothesis, then, it would 10A seem apparent that the manner in which a teacher perceives the attitudes of his students' parents becomes a factor of considerable importance in determining the general morale level of that teacher. To illustrate this point further, the study showed that of the AA teachers of below average morale, 89 per cent of them perceived parent attitudes to be relatively negative concerning the school. Similarly, of the 50 who were determined to possess above average mor— ale, 7 out of 10 perceived parent attitudes to be supportive of the school. Although it would be impossible to determine from this study's data the relative importance of this fac- tor of teacher morale when compared to other previously recognized factors, its role is clearly established. Hypothesis 2 — There will be a relationship between the accuracy of teacher perceptions of parent attitudes and the level of teacher morale. The degree of relationship between these two vari- ables within this study was revealed to be quite strong. Using the Pearson product-moment correlation technique again, a correlation coefficient (r) of .598 was realized, signifi- cant at the .001 level, establishing the validity of this hypothesis. Therefore, it can be concluded that sensitivity to community feelings as represented by parental attitudes plays an important role in morale determination. Whereas the data relative to the first hypothesis merely established a relationship between the perceived level of parent atti- tudes and morale, this hypothesis explores accuracy of I17 1.1 ,.},l l.lul.lull\ 105 perception as an additional factor of morale. The data show without much doubt that teachers who are more attuned to community attitudes and therefore more accurate in their perception of them possess a higher level of general morale than teachers who are less accurate in their perceptions. Hypothesis 3 — The accuracy of perceptions of parent atti- tudes of elementary teachers will be signifi- cantly greater than that of junior and senior high school teachers. As this hypothesis is built upon an assumption of difference between group means, the analysis of variance technique, coupled with the Scheffe post-hoe comparison test for significance, was used to evaluate statistically the accuracy of this hypothesis. Although an overall difference between group means produced an "F" statistic of 6.95, sig- nificant at the .002 alpha level, this merely affirmed that significant differences did exist globally. More specific— ally, however, this hypothesis was established to explore the degree of difference between the elementary teachers' accuracy of perception mean and the combined mean of junior and senior high teachers. Using this combination of teach— ing levels for comparison, a difference between means was revealed, significant at the .05 alpha level, thus resulting in an acceptance of Hypothesis 3. The second assessment of mean differences compared the elementary group mean with the junior high group mean. Although a gross difference between accuracy of perception 106 means of 5.71 points was readily observed, the difference did not prove to be significant at the .05 level. The final comparison of group means, that between elementary and senior high teachers, did show considerable difference, however. The mean difference of 10.57 was more than sufficient to establish a .01 level of significant dif- ference. The basic conclusion which one must draw from the foregoing data analysis is that elementary teachers tend, on the average, to be measurably more accurate in their per- ception of parental school-directed attitudes than are teachers at the junior and senior high school levels, par— ticularly senior high. Although there was no attempt to differentiate between teachers of specific single grade levels, the broad groups of elementary, junior, and senior high were sufficient to demonstrate the progressive reduc— tion in perceptivity of teachers to parent attitudes as the teaching level increased. This inverse ratio of teaching level to sensitivity of community attitudes has, of course, numerous implications for school administrators, teacher training institutions, and boards of education, some of which will be discussed later in this chapter. It would be improper in a study of this nature to attempt to suggest reasons for these demonstrated differences, as this should be the purpose of further research. 107 Hypothesis A - The accuracy of perception of senior high teachers will be significantly less than that of elementary and junior high teachers. The similarity of this hypothesis to the preceding one enabled an identical statistical approach. A difference between the mean accuracy of perception scores for senior high teachers and the combined mean of the elementary and junior high teachers was shown to be significantly different at the .05 alpha level, thus supporting this hypothesis. It is, therefore, appropriate to conclude that senior high teachers are considerably less attuned to the feelings of parents within the district than are the combined elementary and junior high teachers. Again, reasons for this demon- strated condition will not be attempted, but deferred to future research. Hypothesis 5 — Teachers who reside in or within a five-minute automobile ride of the district will have a more accurate perception of parent attitudes than will teachers who reside beyond these limits. Using analysis of variance once again to determine if a significant difference existed in mean accuracy of percep- tion between these two residence-divided teacher groups, the arithmetic difference of 6.A9 accuracy points was demonstrated to be significant at the .011 level, or well beyond the .05 alpha level. It is fair to conclude, therefore, that teach- ers