gm” 5 my Hicitium. a sate University THEsfi’ \ ’ l —..__— This is to certify that the thesis entitled THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND LENGTH OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE AMONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN A DISTRICT EXPERIENCING ENROLLMENT DECLINE presented by Duane K. Sheldon has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Ph.D. d . Education egree 1n _j:¥zggég 52LK3Q2215u444~ Major professor Date 2/8 7j8/ 0-7 639 A IIIIIIWIHHIINII[Ill/1111111111111!!!lllllllllllllllill/Il 3 1293 10382 9176 RETURNING MATERIALS: IV1£3I_] Place in book drop to LJBRARJES remove this checkout from your record. FINES will be charged if book is returned after the date stamped below. 'r ._ _fi"f_‘“ E ’ . I I -‘ '¢ , ‘ ' 1 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND LENGTH OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE AMONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN A DISTRICT EXPERIENCING ENROLLMENT DECLINE By Duane K. Sheldon A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Secondary Education and Curriculum I981 ABSTRACT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND LENGTH OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE AMONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN A DISTRICT EXPERIENCING ENROLLMENT DECLINE BY Duane K. Sheldon The Problem The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which variations in the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers is related to the length of professional teaching experience, experience within the school district, experience in the current school, and age. In addition, the relationship between teacher self-actualization and principal self-actualization was investigated. The Method There were two primary variables under investigation in this study. One, the self—actualization level of elementary school teachers, was measured by an instrument titled Personal Orientation Inventory (POI). The POI was administered to all ISO elementary school teachers from a mid-sized suburban school district in south- eastern Michigan. The POI was also administered to each of the nine elementary school principals as a measure of their self-actualization. The second primary variable, the total years teaching experi- ence in the school district, was determined by obtaining the sum of the years of employment in the target school district. Information relating to the other variables of age, total teaching experience and building experience, was obtained from an existing program available through the personnel department of the target school district. Both correlations and partial correlations were utilized in the analysis of data in this study. The use of partial correlations enabled the researcher to obtain a single measure of association which described the relationships between the two primary variables while adjusting for the effects of one or more additional variables. The Findings Results of the study indicate that: l. There is no relationship between the level of teacher self-actualization and teacher age. 2. There is a significant and negative correlation between a teacher‘s level of self-actualization and the number of years they have taught in their current school district. 3. When examined further, the above relationship proves to be spurious in that total teaching experience, principal self-actualization, and, most specifically, building ex- perience, act to contaminate the relationships. Restated, these findings suggest that when controlled for the effect of total teaching experience, principal self-actualization and building experience, the level of self-actualization of elementary school teachers is similar irrespective of the number of years they have taught in the same district. There is a significant correlation between the level of teacher self-actualization and that of their school principal. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As must be true with all doctoral students, inspirational and practical assistance were received from many persons, to all of whom this writer extends sincere appreciation. A special word of gratitude must be expressed to my wife Mary Lynn for her love, support and patience. She has been a tremendous source of encouragement and consolation throughout my studies. A personal note of appreciation is also extended to Dr. Charles Blackman, who has provided the guidance, direction, and freedom necessary for me to have a positive and creative learning experience during my doctoral studies. I consider myself privi- leged to have worked with and known him. Finally, I wish to thank the members of my doctoral committee, Dr. Cal Collier, Dr. Richard Gardner, and Dr. John Suehr, who were ready to help and advise at a moment's notice. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chapter I. THE PROBLEM Introduction . Importance of the Problem Statement of the Problem . Statement of Hypotheses Definition of Terms Significance of the Study Overview of Chapters II through V II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . Self-Actualization and Education . Self-Actualization and Teacher Effectiveness Self-Actuaiization and Age . Declining Enrollments and Professional Staff Summary Ill. METHODS AND PROCEDURES . Introduction . Description of the Population Research Method Instrumentation Page . 20 . 26 .35 . AI . A7 . SO . SO . SO . SI .53 Page Personal Orientation Inventory Validity . . . . . . . . SA Personal Orientation Inventory Reliability . . . . . . . 55 Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 IV. RESULTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Description of the Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Null Hypotheses and Study Results . . . . . . . . . . . 6A Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . 70 V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7S Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Recommendations for Further Study . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Reflections Upon the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8A BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 APPENDIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 LIST OF TABLES Chapter Table Page II , I. SeIf-Actualization and Teacher Effectiveness . . 23 2. Self-Actualization and Age . . . . . . . . . . . 37 IV I. Total, District, and Building Teaching Experience of Selected Elementary School Teachers . . . . . 63 2. Age of Elementary School Teachers . . . . . . . . 6A 3. Relationship Between Teacher Self-Actualization and Selected Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 A. Relationship Between Teacher Self-Actualization and District Experience Controlling for Teacher Age, Total Experience, Building Experience, and Principal Self-Actualization . . . . . . . . . . 67 5. Relationship Between Teacher Self-Actualization and Principal Self-Actualization Controlling for Teacher Age, Total Experience, Building Experi- ence, District Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 V l. Summary of the Tested Hypotheses . . . . . . . . 7A CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction Over the past quarter century American education has come full cycle. From a time when the major concerns confronting educators reflected the problems of growth, i.e., what Keough has called the “four B's” (bonds, budgets, buildings, buses),I we have come to a time when some of the most critical issues relate to the closing of neigh- borhood schools, cutting budgets, curtailing programs, job security, and an aging staff. As a result of this shift, the excitement generated during what Goodlad has referred to as the "Education Decade”2 has been replaced, to varying degrees, by an acquiescence to the negative psychology of decline. For probably the first time in American history, education finds itself a declining industry. Yet, the educational community, having enjoyed decades of immigration, baby booms, and increasing years of education for all citizens, seems not to have given enough consideration to the consequences of a leveling off or a decline in the demand for educational services. Since many educators felt that ig- norance was the incurable ill of society, decision makers appropriated 1W. F. Keough, Jr., Declining Enrollments: A New Dilemma for Education (Bloomington: The Phi Delta Kappa Education Foundation, I978), p. 2J. l. Goodlad, Facing the Future: Issues in Education and Schooling, ed. J. S. Golub (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., I976), p. 5. l greater and greater amounts of society's resources to schooling. Few foresaw the revolution of the American family structure and the resul- tant decline in the numbers of children--children who have been the primary clients for the educator's skills. Though it is valid to say that ignorance still exists, and the resources of society need to be appropriated toward reducing illiteracy, the spector of declining school enrollments is now a reality to which educators must reconcile themselves and their public. Educators may have to direct their attention to other audiences to find consumers of their skills. Preschool children, undereducated adults, and senior citizens are three such groups. It is critical that some examination ofthe severity and the extent of student decline be done. The National Center for Educational Statistics forecasts approximately a one percent per year student- enrollment decline between l976 and the early l980's. Sometime in the early or middle 1980's this trend will begin to level off or reverse itself, not because there is a forecasted Increase in the birth rate during those years, but because there will be greater numbers of females in their childbearing years (ages l8-3A) during that time.3 The Michigan Department of Health, however, does not foresee a leveling off or reversal of the population-declining trend in Michigan. The forecast is for approximately 400,000 fewer school aged 3National Center for Educational Statistics, Student Enroll- ments: Projections to I98I-82 (Washington, D.C.: United States Office of Education, l9767. 3 children in I990 as compared to I975 (2,800,00 to 2,A00,00).h On the surface, these two forecasts appear to be somewhat in conflict. This probably is not the case, since most of the leveling off or slight increase in numbers of school-age children in the middle l980's will probably take place in the so-called sun-belt regions of the United States. In these areas there are, even at present, increased student enrollments in the schools, due to migration. The most prestigious forecasting literature from the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Center for Educational Statistics, and the Michigan Department of Health appear to substan- tiate that most school districts.h1the nation, as well as in Michigan, will have a rather severe decline in the enrollment of K-IZ students between I977 and I990. For southeastern Michigan, and the school district under study, these declines probably exceed 70,000 and 5 2,400 students, respectively. This decline will represent between 25 percent and 30 percent of the present student population! It is probably safe to infer from these data that dealing with the problems resulting from fewer students is now, and will be. a major issue for school districts for at least another decade. “Michigan Department of Health, Population of Michi an Counties (Lansing: Department of Education Publication, l975 . 5Bloomfield Hills School District, Enrollment Projections (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, I979). The impact of enrollment decline can be divided into at least three major categories that all school districts are going to have to deal with: the psychological, the financial, and impact on educa- tional programs. There seems little doubt that education is entering the third of three natural phases characteristic of the organizational behavior of a social institution. Mahew describes these phases as, first, a period of dynamic growth characterized by self-confidence and expansion. Most recently this era began during the late I9SO's with Sputnik and the charge given to American educators to win the I'cold war." It coincided with the largest “baby boom“ the nation had seen and was reinforced by the historic proclivity of the American populace toward growth and expansion. The second of Mahew's phases is one of con- flict.7 Accordingly, the self-confidence of the earlier period is replaced with self doubt. By the end of the I960's education in the United States entered this conflict phase as the Viet Nam War demanded funds originally destined for the educational commitment of the ”Great Society.“ As Rich noted, perceptive observers were aware that American education was in a state of great ferment, as we heard about the “crisis in the classroom,” the dehumanization of schools, student 6 L. B. Mayhew, Educational Leadership and Declining Enroll- ments (Berkley:McCutchanPublishing Corporation, I975), pp. l5-l6. 7 Ibid. and teacher militance, and the demands of minority groups.8 In many ways the third and present phase, that of decline,9 is more painful than the conflict phase. In a country where "bigger“ usually has meant “better,” the notion of decline is difficult to handle. Decline is equated with failure in too many minds, both within and outside the educational profession. The problems of expan- sion were much more psychologically positive in the minds of people that dealt with them; problems of building new schools and building curricula were more exciting than dealing with the problems of decline. In an attempt to deal with these problems of decline, the institution often retreats, retrenches and tries to find the level at which it can again function effectively. Administrators and teachers alike appear, at least initially, to have little heart to deal with the issue of student-enrollment decline.. Both groups probably are hoping that, if they ignore the problem, it will go away. Of course, educators need not view enroll- ment decline as a negative issue; there are some positive aspects of fewer students in over-crowded institutions; there are many possibi- lities for offering better educational programs, more solid institu- tional structures and improved services. There is the opportunity to throw off any number of unworkable, unnecessary and ineffective 8 J. M. Rich, Innovation in Education: Reformers and Their Critics (Boston: Allyn Bacon, I975), p. vii. 9 Mayhew, l97A, p. l6. 6 elements of schooling and retain only the best. Declining enrollments, when viewed in this light, offer educators an opportunity to improve their services. The financial impact, like the psychological impact, has many facets. Most immediate and most obvious is that in school systems which receive finances from the state legislature based upon the numbers of students enrolled, fewer students mean fewer dollars for the educational program. Even for those district which do not rely on the state legis- lature for funds, the potential impact is severe. The problem is that there is not a one-to-one ratio between the loss of student population and the reduction of expenses. For example, the loss of one student does not delete total budget expenditures by an amount equal to the cost of educating one student. In other words, that student does not take his share of expenses with him when he leaves the school district; such things as heat, water, lights, administrative staff, and even the teaching staff continue, though the student is no longer there. The matter is further complicated by employment practices which dictate that the seniority system shall prevail in eliminating teaching staff. This means the lowest paid teacher, the one with the least experience, is the one to be eliminated as the staff is reduced. The financial impact of declining enrollment goes beyond the immediate school budget to the financial impact on the community. Marbrook, in Administrative Leadership Publications, cites several 7 examples of financial impact on the community due to declining enroll- ment. One most often of concern to the community is the effect declining enrollment has on local property values, if and when a school is closed.‘0 Many people buy homes in an area because of the proximity to their elementary school. If that school is closed, what is the impact going to be on property values? Declining enrollments mean increasing numbers of people in the community who are childless or whose children have grown; these community members will probably resist anything but tax relief, once that enrollment drops. The impact on educational programs caused by declining enroll-j ments also has many aspects to it. The most immediate effect will probably be the reduction in the number of program options for each student. Unless careful planning is initiated, those innovative prac- tices which may have made a school system outstanding and attractive will be the first to go when there is a pinching of pennies in order to balance the budget. The data from a survey conducted by the National School Public Relations Association appear to support this possibility: loD. Marbrook, Empty Desks; Croft Leadership Folio, 99 (Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Business Practice, Inc., I977)- If the children go and then the money goes, can the educa- tional program be far behind? More that twenty school districts reported cutting staff and/or programs as a first step in dealing with declining enrollment. Several more stated that it is no longer possible to maintain the level of per-pupil expenditures called for in previous budgets. When 'something's gotta give,‘ that 'something' is usually classroom teachers or specialists and programs most likely to be categorized as 'frills'--an athletic program here, an instrumental music course there, ad- vanced courses in math or science in one district, reading clinics or foreign language programs for elementary pupils in another. Fiscal conservatism settles gloomily over once-innovative school boards.H If the impact of decline is great on the institution, the potential impact on the individual teacher within that institution is even greater. Oddly enough, however, most of what has been written about decline has focused on a variety of "how to" questions as reactions to declining enrollments. For example, how to make enroll- ment projections; how to close a school; how to involve the community; how to reorganize;Iuwvto develop criteria for selecting "the” school to be closed; how to develop policies for laying off teaching staff; and other such questions have emerged as the prominent issues. There has been a dearth of discussion regarding the proposition that fewer students mean fewer low-seniority teachers. There are few studies, for example, which address the impact that aging staff may have upon the educational program or the quality of teaching in schools. The Committee on the Cost of Education alluded to this problem in its HC. 8. Epstein, Declining Enrollment (Arlington: National School Public Relations Association, T976). 9 report on the demographic influences on school enrollment. The authors argue that the changing demographics of students may bring about a changing demography of teachers,‘2 More specifically, the staff may well age, reducing the influx of new ideas into the school organization. If this happens, one may question the long-term capability of a school district to examine and react to the changing needs of students, staff and community. The authors further argue that more attention should be given to the determination of goals and expectations and develop- ment of inservice programs designed to address this emerging reality. Importance of the Problem Obviously, the decline in student numbers is having and will continue to have a profound impact on the teaching staff of educational institutions through the l980's. Compared to the teaching staff of the 1960's and early I970's, the composition of the teaching staff in the classrooms of our schools in the years ahead will show an increase in_ average age and in total years experience. These basic changes in the composition of instructional staff are due, for the most part, to reduc- tions in the number of openings for new teachers and, therefore, in the reduced numbers of young people entering the profession. - Other less obvious changes, however, may also be anticipated. With fewer young persons entering the profession, the introduction of new ideas, techniques, and innovative programs may decrease. This is not to suggest that more experienced teachers are not creative or effec- tive, but the desire or willingness to try ”something new” appears to lzCommittee On the Costs of Education, Demographic Influences on School Enrollment, Interim Report No. A (Toronto: Ontario Executive Council, l97A). lO be most frequently expressed by the young. As Scrivens suggests in his discussion of teacher “burnout,“ the phenomenon grows more acute with the length of service. Teachers who have served for more than a decade are the most prone to feel its effects.13 Likewise, in the education profession the upward career mobi- lity route to principal, central office administrator, and superinten- dent begins in the classroom. During the growth phase in American education, competent classroom teachers advanced rapidly up the cor- porate education ladder. Today, with declining enrollments, the number of Openings among administrative ranks has decreased. The result is that eager, well-qualified teachers seeking mobility are blocked from advancing up the career ladder. Similarly, the oppor- tunity for horizontal mobility has decreased. During periods of growth, it was not uncommon for teachers to move from one school district to another and from one state to another. In periods of decline, however, these opportunities diminish, and concern for security increases. Social psychologists are quick to point out that when oppor- tunities for vertical and horizontal mobility are cut off, motivation decreases, frustration sets in, and the individual experiences less joy and enthusiasm in his work. The over-supply of competent, well- trained classroom teachers caught in this “closed opportunity" trap l3R. Scrivens, ”The Big Click,” Today's Education (November- December, I979), pp. 3A-3S. Il may dramatically affect the climate of schools and the morale of instructional staff. If the result, for whatever reason, is teacher disillusionment, stagnation, and pre-emptory concern with job security, one must ques- tion the long-term ability of schools to meet some of the most basic aims of education. As Dewey once stated, ”education is the process of living and not a preparation for future living. Education must be conceived as a continuing reconstruction of experience...the process and the goal of education are one in the same thing.”'h Kilpatrick, discussing a similar concern, indicated that, as a result, ”the school must aim to exemplify the finest attainable quality of living. “'5 For the pupils and students will learn what they live... Combs, addressing this same problem long before declining enrollment became a factor, stated than in order “to deveIOp people who see themselves in the process of becoming, the schools must provide teachers who are themselves well on the way to becoming adequate persons.” These teachers would provide the necessary ”life space for pupil individual- ity, foster uniqueness, and encourage pupil choices commensurate with pupil maturity.”l6 '“J, Dewey, Democracy and Education (New York: MacMillan, I969 ed.), p. 68. 