who reside at considerable distance from the district in which they teach will be significantly less perceptive of 108 parent attitudes than will those teachers who reside close to or within the district. Although not required for analysis within this hypothesis, the study's data additionally demonstrated the consistent decline in accuracy scores relative to residence location and teaching level. Teachers who were both at the elementary level and lived in or near the district were exceedingly accurate in their perception of parent attitudes, varying only 1.05 points from the true mean. At the opposite end of the accuracy continuum were senior high teachers who lived at considerable distance from the district. This lat- ter group deviated from the true mean by 19.6 points. Hypothesis 6 - Teachers who reside in or within a five- minute automobile ride of the district will have a higher general level of morale than those who reside beyond these limits. The analysis of variance technique was used to inves— tigate this hypothesis, as once again the study was concerned with the examination of significant differences, if any, between group means. An "F" statistic was generated of A.17, significant at the .05 level. In the acceptance, therefore, of this hypothesis it can be concluded that teachers of highest morale will typically be residents of or close to the district in which they teach. As in the preceding hypothesis, which related residence location to perception, the further analysis of data of this hypothesis revealed that elementary teachers who resided in or near the district possessed the highest level of general morale, 25.52 points 109 above the district average. In this analysis, however, senior high teachers were not at the other end of the mor- ale continuum. The dubious distinction fell this time upon the junior high teachers who lived at considerable distance from the district. These teachers scored an average of 25.69 points below the district mean. The difference between this junior high group and the senior high teachers of simi- lar residence location, however, was so small (2.59 points) that the difference can be concluded to be a result of chance rather than a real difference. Hypothesis 7 - Teachers who at one time attended school within the district will have higher general morale than teachers who did not attend within the district. An analysis of variance between group means of teachers who had attended and who had not attended within the district failed to reveal any significant difference. It was therefore concluded that the variable of former atten- dance within the district in which one is teaching has little, if any, influence upon the morale level of teachers. Hypothesis 8 — Parents will perceive teacher morale at a lower level than shown by the analysis of the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire. The analysis of data pertinent to this hypothesis, when tested for differences between means for uncorrelated data, was not found to be significant. As the difference between actual teacher morale and parent perceptions of teacher morale was only .68 of a point, it can be concluded, 110 contrary to the hypothesis, that parents are quite accurate in their perceptions of teacher attitudes. Implications The implications which can be drawn from this study, although basic in nature and modest in scope, are nonethe- less significantly important to all teachers, administrators, school board members, parents, and those engaged in teacher education. If the attainment of high teacher morale is important to all who are involved in the teaching-learning process, and there can be no doubt that it is, then it is essential that all factors which help define morale, identify its components, and improve it are of the utmost importance. This study has pointed out the high correlation betwee? teacher morale and teacher perception of parent atti— tudes / It has long been established, both through casual obserVation and research, that elementary teachers have far more contact with their students' parents than do teachers of either the junior or senior high 1evels.§ The basic fact that elementary teachers do have more parenéal contacts, coupled with the data drawn from this study that they per- ceive parent attitudes to be higher than perceived by teach— ers of the more advanced grades, is much more than coincidental. This condition clearly implies that increased teacher-parent contacts are essential if teachers' sensitiv- ity to parental attitudes, concerns, and beliefs is to be increased. This need becomes especially vital when viewed 111 in the light of the long established inverse relationship between teaching level and morale level. It becomes essential, therefore, that teachers be given the freedom, time, and administrative encouragement to have meaningful and frequent parental contacts. Beyond the traditional parent-teacher activities, it becomes essen— f5 tial that teachers make frequent home contacts, both in per- E son and by telephone. The accepted practice of parent-teacher E conferences within the school at the primary level should be i encouraged throughout all levels of instruction. This study clearly indicated that teachers who perceived parents as being critical and generally unsupportive of the school's program possessed low morale. The gross inaccuracy of this collective perception, however, strongly implies that many teachers and most low morale teachers need to direct far greater efforts to "know" the community wherein they teach. Teacher educators must ask themselves, "Are we pro- viding the types of experiences which will encourage pro- spective teachers to recognize the need to understand parental attitudes?" "Are we developing in our students a desire to establish