15W. H. Kilpatrick, Philosgphy of Education (New York: MacMillan, I963 ed.), p. 96. 16A. Combs, ”The Process of Becoming,‘' Perceiving, Behaving, Becoming, ed. A. Combs (Washington, D.C.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, l962), p. 23A. - l2 In other words, as Knoblock observed: ”...it is unlikely that an environment for children can accomodate the needs for children's growth and development without an equal emphasis on an adult centered process which also allows for the continued growth of adults...."'7 The question again becomes this: in an era of decline, does the psychological environment encourage or discourage experienced teachers to continue to grow and be self-actualizing persons? Maslow regarded the individual's ability to reach self-actualization to be dependent upon his satisfaction of a hierarchy of needs.‘8 It is only after the physiological, security, social, and esteem needs are satisfied that the individual is able to deal with the inner need to succeed. This need to actualize to one's potential--to become what one is capable of becoming--is at the apex of Maslow's hierarchy. It appears that, at the very time when creative thought and innovation are required of both the individual and the institution, the threat and reality of decline may precipitate the need to deal with a “lower level“ needs mode of Operation. Individuals and insti- tutions caught up in this phenomenon often revert to more firmly established ways of doing things. This, according to Gardner, can lead only to the ”graveyard.“ Furthermore, he states that ”...men who l7P. Knoblock and A. Goldstein, The Lonely Teacher (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., l97l), p. II. 18A. H. Maslow, ”Some Basic Propositions of a Growth and Self- Actualization Psychology,” Perceiving, Behaving, Becoming, ed. A. Combs (Washington, D.C.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, l962), p. 3A-A9. have lost their adaptiveness naturally resist change. The most stubborn protector of his own vested interests is the man who has lost the capacity for self-renewal.“‘9 The decline of student enrollment then may tend to create a psychological climate within an institution which reduces, if not eliminates altogether, the number of teachers who are Operating at relatively high levels of self-actualization. To the degree that this is true, those who establish the structures (activities, interactions, sentiments, norms) of the organization must seek to insure that basic needs are satisfied to the degree possible, and, at the same time, attempt to provide an environment where a variety of avenues for self- actualization can be explored and pursued. The implications of this notion for public school administra- tors become very important. In order to explore some of these im- plications,itwould be helpful to know the level of self-actualization among teachers in a school district experiencing a decline in student enrollment. Furthermore, it would be important to identify whether this level of self-actualization is related to factors often asso- ciated with enrollment decline, i.e., an older, more experienced staff, or with factors seemingly independent from enrollment decline, such as the self-actualization level of the building principal. '9J. Cardner, Self-Renewal:‘ The Individual and the Innovative Society (New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, l96h), p. IO. IA Statement of the Problem The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which variations in the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers in a medium—sized suburban school district are related to a number of variables generally associated with declining enrollment. These variables include the length of professional teaching experience, experience within the school district, experience in the current school, and age. In addition, the relationship between teacher self-actualization and principal self-actualization will be investigated. Specific questions to be answered by this study are: I. What is the relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and factors generally associated with declining enrollments, such as teacher age and years Of professional teaching experience? 2. What is the relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self-actualization of their principals? Statement of Hypotheses The following null hypotheses are tested statistically in this study: I. There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization amOng elementary school teachers and teacher age. 2. There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and their district teaching experience. IS 3. There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and their district teaching experience when controlled for: a. Teacher age. b. Total years teaching experience. c. Teaching experience in the building of current assignment. d. The self-actualization level of the building principal. e.' Any combination of the above. A. There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self-actualization of their building principal (PSA). 5. There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self-actualization of their building principal when con- trolled for: a. Teacher age. b. Total years teaching experience. c. Teaching experience in the building of current assignment. d. District teaching experience. d. Any combination of the above. Definition of Terms The following are defined operationally for the purpose of this study as follows: Elementary_$chool Teachers. All classroom teachers in grades K through 6, learning resource room teachers, and media I6 specialists whose assignment is completely within one school building. Building Teaching Experience (BEX). The number of years of teaching experience within the building of current assignment. District TeachinggExperience (DEX). The number of years Of teaching experience within the school district. Total Teaching Experience (TEX). The sum of the years Of teaching experience within and outside the target school district. Personal Orientation Inventory (POI). An inventory of self- actualization. It measures self-actualization in twelve scales, two major and ten sub-scales. The major scales are . . 20 Time Competence (TC) and Inner Directedness (I). Principal Self-actualization (PSA). The sum Of the raw scores on the TC and I scales of the POI. Self-actualization. ”(a) An acceptance and expression of the inner core of self, i.e., actualization of these latent capa- cities and potentialities, full-functioning, availability of the human and personal essence; and (b) minimal presence of u 2i basic human and personal capacities. Teacher Self-actualization (TSA). The sum of the raw scores on the TC and I scales of the POI. E. L. Shostrom, Personal Orientation Inventory (San Diego: EDITS Publishers, I968). 2lMaslow, I962, op. cit., p. 36. I7 Significance of the Study Many school districts are currently facing problems which accompany radical change in school enrollments. Current demographic data indicate that many more school districts will face these problems in the decade ahead. To date, however, most of the concern relative to declining enrollments has been with ”nuts and bolts" issues, rather than with the human issues associated with decline. More specifically, very little attempt has been made to examine the possible impact of decline on an aging and more experienced teaching staff or on the sub- sequent instruction and general interaction between teachers and students and teachers and administrators. The findings of this study will provide educational leaders with data which may be helpful as they begin to assess the needs of their changing staff. In addition, it is possible that current attitudes held by many local educational leaders toward an aging, more experienced, professional staff-- attitudes that oftentimes limit expectations and accept the notion that aging staff are resistant to change--may be altered, and specific actions taken to provide more and meaningful professional growth opportunities for that staff. Overview Of Chapters II through V An extensive review of the literature related to the major issues addressed in this study is provided in Chapter II. The dis- cussion will focus on four specific areas: first, the notion of self- actualization and the theoretical basis for its inclusion as a key variable in this study; next, studies which in which the relationship between self-actualization and teacher effectiveness have been examined I8 are reviewed to further establish the legitimacy of self-actualization as a primary variable; third, studies reoardino the relationship between self-actualization and age-related variables are reported: and, finally, literature relating to the phenomenon of enrollment decline and its real and perceived impact on teachers is examined in the context of this study. A description of the pOpulation and the research method uti- lized in this study are presented in Chapter III. The methods used for collecting the data and the technique for analyzing the data relative to each hypothesis are also discussed, along with an examination of the instrumentation (the Personal Orientation Inventory). The results of the analysis described in the previous chapter are reported in Chapter IV. Each of the hypotheses tested is listed and the results from each calculation are reported. The implications of the findings presented in Chapter IV are discussed in Chapter V. The results of this study are synthesized with the findings reported in Chapter II, along with suggestions for further study and reflections on the current study. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE The major concern of this study is the exploration of the relationship between the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and factors relating to their teaching experience in the context of declining enrollment. The fact that public school enrollments have, are, and will continue for the next decade to decline is having a significant impact on the demography of professional staff-- specifically in terms of age and length of experience. This study may provide clues as to the effect that this transformation might have on the educational process and, as a result, local school district leaders may gain needed insights as they attempt to meet their institutional needs as well as the needs of their changing professional staff. The literature pertaining to four specific areas relating to this study is reviewed here. First, self-actualizing theory is reviewed in order to establish its relevance to both the goals and processes Of education. Second, the relationship between self-actualization and teacher effectiveness is explored to determine whether successful teachers do, in fact, tend to model behaviors consistent with these goals and processes. Third, in light of the fact that declining enrollments have helped to create a situation whereby the mean age of teachers is increasing, studies regarding the relationship between self- actualization and age-related variables is reviewed. Finally, literature relating to the phenomenon of decline and its impact on teachers and I9 20 other professional staff is examined in the context of self- actualizing theory. SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND EDUCATION Over a century has passed since Emerson wrote: ”There is never a finished man.”1 This notion that human growth will and must continue, that we as human beings shall rise above ourselves as our potentialities are realized, is consistent with the philosophy of transcendentalism and appears to be closely related to the contempo- rary psychological doctrine of self-actualization. In fact, self- actualizing persons, as Maslow describes them, have within themselves ”a pressure toward unity of personality, toward spontaneous expressiv- ness, toward full individuality and identity, toward seeing truth rather than being blind, toward being creative, toward being good and a lot else."2 Maslow further asserts that there now exists a reason- able, theoretical, and emperical basis for the presence within the human being of this dynamic force, tendency toward, or need for 3 growing in the directions indicated above. lB. Atkinson (ed.), The Complete Essays and Other Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library edition; New York: Random House, I9AO), p. 90. 2A. H. Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being (2nd ed.; New York: 0. VanNostrand, I968), p. ISS. ‘ 3 Ibid. 2l Carl Rogers has stated that it may be entirely possible that all organic and psychological needs can be described as partial aspects of one fundamental need.“ Ideas similar to Rogers' proposi- tion regarding the existence of one basic need have become increasing- ly advanced and accepted by psychologists and psychotherapists over the years. The term “self-actualization” was first used by Goldstein as early as l9AO to describe this basic force. He contended ”that there is only one motive by which human activity is set going; the tendency to actualize oneself."S Following Goldstein's lead, Horney describes this basic motivation as: ...the person's unrelenting will to come to grips with himself, a wish to grow and to leave nothing untouched that prevents growth. It is the spirit Of ruthless honesty toward himself, and he can succeed in finding himself only to the extent that it prevails. Maslow, assuming that each person possesses this enormous potential for developing a basic individuality Or uniqueness, formu- lated a theory of motivation culminating in the concepts of self- actualization. According to Maslow: ...the chief principle of organization in human motivational life is the arrangement of needs in a hierarchy of less or greater priority or potency. The I. C. R. Rogers, Client-Centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, l95l), pp. A87-88. 5K. Goldstein, Human Nature in the Light of Psychgpathology (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, l9AO), p. 20l. 6K. Horney, Self-Analysis (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, l9A2), p. I75. 22 chief dynamic principle animating this organization is the emergence of less potent needs, which when unsatisfied, dominate the organism, pressing all capacities into their service and organizing these capacities so that they may be most efficient in this service. Relative gratification submerges them and allows the next higher set of needs in the hierarchy to emerge, dominate, and organize the person- ality, so that instead of being, e.g. hunger Obsessed, it now becomes safety'obsessed. The principle is the same for the other sets of needs in the hierarchy, e.g. love, esteem, and self-actualization.7 Maslow, then, views self-actualization as having a dynamic force of its own, a force which causes a person's desire for self- fulfillment--to become actualized toward what he/she is potentially. “This tendency may be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming."8 Maslow defined the concept of self-actualization as: ...“the full use of talents, capacities, potentials; gratification of the basic needs for safety, belongingness, knowledge, and for under- standing.”9 Further, he characterized the self-actualizing person as having: I. Clearer, more efficient perception of reality 2. Increased acceptance of self, others, and of nature 3. Increased spontaneity, full functioning aliveness A. Increased problem solving 5. Increased detachment and desire for privacy 6. Increased autonomy and resistence to enculturation 7A. H. Maslow, Motivation and Personality_(New York: Harper and Brothers, I95A), p. lO7. 8Ibid., pp. 91-92. glbid., pp. 200-201. 23 7. Greater freshness of appreciation and richness of emotional reaction 8. Higher frequency of peak experiences 9. Increased identification with the human species IO. Improved interpersonal relations II. More democratic character structure l2. Greatly increased creativeness l3. Improved changes in values systems which are unique to themselves and reflect self-actualizing qualities.10 2 Rogers described the self-actualizing person as ”fully- functioning,” e.g.: o h i b 9 e e H b a f ‘ S T I a a 5 He is more able to live fully in and with each and all f his feelings and reactions.... He is more able to permit is total organism to function freely in all its complexity n selecting, from a multitude of possibilities, that ehavior which in this moment of time will be the most enerally and genuinely satisfying.... He is more able to xperience all of his feelings; he is his own Sifter of vidence, and is more open to evidence from all sources.... e is becoming a more fully functioning organism, and ecause of the awareness of himself which flows freely in nd through his experience, he is becoming a more fully unctioning person. imilarly, Combs has described the self-actualizing person as: ..one who has achieved a high degree of need satisfaction. hese are people who feel generally capable of coping with ife.... They see themselves in essentially positive ways nd as a consequence are free and open to their experience, ble to accept both themselves and others and to identify trongly with their fellow-men.... Events seem to them to loMaslow, I968, Op. cit., pp. 25-26. II C. R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person (Boston: Houghton- Mifflin Company, l96l), pp. l9l-92. 2A lie well within their own capacities, and they feel capable of dealing with life effectively and efficiently.‘2 Argyris stated that since man is fundamentally an interpersonal organism, self-actualization can only occur in relationship to others. He indicated that the most important characteristic of the self- actualized individual is that ”he can give 'of' himself without giving 'up' himself; an individual who sees himself as constantly being in relationship with his fellowman."l3 Shostrom maintains that self-actualization is ”the ongoing process of growth to experiencing one's own potential.”lh For this writer, it is this dynamic orientation that serves as a common thread among all the literature on self-actualization reported above. Similarly, it is this same notion that provides the connecting link between the concept of self-actualization and the goals and processes of education. Self-actualizing theory, therefore, as it relates to education, might be interpreted to imply that the goals of the curric- ulum should be the facilitation of the natural strivings of each student toward his or her highest potentiaI--academically as well as in uniqueness, autonomy, and self-fulfillment. l2A. W. Combs and D. Snygg, Individual Behavior: A Perceptual Approach to Behavior (Revised ed.; New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959f. pp. 23910. 13C. Argyris, Understanding Orgpnizational Behavior (Homewood, Illinois: Dorsey Press, I960), p. IO. 1“ E. Shostrom, Manual for the Personal Orientation Inven- tory (San Diego: Educational and Industrial Testing Service, I966), p. I. 25 Maslow has stated that the chief goals of the ideal college ”would be the discovery of identity, and with it, the discovery of ”'5 vocation. Schools would thus provide an environment conducive to the process of self-discovery as well as other self-initiated growth and learning activities. Contrast this, Maslow suggests, to the ways in which the school curriculum too often regiments, con- stricts, and molds--crushing the self-discovery, creativity, and peak experiences that ultimately lead to self-actualizing.l Actualizing implies growth and emotional maturation--both aspects of the learning process. Certainly, within the school setting, the opportunities should exist for the consistent stimula- tion of effective growth, both for the child and for those who participate in the education of youth. From a review of the literature reported above it becomes apparent that actualizing implies growth~and emotional maturation-- both of which are important aspects Of the learning process. As a cOnsequence, it is clear that within the school setting, the opportunities should exist for the consistent stimulation of effective growth, both for the child and for those who participate in the education of youth. It appears obvious then, that when factors which may be related to the level of self-actualization of professional educators are identified, they ought to be examined in an attempt to clarify and understand those relationships so that appropriate actions might be initiated. 15A. H. Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (New York: Viking, l97l), p. l83 ‘6Ibid. 26 SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS As noted above, growth theorists such as Maslow, Rogers, et. al., view persons as having the potential to fulfill themselves to become fully functioning and uniquely human. Descriptions of the characteristics of psychologically healthy persons described in these theories often include characteristics previously associated with effective teachers. Maslow, for example, gives the following description of an effective teacher: To take the teacher-student relationship as a specific paradigm, our teacher subjects behaved in a very unneurotic way simply by interpreting the whole situation differently, e.g., as a pleasant collaboration rather than as a clash of wills, of authority, or dignity, etc.; the replacement of artificial dignity--with the natural simplicity that is not easily threatened; the giving up of the attempt to be om- niscient and omnipotent; the absence of student-threatening authoritarianism; the refusal to regard students as com- peting with each other or with the teacher, the refusal to accept the professor stereotype and the insistence as realistically human as, say, a plumber or a carpenter; all of these created a classroom atmosphere in which suspicion, wariness, defensiveness, hostility and anxiety disappeared.l7 Combs and Snygg observed that effective teachers have learned to use their ”unique self” to carry out their own goals as well as the goals of the larger society in the education of children.