good lines of communication between home and school?" These and questions like them embody many implications for those training prospective teachers. School boards, by their very nature and purpose, must represent their communities and establish policies which facilitate the growth of each child to his fullest potential. To do this a board member must not only be sensitive to the 112 concerns of the community himself, but must establish poli- cies which enable the district's professional staff to become and remain aware of parental feelings concerning the school's program. Both Hypotheses 5 and 6 focused upon teacher resi- dence location, one probing its relationship to perception of parent attitudes and the other its relationship to mor- E ale. Simply faced with the data of this study one might be 1 tempted to assume, since teachers who live in or near the district are both more perceptive and possess higher morale, 7 that this generates the strong implication that all teach- ers should live within or near the district in which they teach. There is no question, based upon the data of this study, that teachers who reside at considerable distance from the district are significantly less attuned to parent attitudes and possess lower morale. However, an administra- tor who, because of this data, employed only teachers who reside or would be willing to live within or very near the district would be depriving his district of an important source of new ideas, techniques, and opinions. A misinter- pretation of this data could lead to an undesirable resurgence of provincialism. Furthermore, such an administrator would be falsely assuming a cause-and—effect relationship to exist between residence location, morale, and perception. As stated previously, none of the eight hypotheses examined attempted to establish such a concrete relationship. 113 The final two hypotheses, dealing with attendance and teacher morale in Hypothesis 7 and parent perceptions of teacher morale in Hypothesis 8, failed to be rejected. One should guard against drawing the conclusion, however, that a condition of no differences between groups exists. As stated by Farquhar, "You do not prove equality by fail- ing to reject the null hypothesis. All you know is that there is not a statistical difference."1 Questions for Further Study 1. In light of the many factors which former studies have shown to be related to teacher morale, how significant a role does this study's focus (teacher perceptions of par- ent attitudes) play in morale determination? 2. If parent attitudes were generally non—supportive of the school's program, would highly accurate teacher per- ceptions of these attitudes continue to contribute to high teacher morale? 3. Is the number of years in teaching a factor which is related to perceptivity of parent attitudes? A. Why are elementary teachers more perceptive of parent attitudes than teachers of more advanced levels? 5. Is the relative imperceptiveness of senior high teachers more attributable to personality factors of the 1William W. Farquhar, "Directions for Thesis Prep- aration" (East Lansing, Michigan State University, 1969), p. 1A. (Mimeographed.) ‘- u-v ann- “‘2‘.‘m1 l . 11A teacher or the administrative organization of the typical senior high school? 6. Is the greater perceptivity of teachers who live in or near the district due more to opportunities for infor- mation exchange or to similarities of teacher and parent personality? 7. What single factor contributes most to the higher morale level of teachers who reside in or near the district? 8. Why are parents more perceptive of teacher atti- tudes than teachers are of parent attitudes? 9. Do morale and perception of parent attitudes diminish proportionately to increasing residence distance from teaching location? 10. Would the replication of this study within a district of differing socio-economic structure, size, and geographical location produce significantly different results? Reflections Although this study affirmed several of the research— er's untested beliefs which had formerly been based merely upon casual observation, several of the study's findings were of an unexpected nature. For example, it had been assumed, as expressed in Hypothesis 7, that individuals who had attended school within the district and then returned as teachers would possess a higher level of morale than teachers who had never attended within the district. The assumption was that anyone who returned as a teacher having 115 considerable knowledge of the district beforehand must feel ’generally positive about the schools and community as a whole. As the study reported in Chapter IV, only elementary teachers who returned fit this assumption. Actually, the average morale level of all teachers who had been former students in the district was slightly below the district- r~ wide teacher mean, a considerably surprising result. 4 Another quite unexpected result involved parent per- ceptions of teacher attitudes. As the study was conducted and data gathered at a time which followed rather closely r intensive and often bitter state-wide teacher contract negotiations and frequent strikes, coupled with detailed coverage of such in the news media, it was assumed that par- ents would estimate teacher morale to be quite low. There- fore, Hypothesis 8, which asserted that parents would perceive teacher morale to be lower than actuality, was for- mulated. As reported earlier, however, parent perceptions were remarkably accurate in this regard. 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"An Analysis of Studies Critical of the Motivator—Hygiene Theory," Personnel Psychology, XX (Winter, 1967), 39l-A13. Worthy, J. C. "Factors Influencing Employee Morale," Harvard Business Review, XXVIII (January, 1950), 65-67. Unpublished Materials Adair, John. "A Study of Job Factors That Affect Teacher Morale." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Cornell University, 1967. Bowers, Orville E. "Elements of Institutional Climate Per- taining to Faculty Morale in Colleges." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Missouri, 1968. Brinkman, Marie J. "Factors Related to Teacher Morale in Three Junior High Schools." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Wayne State University, 1966. Brust, Norman. "The Relationship Between Some Factors of School Organizational Climate and Some Factors of Teacher Self—Concept." Unpublished Doctoral disser- tation, University of Delaware, 1966. Crothers, John M. "An Analysis of Joint Variations in Morale and Productivity." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Tennessee, 1965. Green, James E. "The Relationship Between Dogmatism of Prin- cipals and Teachers and Teacher's Morale in Twelve Selected Secondary Schools of Michigan." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1966. Gubser, Merlyn. "Authoritarianism Among Teachers and School Principals and Its Possible Relationship to Faculty Morale." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Univer- sity of Oregon, 1968. Hood, Evans C. "A Study of Congruence of Perceptions Con- cerning Factors Which Affect Teacher Morale." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, East Texas State University, 1965. Houston, Donald E. "Teaching Level as a Situational Variable Related to Staff Morale." Unpublished Doctoral dis- sertation, Purdue University, 1968. 12A Hurley, J. A. "Effects of Administrative Changes on Teacher Morale." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University, 1968. Johnson, Eldon D. "An Analysis of Factors Related to Teacher Satisfaction-Dissatisfaction."‘ Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Auburn University, 1967. Lambert, Donald B. "A Study of the Relationship Between Teacher Morale and the School Principal's Leader Behavior." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Auburn University, 1968. Minzey, Jack D. "A Study of the Relationship Between Teacher Morale and Student Attitudes Toward Their School Environment." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1967. Napier, Thomas G. "Teacher Morale." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska Teachers Col— lege, 1966. Plant, Ralph E. "An Investigation of Some Correlates of Teacher Job Satisfaction." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Cornell University, 1966. Suehr, John H. "A Study of Morale in Education." Unpub— lished Doctoral dissertation, University of Colorado, 1961. Thompson, Clement. "The Morale of Senior High School Teach— ers in the New York City Public School System and Attitude Toward the Single Salary Schedule." Unpub- lished Doctoral dissertation, New York University, 1957. Westfall, Robert. "Socio—Economic Status of a School Attend— ance Center in an Urban Area as a Factor in the Morale of Its Elementary School Teachers." Unpub- lished Doctoral dissertation, Purdue University, 1967. Wotring, Jarvis C. "Teacher Morale and Evaluation of Teachers." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1965. APPENDIXES 125 dull“ ‘ 1| Kill I!‘ I '11 Ill.lw APPENDIX A School Opinion Survey for Parents 126 APPENDIX A SCHOOL OPINION SURVEY FOR PARENTS This survey is designed to give you the opportunity to express your opinion about your child's school and school district. Be frank in your responses as there are no right or wrong answers. v w- - . a . 1.3.1“ “gum—1' .l . , Please do not put your name on this survey or omit any items. DIRECTIONS FOR RECORDING RESPONSES Read each statement carefully. Then indicate whether you: agree, probably agree, probably disagree, or disagree. If you agree, circle A. . . . . . . . . . . . . (@ PA PD D If you are uncertain, but pgobably agree, circle PA . . . . . . . A P PD D If you are uncertain, but probably disagree, circle PD. . . . . . A PA®D If you disagree, circle D . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD(:) If you have more than one (1) child in school, answer in terms of the child who had the most recent birthday. 127 10. 11. 13. 1A. 16. 128 Part 1 My child likes school My child's teacher gives help when he needs it. . . . . . . . . . What my child learns in school is of real value to him. . . . . . . . . . . My child does not have enough variety of subjects available to him . . The school my child attends is overcrowded. The physical education equipment and facilities are inadequate I feel there is a good relationship between our community and the school. . . . I feel the newspaper should carry much more information about our school and district. I am unhappy with the school's method of reporting my child's progress Communication between parents, teachers, administrators, and school board could be greatly improved The district is providing a good educational program for the amount of taxes now paid. Too much time in school is devoted to testing Many important changes should be made to improve the quality of education in our school. The district needs many more classes for children with special needs (speech, remedial reading, physically and mentally handicapped, etc.) . Our school should do much more to teach good citizenship. The principal always seems interested in my child's progress in school Circle One A PA PD D A PA A PA A PA A PA A PA A PA PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD wur~_m Inna 22.-m.“ % 1 . . .r .111.» ii" .1|.7 Ill-Ill. 54‘ 17. 18. 19. 20. 22. 23. 2A. 30. 31. 