‘8 Such teachers: (I) perceive themselves in positive ways, (2) are open to new experiences, (3) are capable of accepting self and others, and I9 (A) identify and emphathize strongly with others. Combs further l7Maslow, I968, p. 23l. 18tombs and Snygg, 1959, p. 398. '9Ibid., p. 406. 19A. W. Combs, ”The Personal Approach to Good Teaching,“ Educational Leadership, XXI (March, l96A), p. 373. 27 asserts that ”adequate” teachers call for creative production in students, are flexible in their thinking, and will not behave in fixed ways when conditions warrant change.20 Start, in his study titled "Teaching Ability and Personality,“ found that superior teachers do not always conform to socially approved behavior merely for its own sake, but are “inner-directed.”2] Similarily, for Fox, greatness in teachers lies not in extraordinary methods of teaching, but in the capacity for self-examination and growth.22 While the foregoing observations might lead one to hypothesize the existence of a positive correlation between self-actualization and effective teaching, it was not until I963 that the development of an adequate measure of self-actualization (The Personal Orientation 23 Of the Inventory) made it possible to study that relationship. studies relating to teacher self-actualization since the development of the POI, fourteen were found by this researcher to deal with teacher effectiveness. The findings of these studies are summarized briefly in Table l. 20Ibid. 21K. B. Start, ”Teaching Ability and Personality,” British Journal of Educational Psychology) XXXVI (I968), p. I63. 22J. Fox, ”The Self-Actualizing Teacher,” Improving College and University Teaching, XIII (I965), p. IA8. 23R. Knapp, Handbook for the Personal Orientation Inventory (San Diego: Educational and Industrial Testing Service, l976), p. I. 28 Table I SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS Study Result Fox, I965 Greatness in teachers lies in their capa- city for self-examination and growth. Start, I966 Superior teachers, like self-actualization Keyton, I966 Dandes, I966 Murray, I968 Smith, I968 Bouverat, I970 Sands, I970 persons, tend to be inner-directed. Using the POI as the measure of self- actualization, there were significant differences at the .Ol level between the self-actualization scores of successful teachers and the scores of unsuccessful teachers. Using the POI as the measure of teacher self-actualization, it was concluded that values and attitudes of effective teachers are characteristic of self-actualizing persons.‘ Using the POI as the measure of self- actualization, a significant positive relationship was fOUnd between teacher level of self-actualization and teaching success. Using the POI as the measure of teacher self-actualization, a significant relation- ship was found between teacher Ievel of self-actualization and use of teaching behaviors relevant to the development of student self-directed learning. Using the POI as the measure of self- actualization, no significant differences were found between the perception of teaching role and high self-actualizating prospective teachers and low self- actualizing prospective teachers. Using the POI as the measure of self- actualization, a significant relationship was found between teacher self-perception of competency and self-actualization. 29 Table I (continued) Study Tucker, Cable and Hounshell, Cable, Boston, Heintschel, I978 Farmer, I970 I973 I975 I979 I972 Result Using the POI as a measure of self- actualization, no significant differences were found between indirect or direct teaching behavior and teacher level of self-actualization. Teacher self-actualization was not found to be significantly related to student achieve- ment in biology. Teacher self-actualization was found to be significantly related to science student gains in critical thinking. Using POI as the measure of teacher self- actualization, a significant relationship was found between the degree of self- actualization and successful teaching. Teacher self-actualization appeared to be associated with student achievement in science, however, the indication was that the ”normal” teacher was superior to the self-actualizing teacher in promoting student achievement in biology and chemis- try. A significant and positive relation- ship was found, however, between teacher seIf-actualization and student attitudes toward chemistry. Using the POI as the measure of teacher self-actualization, no significant rela- tionship was found between teacher self- actualization and either effective teacher general behavior or effective affective behavior. A significant relationship was found, however, between teacher self- actualization and cognitive behavior. 30 In one of the first of these studies Keyton examined self- actualization and effectiveness of intermediate grade teachers and found a significant difference at the .OI level between the self- actualization scores of successful teachers and the self-actualization scores of unsuccessful teachers. Successful and unsuccessful teachers were differentiated in this study by an Opinion poll of fifth and sixth grade students and their school principals.2h Fox, in a study cited above, hypothesized that self- actualizing teachers were influential with their students because they were ”great human beings”--good role models--not because of specific teaching skills or methods they employed in the classroom.25 In a study of twenty-six home economics teachers in Pennsyl- vania secondary schools, Murray found a significant positive relation- ship between teacher Ievel of self-actualization and teaching success. Murray's success criterion was the student-perceived degree of teacher concern for students, as reflected by such behaviors as recognizing students, exhibiting a desire to help students, and giving help when requested by students.2 21*F. R. Keyton, ”Some Relationships Between a Measure of Self- Actualization and Various Aspects of Intermediate Grade Teacher Effec- tiveness” (unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Catholic University of America, I966), p. 76. 25Fox, I965, p. IA8. 26E. Murray, ”An Exploration of the Relationship of Self- Actualization and Teacher Success” (unpublished Masters thesis, Penn- sylvania State University, I968), p. 36. 3I Bouverat, in her study of self-actualization and perceptions of teaching roles of prospective teachers, found no significant differ- ences between the perceptions of teaching roles made by high self- actualizing subjects and low self-actualizing subjects.27 The relationship between teacher self-perception of competency and self-actualization was found to be statistically significant at the .OI level by Sands in a I970 study. Competency criteria for this study were designed into an objective instrument, the ”Family Life Teacher Scale,” which was administered to family life teachers. Using analyses of variance for coefficient alpha, the realiability of the instrument was .96. While Sands' criteria for competency were too specific to be generalizable to contexts other than family life teaching, her methods appear sound, and the results of her study provide valuable input for the bank of data dealing with teacher success and self-actualization.2 Tucker, in his study of the relationship between teachers' levels of self-actualization and their teaching behavioral styles, found no significant difference at the .05 level between indirect or direct teaching behavior and the teachers' level of self-actualization as measured by the POI.29 27R. A. Bouverat, ”A Study of Self-Actualization and Perceptions of Teaching Roles of Prospective Teachers of Young Children” (unpub- lished Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University, I970), pp. 70-7l. 288. L. Sands, I'An Exploratory Study of Self-Actualization and Self-Perception of Competency among Michigan Family Life Teachers” (unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, I970), p. 86. 29F. C. Tucker, ”A Study of the Relationships Between: (I) Teachers' Levels of Self-Actualization and Their Teaching Behavioral Styles, and (2) Teachers' Teaching Behavioral Styles and the Gratifi- cations They Derive from Interacting with Their Students” (unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Syracuse University, I970), pp. SA-SS. 32 Dandes' investigation of the relationship between the psycho- logical health Of a group of teachers (as measured by the POI) and their attitudes on values related to teaching yielded significant results. Oandes defined the attitudes and values characteristic of effective teaching as: absence of authoritarianism; liberalism of educational viewpoints; openness of belief system; and permissive- ness, among others.30 These findings appear to conflict with those of Tucker, cited above. The concept of teacher self-actualization and the develop- ment of student self-directed learning was the focus of an investiga- tion by Smith. In this study, she found that a significant relation- ship does exist between teachers' levels of self-actualization and perceptions of use of teaching behaviors relevant to the development of student self-directed learning. In addition, she found that the more highly self-actualizing teachers perceive themselves as using a significantly greater amount of teaching behaviors which encourage the development of self-directed learning among students.3 Boston found a significant (at the .Ol level) positive relationship between the degree of self-actualization, as measured by the POI, and the degree of successful teaching. Teacher success 3OH. M. Dandes, ”Psychological Health and Teaching Effective- ness,” Journal of Teacher Education, XVIII (I966), p. 305. 31M. L. H. Smith, I'The Facilitation of Student Self-Directed Learning as Perceived by Teachers with High and Low Levels of Self- Actualization and Dogmatism” (unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, I968), pp. 76, 79. 33 was subjectively measured on ”The Environmental Coping Measure,“ an instrument used in the Dayton reorganized I.G.E. schools.32 In another study designed to investigate the relationship between teachers' degree of self-actualization and teaching effective- ness, the results were not as clear-cut. Farmer found that among the social studies teachers included in his study, no significant rela- tionship existed between teacher self-actualization and either ”effective teacher” general behavior, as measured by student ratings, or with “effective teacher“ affective behavior. Teacher self- actualization did prove, however, to be significantly and positively related to ”effective teacher" cognitive behavior.33 Heintschel found that the level of teacher self-actualization appeared to be associated with student achievement in science. This association, however, indicated that the "normal teacher” is superior to the self-actualizing teacher in promoting student achievement in biology and chemistry. In another aspect of the study, the investiga- tor did find a significant and positive relationship between teacher 3A level of self-actualization and student attitude toward chemistry. 328. 0. Boston, “Self-Actualization as a Predictor of Teaching Success in Individually Guided Education” (unpublished Doctoral dis- sertation, Bowling Green State University, I975), pp. l20-l22. 33R. 8. Farmer, "The Relationship Between Social Studies Teacher Self-Actualization and Teacher Effectiveness,” Dissertation Abstracts, 39:5900, March, I979. 3“R. M. Heintschel, ”An Analysis of the Relationship Between Science Teacher Self-Actualization and Science Student Attitude and Achievement,“ Dissertation Abstracts, 39:3501-2, November, I978. 3A In a similar study involving AZA biology students and eighteen teachers, Coble found significant differences in self-actualizing between those teachers whose students showed significant gains in critical thinking as contrasted with those whose students evidenced 35 nonsignificant changes in critical thinking. In an earlier study, however, Cable and Hounshell found no relationship between teacher level of self-actualization and student achievement in biology.36 In summation, while there are yet insufficient studies of the relationship between teacher self-actualization and teaching effec- tiveness for one to draw definite conclusions, there appears to be an ever growing body of literature that tends to support the existence of such a relationship. Julia Fox, for example, echoes the belief of many when she states, ”...the essence of the educational process is student self-actualization and...the truly great teacher personifies 37 this concept.” Abraham Maslow concluded that self-actualizing individuals are freed to give of themselves to humanity in a pervasive way beyond themselves, and, therefore, have the capacity for being uniquely influential.38 Hall and Lendzey believe the self- actualizing teacher plays an important part in creating a non- threatening learning environment. The self-actualizing 35C. R. Coble, ”Self-Actualization and the Effective Biology Teacher," The American Biology Teacher, XXXV (I973), p. A80. 36C. R. Coble and P. B. Hounshell,”Teacher Self-Actualization and Student Progress,” Science Education, LVI (I972), pp. 3ll-I6. 37 Fox, I965, p. IA7- 38Maslow, I95A. 35 teacher, they contend, can help students learn to perceive their experiences and evaluate them in terms of their “self.” As students continue their search for identity, the teacher's role includes clarifying and interpreting in much the same manner as used by the psychologist who uses Rogers' Client-Centered Therapy.39 Rogers, himself, states: ”The teacher should be the one who is congruent, can accept self and others, has the ability to empathize with stu- dents and can communicate this to the class."l*0 For Combs and Snygg, a good teacher is a person who has learned to use his/her unique self effectively to carry out the education of others.hl SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND AGE Evidence concerning relationships in the degree of self- actualization with age are available from a number of sources. From 'a theoretical standpoint it has been hypothesized that peaks of actualizing cannot be reached until full maturity is attained. The rationale behind such a hypothesis is obvious, i.e., for one to gratify the lower level needs in Maslow's hierarchy, a certain level of social, emotional, and economic maturity is assumed. Maslow, himself, stated that in searching a college campus for self- actualizing subjects, ”I had to conclude that self-actualization of the sort I had found in my older subjects was not possible in our 39C. Hall and G. Lendzey, Theories of Personalities (New York: John Wiley and Sons, I957), p. A. hoRogers, I96I, p. 292. l”Combs and Snygg, I959, p. 399. 36 A2 society for young developing peOple.” In fact, in comparison to adult samples, high school and early college student mean scores on the POI fall generally in the mid to low normal range for the general adult population.A3 Additional emperical data based on the administration of the POI have generally supported this theoretical position. The findings of several studies are summarized briefly in Table 2. Mean scores for adult samples tend to be higher than those for high school aged samples. Advanced college student samples are higher than entering college students', and samples from both of these populations are At. higher than high school student samples. Greely's data, however, indicate that among American Catholic priests the level of self- actualization actually decreases as age increases. His results show a steady decline in self-actualization scores when analyzed by ten- . . . . A5 year age Intervals ranging from twenty-Six to fifty-six and over. ’ thaslow, I970, p. ISO. “BKnapp, l976, p. 35. AA Ibid., p. 85. “5 Ibid., pp. 85‘86. 37 Table 2 SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND AGE Study Results Smith, I968 Maslow, I970 Greely, I970 Knapp, I976 Wilson, I977 Hull, I978 Chase, I979 Teacher level of self-actualization is more closely related to Open-mindedness than to age-related variables and no significant relationship was found between age variables and teacher self-actualization. Concluded that the levels of self- actualization achieved by older subjects was not possible for college-age students. Results show a steady decline in self- actualization scores among American Catholic priests by ten-year interval: 26-36, 36-A6, A6-56+. High school and college mean scores on the POI fall generally in the mid to low normal + score range of AO-AS. Mean scores for adult samples tend to be higher than those for high school samples; advanced college student samples are higher than entering college students. Factors other than age, e.g., type of position held, are more closely related to level of self-actualization than age. No significant relationship was found between age or years' teaching experience and level of teacher self-actualization. No significance was found between the level of self-actualization of teachers over 35 years old and those under 25 years old. Taken as a whole, the general attitude toward older teachers seems more consistent with what Greely found about aging priests than with Maslow's observations regarding the level of self-actualization among “young developing people.” Earl Harmer reflects this attitude when he states: 38 The conventional wisdom about veteran teachers goes as follows: older teachers are inflexible, set in their ways, resistant to educational innovation and new knowledge. Older teachers don't relate to children as well as do younger teachers. Older teachers are psychologically less healthy; they are often bitter and hostile toward pupils. Older teachers expect 'soft' assignments with no extra duties. Finally, older teachers do not or can not work as hard as younger teachers.A6 Harmer reports that the results of a study he completed in Salt Lake City among IOO teachers over fifty years of age and with at least twenty years' experience refute this view. He concludes: ”While the literature on aging is extensive and growing, little or no effort has been made to describe the teaching characteristics or the attitudes and values of older teachers. In the conventional sources of research data (ERIC, for example), there are no descriptors that focus on the area."ll7 Contemporary adult growth theorists and psychologists appear to support Harmer's implication. As Roberts suggests, IIadult life . cycles have a definite effect upon teachers and their teaching."l‘8 Until quite recently adulthood was considered to be one vast continu- um, a kind of “deveIOpmentaI plateau upon which age, merely a physical eroding process, rudely intruded.” According to Roberts, it is “at A6 E. W. Harmer, “Veteran Teachers: Old Myths and New Reali- ties,’I Phi Delta Kappan, LX (March, I979). P. 536. Ii '7Ibid. A8 D. Roberts, ”Adult Life Cycles,” English Journal, LXVI (September, I977), p. 38. 39 the fiftieth year that the human being is entering the era of stabilization...there is a sense of total self-acceptance and tolerance of others.”A9 He continues: It is at fifty and beyond that many teachers become 'master' teachers. The master teacher supports the system without pandering to it. He or she has learned to be honest and forthright without being inflamatory...do not so much control others as they establish, by their own example, an emotional climate conducive to harmony.50 Studies relating teacher age factors (age, years' experience, etc.) to self-actualization are not nearly as decisive in their con- clusions as are those of Greely, or Harmer and Roberts. Smith, for example, in a study cited earlier, found teacher level of self- actualization more significantly related to open-mindedness than to the age-related variables of years since graduation and teaching experience. Her data did not indicate that a significant difference exists between these age-related variables and level of self- actualization among teachers.sl Likewise, Hull, in a study involving fifty-six elementary teachers, found no significant relationship between teacher age or years of teaching experience and their levels of self-actualization. In addition, she found that the teachers in her sample were not sig- nificantly more self-actualizing than was the general adult norming 52 population. ”Ibid., p. In. SoIbid. 5ISmith, I968, pp. 79-82. SSJ. A. Hull, ”Self-Actualization of Teachers, Student Estimate of Teacher Concern, and Related Other Variables,” Dissertation Abstract, 37:6366, March I978. AD Wilson, in a study involving I75 administrators at four midwestern universities, concluded that factors other than age, e.g., type of administrative position held, are more closely related to level of self-actualization than is age itself.53 In an investigation designed to study the effect of a training program on the self-actualization levels of teachers, Chase found that while there was a significant difference between the level of self-actualization of teachers who completed the specified training program and those who had not, there was no significant difference between participating teachers 35 years and older and those under 25 years of age. One of the major questions underlying this study was: Would the effects of a specific training program be greater for older or younger teachers?Sh In conclusion, the trend of increasing levels of self- actualization up to the early or middle adult years seems fairly well established--particularly in areas other than education. As yet, the overall trend beyond ages thirty to forty is less clear-cut and more research is needed to clarify the interaction of age and actualizing tendencies with other moderating variables. SSJ. Wilson, “A Study of the Relationship Between Level of Ad- ministrative Position and Self-Actualization when Analyzed by Age, Academic Preparation and Years of Administrative Experience,“ Disserta- tion Abstracts, 38:6A, June, I978. SlIL. Chase, ”The Development of a Training Program to Facili- tate the Self-Actualization of Teachers,” Dissertation Abstracts, 38:723A, May, I979. AI DECLINING ENROLLMENTS AND PROFESSIONAL STAFF The phenomenon of declining public school enrollments is no longer news. Teachers, administrators, and boards of education have known about, and have had to live with, the declining numbers of school-age children for some years. As is usually the case with events of this kind, answers are first sought to the very general questions: Why are enrollments declining? What are the consequences? We have, by now, some rather well-tested general answers to these questions. First, enrollments are declining because of demographic trends related mostly to declining birth rates. Second, the