129 The cost of education is excessive in our district. The school, in general, is meeting my child's needs I consider my child's teacher to be a skilled, professional educator. My child has ample opportunity to attend school parties, games, clubs, etc.. My child's school has an insufficient amount of laboratory and classroom equipment My child is well liked and respected by his classmates. . . . . I feel the social status of teachers in our district is quite high. My child's teacher doesn't really "know" my child. My child's school compares favorably with other schools that I know . . . I am required to spend more money for such things as workbooks and school supplies than I want to. My child's teacher seems interested in teaching. I feel the school could do a much better job of informing parents about the school Parent-teacher relationships are quite satisfactory. My child's teacher has good discipline in the class . . . . . . . . . . . I would not be willing to pay higher school taxes. . . Most schools in neighboring districts offer better educational programs than my child's school. . . I show much interest in my child's school work and related activities PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD 39. A0. A1. A2. A3. AA. A5. 130 Much more time should be devoted to teaching the "3 H's" than is presently done. I am quite pleased with my child's school My child's school building is not an adequate facility . . . Teachers in our district are overly concerned about salary and "fringe" benefits. My child's school is doing a good job of teaching the values of democracy. Our P.T.A. assists the school in the improvement of the educational program. I am not satisfied with the school my child attends . . . . . . . Much of what my child is learning will be of little use to him as an adult. The amount of homework assigned to my child seems about right . I am proud of our district's school system. I feel that parent—teacher conferences are generally a waste of time My child is well liked and respected by his teacher . . . . . . . Please continue on to Part 2. PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD This last part of the survey will give you the opportunity to indicate how you think you school's teachers feel about 131 Part 2 certain aspects of the school environment. 10. 11. 12. Teachers feel they are provided adequate classroom supplies and equipment. Teachers feel the number of hours they work is unreasonable Teachers feel that their work is appreciated by other teachers in the school . . Teachers feel their principal makes work easier and more pleasant for them Teachers feel the curriculum is in need of major changes. Teachers feel, if they could plan their career over again, they would choose teaching again. . Teachers feel that most people in this community understand and appreciate good education. Teachers feel salaries paid in this district compare well with salaries in other districts Teachers feel there is a good deal of griping, arguing, and feuding among themselves. . . . . . . Teachers feel free to discuss controversial issues in the classroom Teachers feel their principal is interested in them and their problems. . . . . Teachers feel if they could earn as much money in other work they would stop teaching. Circle One A PA PD D A PA PD D A PA PD D A PA PD D A PA PD D 7‘: ‘3‘ ‘1 1“ 13. 1A. l6. 17. 18. 19. 132 Teachers feel their job enables them to provide a satisfactory living for their family. . . Teachers feel they are required to do an unreasonable amount of clerical work. Teachers feel that most of the actions of the students irritate them. Teachers feel their work is judged fairly by the principal. . . . Teachers feel as though they are a real part of our community Teachers feel the meetings now conducted by the principal waste time and energy of the staff. Teachers in our school feel well satisfied with their present teaching position. Teachers feel it is difficult to gain acceptance by the people of this community . . . . . . . PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD APPENDIX B Teacher Perceptions of Parent Attitudes 133 ((‘r‘. APPENDIX B OF I 7 TEACHER PERCEPTIONS 1 PARENT ATTITUDES I 1 1 i 9 1 4 l ‘ 'b. This survey will give you an opportunity to indicate how you, as a teacher, perceive parent attitudes concern- ing the school. Be frank in your responses as there are no right or wrong answers. Please do not put your name on this survey or omit any items. h. ——_.. _._._ DIRECTIONS FOR RECORDING RESPONSES Read each statement carefully. Then indicate whether you: agree, probably agree, probably disagpee, or disagree. If you agree, circle A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(D PA PD D If you are uncertain, but probably agree, circle PA . . . . . . . . . A(EE}PD D If you are uncertain, but probably disagree, circle PD. . . . . . . . A PA(§5 D If you disagree, circle D . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD(3 __-—.- ...-—4 13A ‘1 ‘1 ‘9. o '"T. .5377 E7317: 135 The following phrase is intended to precede each of the survey's statements: The typical parent in this school community feels that... Circle One 1. ...his child likes school . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD D 2. ...his child's teacher provides help when he needs it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD D 3. ...what his child learns is of real value to him. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD D A. ...his child does not have enough variety of subjects available to him . . . . . . A PA PD D 5. ...the school his child attends is overcrowded. A PA PD D 6. ...the physical education equipment and facilities at his child's school are inadequate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD D 7. ...there is a good relationship between the community and the school. . . . . . . A PA PD D 8. ...the newspaper should carry much more information about the school and district. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD D 9. ...he is unhappy with the school's method of reporting his child's progress . . . . A PA PD D 10. ...communication between parents, teachers, administrators, and the board could be greatly improved . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD D 11. ...the school is providing a good educational program for the amount of taxes paid. . . A PA PD D 12. ...too much time in school is devoted to testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD D 13. ...many important changes should be made to improve the quality of education in the district. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD D 1A. ...the district needs many more classes for children with special needs, (speech, etc.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A PA PD D “.!~ 'fl‘f‘ 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 2A. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 136 .the school should do much more to teach good citizenship. .the principal always seems interested in his child's progress in school. ..the cost of education is excessive in his district. .the school is meeting his child's needs. .his child's teacher is a skilled, professional educator .his child has ample opportunity to attend school parties, games, clubs, etc.. .his child's school has an insufficient amount of laboratory and classroom equipment .his child is well liked and respeeted by his peers. .the social status of teachers in the district is quite high. .his child's teacher doesn't really "know" his child .his child's school compares favorably with other schools that he knows. .he is required to spend more money for such things as workbooks and school supplies than he wants to .his child's teacher seems interested in teaching .the school could do a much better job of informing parents about the school. .parent—teacher relationships are quite satisfactory. .his child's teacher maintains good discipline. .he would not be willing to pay higher school taxes. PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PA PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD PD a. E innit-81m” A A 7 ‘1‘ “‘3‘: 33- 3A. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39- A0. A1. A2. A3. AA. Please continue on to the PERSONAL DATA sheet on the 137 .most schools in neighboring districts offer better educational programs than his child's district. . .he shows much interest in his child's school work and related activities. .much more time should be devoted to teaching the "3 R's" than is presently done. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .he is quite pleased with his child's school. .his child's school building is not an adequate facility .teachers in the district are overly concerned about salary and "fringe" benefits. .his child's school is doing a good job of teaching the values of democracy .the P.T.A. assists the school in the improvement of the educational program. .he is not satisfied with the school his child attends .much of what his child is learning will be of little value to him as an adult .the amount of homework assigned to his child seems about right .he is proud of the district's school system. .parent—teacher conferences are generally a waste of time .his child is well liked and respeeted by his teacher next PD D PD D PD D PD D PD D PD D PD D PD D PD D PD D PD D PD D PD D PD D page. 138 PERSONAL DATA (No names, please) 1. Male ; Female 2. Teaching level: K—6 ; 7-9 ; 10—12 3. Years of teaching experience: 0-1 ; 2—A ; 5 or more A. Residence location: Within this district Within a 5 minute drive of this district More than a 5 minute drive from district 5. Did you ever attend school in this district as a student? Yes No If yes, for how many years? Thank you for your responses to the many questions and state- ments in this survey. It is sincerely appreciated. .n it). ". APPENDIX C Letter of Transmittal Sent to Parents with the School Opinion Survey 139 APPENDIX C Letter of Transmittal Sent to Parents with the SCHOOL OPINION SURVEY December 9, Dear School District Parent: The enclosed survey is concerned with the opinions of the parents of children in the Public School District. The purpose of this survey is to determine what 1969 parents think about numerous aspects of the school program. This survey is being mailed only to a random sample of parents within the district. Therefore, it is most important that your anonymous opinions be received. The results of this survey will provide information needed by the district to enable it to provide the best educational program possible for the district's children. The enclosed survey has been pre-tested and found to require only 15 minutes time or less to complete. It will be appreciated if you will complete the survey by December 15 and mail it in the stamped, pre-addressed envelope enclosed. Thank you for your c00peration. Sincerely, (Name of superintendent), Superintendent (Name of district) 1A0 APPENDIX D Follow-Up Letter to Parents 1A1 APPENDIX D Follow—Up Letter to Parents December 16, 1969 Dear (district) Parent: If you have already returned the SCHOOL OPINION SURVEY which was mailed to you last week, please read no further. We sincerely thank you. However, if you have not yet taken 15 minutes to circle your opinions, please do so at your earliest convenience. We need to know how you feel about several aspects of the school program. Your name was one of only 91 parents who were randomly selected to receive the SURVEY. Therefore, the return of your SURVEY is vitally important. Please do not put your name on the questionnaire. Thank you for your cooperation at this very busy time of the year. Sincerely, (Name of superintendent), Superintendent (Name of district) 1A2 {’4fiiaL "I111111111111111111S