major implications are that we won't need as many teachers and we won't need as many schools. There~ fore, some teachers are likely to be laid off, and some schools are likely to be closed. But what about the professional staff (teachers and adminis- trators) who remain? Once staff are reduced, some contend, those remaining become “entrenched” and ”conservative” in outlook. Mayhew Observed the behavior of managers in declining industries (he asserts that education is a declining industry) and summarized his findings: Declining industries seem to possess common character- istics. When an industry is expanding, managers and administrators are younger because of promotion and mobility possibilities produced through expansion. As growth slows, managers and administrators tend to age and incumbents tend to remain in positions longer. Long tenure in a position, especially in times of dwindling resources, tends to produce lower morale, some cynicism, and considerable doubt as to the essential worthwhileness of the enterprise. Still, incumbents guard their positions A2 tenaciously for they are faced with an over supply of qualified, or at least credentialed administrators. ...The availability of larger numbers of younger, and possibly better qualified, administrators can produce anxiety, conservatism, and unwillingness to take chances in incumbents. If Mayhew's observation of the behavior of managers in declining industries is valid for school administrators, does it also apply to teachers? Many would argue that it does. The reverse seniority system, for example, for reducing teaching staff is a source of concern for many. Garver is concerned that the in- creased age of the teaching staff ”may have severe implications on 6 the ultimate quality of the school systems' programs.” Research by . 57 58 59 . Bidwell, Hanushek, and Summers supports that View and suggests that for school systems to be most productive, they should concen- trate their efforts on obtaining young, relatively inexperienced teachers. 55 L. B. Mayhew, Educational Leadership and Declining Enroll- ments (Berkeley, California: MuCutchan Publishing Corporation, I97KI. P. IA. 56 G. G. Garver, ”Declining Enrollment, A Challenge to Per- sonnel,” Michigan School Board Journal, XXIV (April, I977), p. IO. 57 C. E. Bidwell and J. D. Kasarda, ”School District Organi- zation and School Achievement,” American Sociological Review, XL (February, l976), pp. 55-70. 58 E. Hanushek, The Value of Teachers in Teaching(Rand Corporation, December, I970)1 59 A. Summers and B. Wolfe, I'Which School Resources Help Iuearning? Efficiency and Equity in Philadelphia Public Schools,” ffigderal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Business Review, Vol. 3 (February, 197W, pp, IP23, A3 There seems little doubt that in this society the aging process is viewed negatively. Gross, for example, reports that a survey designed to assess the impact Of increasing age among college professors predicts ”that academies will be relatively more conserva- tive, that a smaller proportion of faculty members will be involved in research."60 He bases this prediction, at least in part, on the assumption that ”with advancing age people generally lose flexibility and undergo declines in energy and motivation, even in intelli- gence...‘| and it is therefore l'easy to imagine a professorite slowly flagging in research productivity and becoming increasingly inflexi- ble in the face of changing pedagogical needs.6l While Grambs would agree that the impact of increasing age of school faculty members is not fully appreciated, she takes a more positive approach to dealing with this reality. She charges school principals to consider several factors dealing with the issue. These factors include: (I) their attitude toward age and aging teachers; (2) providing incentives for older teachers; and (3) using new demographic findings in positive ways. Among these findings may be the relationship between age- related factors and job satisfaction. Fitzgerald, in a replication of a study first completed in I972, indicates that job satisfaction 60 A. Gross, “Twilight in Academe: The Problem of the Aging Professorite,” Phi Delta Kappan LVIII (June, l977), p. 752. 6lipid. 62J. D. Grambs and C. Seefeldt, ”The Older Teacher: Educa- tion's New Majority,” The National Elementany Principal LVII (March, I978), 63-6A. Ali may be another casualty of increased age among teachers. Her study was designed to assess changes in some of the professional attitudes of elementary school teachers between I972 and I978. The results Of the study showed significant drops in job satisfaction-~primarily in areas relating to the teacher as an individual within a school system 63 rather than to the responsibilities and challenges of instruction. The relationship between three time-related concepts (age of employee; length of service in the organization, or llorganizational tenure”; and length of time in a particular position, or ”job seniority”) and job satisfaction was the subject of a study com- pleted by Ronen in I978. The results of this study indicate that changes in level of overall job satisfaction with time parallel the trend of satisfaction with intrinsic aspects of the jobEA In other words, increasing age, tenure and job seniority do not automa- tically mean a decrease in job satisfaction and morale. Maslow theorized that humans are motivated by five basic drives: physiological, security, social, esteem, and self- actualization. These five drives form a hierarchy. The first level must be reasonably satisfied before one is concerned with the 63S. M. Fitzgerald, ”Career Needs and Satisfaetions of Teachers: A Replication Study” (unpublished paper, Michigan State University, I978), p. 33. 6“S. Ronen, I'Job Satisfaction and the Neglected Variable of Job Seniority,” Human Relations XXXIV (April, I978) p. 306. A5 second level and so on. Also, if one is seeking to advance through to the higher levels and something comes along to threaten his security, than he will revert to protecting his security, according to the theory. Once the security and social needs are met, relationships move into the esteem level. This level is characterized by one's feelings of satisfaction about himself and his place in the organi- zation, rather than by his concern for the satisfaction of lower level needs. Maslow's fifth level of self-actualization is characterized by inner feelings of achievement and personal success. This level is characterized by consistent performance and satisfaction in his work. When applying Maslow's hierarchy to a teaching staff facing a declining enrollment, several possibilities become apparent. First, young teachers and/or those teachers with low seniority, could feel so threatened by the possibility of layoff that it would be difficult for them to move much beyond the security level. Even those teachers who are not directly threatened by layoff may have a difficult time moving beyond the social needs because they are likely to be trans- fered from school to school. Williams points out, for example, that a teacher new to a school must spend much time satisfying his social needs, i.e., he will seek acceptance within the new school from the A6 Thus, the principal, other teachers, and even the parent community?b requirement to first deal with these social needs could inhibit a frequently-transfered teacher from moving to the higher levels of self-esteem and self-actualization. Once a teacher satisfactorily meets these lower level needs, relationships slide into the esteem level where teachers, as Williams describes them seek both self-esteem and the respect and praise of others...now the teacher is recognized by others for his competence and is expected to contribute to the solution of problems facing the staff, and in turn can expect the group to contribute to the solution of his problems. This level is characterized by one's feelings of satisfaction about himself and his place in the organization, rather than by his concern for satisfying physical needs.66 Williams continues to describe Maslow's fifth level of self- actualization as characterized by inner feelings of achievement and personal success. A teacher at this level would also be recognized as having influence in the group with which he is affiliated, and shares in the control and authority over others (authority based on competence, not position) because his opinion is respected. This person would consistently be performing on a high level, and would be recognized as such by others. We would expect such a teacher to feel great satisfaction in his work.67 Based on Maslow's theory then, the question as to the impact of an aging staff (as a result of declining enrollment or other 65R. T. Williams, ”Teacher Motivation and Satisfaction,” NASSP Bulletin, LXII (December, I978), 90. 66ibid., p. 91. 67 Ibid. A7 factors) may depend on how administration reacts to their needs. Sergiovanni and Carver raised some important questions regarding the ways in which administrators and leaders of teacher organizations view teachers: I. Are we confusing satisfaction factors which contribute to fulfilling basic animal needs with those which contribute to fulfilling basic human growth needs? 2. Are we overestimating the importance of extrinsic factors in dealing with teachers? 3. Are we underestimating the importance of intrinsic factors? A. Have we confused the absence of job dissatisfaction in teachers with presence of job satisfaction? 5. Are we confusing the symptoms of unrest among teachers with causes of unrest?68 Sergiovanni and Carver contend that the answer to each of the questions is yes, and they suggest that the foremost challenge for school administrators is to facilitate the emergence of basic needs in the human sense.69 SUMMARY A major consequence of declining enrollment, in a human sense, is that with fewer students there is a need for fewer teachers. Given the seniority system in place in virtually all school districts, this reduction in the number of teachers means the displacement of 68 T. J. Sergiovanni and F. D. Carver, The New School Executive: A Theony of Administration (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1973), p' 56-57- 69 Ibid. A8 younger, lower seniority staff members. In a society where the aging process is not generally viewed in a positive light, the con- sequences of this “aging” of the professional staff are often per- ceived as being a decline in the quality of programs, teaching, and teachers. The literature, reviewed here, does not support this perception when viewed within the context of one of the major goals of education. that of helping individuals develop fully as a person. The development, over the past quarter century, of the concept of the self-actualizing individual has been accompanied by a rather substantial theoretical and speculative literature. A review of this literature reveals that the notion of the dynamic, continuously searching and growing human being is consistent with not only the ”American ideal,” but with what we know about the process of learning as well. As such, it is widely accepted as an important goal of education in America. It has been suggested that since the concept of self- actualization is a legitimate goal of education, teachers and other professionals ought to evidence behaviors consistent with that goal. Since I963 several research studies designed to assess the relation- ship between teacher self-actualization and teaching effectiveness have been completed. While these studies have not produced conclu- sive evidence to support the existence of a positive relationship, there is enough evidence to support the need for further study in this area. Similarly, the research literature has not yielded a final answer concerning purported relationships between self-actualization A9 and age-related variables. The fact that research is inconclusive in this area, however, seems to refute the contention of many that the aging process has an automatic, and negative, influence on the psy- chological health of individuals. In summary, the review of the literature reported above supports four basic notions: (I) the ideal of the self- actualizing human being as consistent with both the goals and process of education; (2) there appears to be a relationship between teachers' level of self-actualization and general teaching effectiveness; (3) while it seems fairly well established that self-actualization in- creases up to middle and early adult years, little, if any, work has been done in seeking relationships between the level of self- actualization of teachers to age-related variables generally asso- ciated with declining school enrollment; and, (A) there is evidence that declining school enrollment is having a strong influence on the demography of teaching staffs. On the basis of this information, there seems to be a need to clarify the interaction of age and actualizing tendencies of teachers with other moderating variables, particularily those variables related to demographic changes hastened by enrollment decline. CHAPTER III METHODS AND PROCEDURES Introduction It was the purpose of this study to investigate the extent to which variations in the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers are related naa number of variables generally asso- ciated with declining student enrollment, i.e., teacher age, total years teaching experience, total years teaching experience in the school district, and total years teaching experience in a specific school. In addition, the relationship between the level of teacher self-actualization and the level of principal self-actualization was examined. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the population, research methodology, instrumentation, methods of data collection and the data analysis methods. Description of the Population This study was restricted to a pOpuIation consisting of all ISO probationary and tenured elementary school teachers (K-6 classroom teachers, learning resource room teachers, and media specialists) in a mid-sized suburban school district in southeast Michigan. These teachers were distributed among nine elementary schools ranging in size from 239 students and twelve teachers to A62 students 5i and twenty teachers. The mean age of the teachers included in this study was forty-one years and the mean for the total years of teaching experience in the school district was nine years. Although the subjects described above comprised an intact pOpuIation, it is assumed that in terms of the variables under exami- nation in this study, they were sufficiently similar to their counter- parts in other mid-sized suburban school districts experiencing declining enrollment to permit the results to be generalizable to that larger population. Research Method The method selected for this study was correlational research. This method is considered appropriate where the variables are complex and/or do not lend themselves to the experimental method and controlled manipulation. The use of this research methodology also has the ad- vantage of permitting the measurement of variables and their inter- relationships simultaneously and in a real setting. In addition, partial correlations were employed in the analysis of the data. This procedure enabled the researcher to obtain a single measure of association which described the relationships between the two primary variables (for example, level of teacher self-actualization and total years teaching experience in the school district), while ad- justing for the effects of one or more additional variables. The use of this technique provided for the identification of spurious relation- lS. Isaac and W. Michael, Handbook in Research and Education (San Diego: EDITS Publishers, l97l), p. 2l. 52 ships as well as aided in drawing some causal inferences from the data. There were two primary variables under investigation in this study. One, the self-actualization level of elementary school teachers, was measured by an instrument developed by Everett Shostrom and called the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI).3 The POI pur- ports to test self-actualization in two major and ten sub-scales. One of the major scales, Time Competence (TC), measures the degree to which one is reality oriented in the present, that is, has the ability to bring the past and the future into meaningful continuity. The other major scale, Inner-directedness (I), measures the degree to which one is independent of others or self-willed. As actualized persons tend to transcend and integrate both TC and I, the sum of the raw scores on these two measures was used as the best overall estimate of self-actualization. The second primary variable, the total years teaching experi- ence in the school district, was determined by obtaining the sum of the years of employment in the target school district. These data, along with information relating to the other variables of age, total teaching experience and building experience, were obtained from the personnel office in the form of an existing computer program titled 2N. Nie, et. al., Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition (New York: McGraw-Hill, I975), pp. 302-03. 3E. L. Shostrom, Personal Orientation Inventory (San Diego: EDITS Publishing, I968). “R. R. Knapp, Handbook for the Personal Orientation Inventory_ (San Diego: EDITS Publishing, l976), p. 78. 53 Elementary Teacher Analysis. Other data available from the program, but not used in this study, include salary, sex, degree status, and academic major and minor. Instrumentation The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), a test of self- actualization in two major and ten sub-scales, was chosen as the measure of the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers. The Personal Orientation Inventory was deveIOped by Everett Shostrom to meet the needs of many counselors and therapists for a comprehensive measure of values and behavior seen to be of importance in the development of self-actualization. Initial development of the item pool was based on observed value judgment problems seen by thera- pists in private practice. Further, these items were agreed to be related to the theoretical formulations and research of leaders in Humanistic, Existential, and Gestalt schools of therapy. Among the concepts incorporated in the initial development of the POI were: Maslow's hypothesis about self-actualization; Riesman, Glazer, and Denny's system of inner- and other-directedness; May, Angel, and Ellenberger's, as well as Perls' conceptualization of time orienta- tion.5 The instrument consists of I50 two-choice comparative value and behavior judgments selected by behavior scientists at the 5Ibid., pp. 3-A. 5A Institute of Therapeutic Psychology in Los Angeles, from statements which Shostrom had assembled from the works of the writers mentioned above. These I50 items in various combinations make up the two major and ten sub-scales which are displayed in Appendix A. Personal Orientation Inventory Validiry Shostrom states that ”...the most important test of validity of the POI is that it should discriminate between individuals who have been observed in their behavior to have attained a relatively high level of self-actualization from those who have not so evidenced such development."6 To test this discriminatory validity, the POI was administered to two groups. Each group was composed of persons carefully selected by nomination of practicing, certified clinical psychologists. The first group was identified as ”relatively self-actualizing” (SA) and the second group ”relatively non-self—actualizing” (NSA) adults. N's were twenty-nine and thirty-four respectively. The results of this study by Shostrom (l96A) are presented in Appendix B and indicate that the POI significantly discriminates between the self-actualized and the non-self—actualized subjects on eleven of the twelve scales. Shostrom reports that ”It is apparent that there is a consistent difference between the self-actualized group and the non-self- t."7 actualized group on this tes In another study by Shostrom and Knapp (I966), the POI was administered to two groups of outpatients in therapy. One group was 6Ibid. 7Ibid. 55 just beginning therapy and the other group had been in therapy for an average of 26.6 months. The results of the study showed that all twelve POI scales differentiated between the criterion groups at the .OI confidence level or higher, as displayed in Appendix C. An additional study reported by Fox (I965), involving a group of IOO hospitalized psychiatric patients demonstrated that all POI scales significantly differentiated (beyond the .00] level) the hos- pitalized sample from a nominated self-actualized sample and from a normal adult sample. Differences reaching statistical significance at the .0] level were obtained for the major scales of Time-Competence and Inner-directedness. Since these initial critical studies, over fifty studies have been completed which support the validity of the POI as a measure of self-actualization. Moreover, Maslow himself has noted that ”...self— actualization can now be defined quite Operationally, ...self- ..9 actualization is what the test tests. Personal Orientation Inventory Reliability In general, the consistency of the POI over time is as good or better than that reported for most personality tests, as indicated in the following from Shostrom: 8Ibid., p. 2A. 9A. H. Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (New York: Viking, l97l), p. 28. 56 Test-retest reliability coefficients have been obtained for POI scales based on a sample of forty-eight undergraduate college students. The inventory was administered twice, one week apart, to the sample with the instructions that it was part of an ex- periment to take the inventory twice .... Reliability coeffi- cients for the major scales of Time Competence and Inner- direction are .7I and .8A respectively, and the coefficient for the sub-scales range from .55 to .85.IO Reliability coefficients for the above-mentioned study are presented in Appendix D. According to Fox, these coefficients are acceptable.ll Data Collection The first step in data collection for this study was that of securing the approval of the administration of the target school district. Once this approval was obtained, the researcher discussed the study with the president of the local education association for the purpose of obtaining his cooperation and support prior to going to the individual schools and teachers involved in the study. During the month of January, I980, the study was presented to the teachers at regularly-scheduled staff meetings in each of nine elementary schools in the target school district. The following month, the Personal Orientation Inventory was administered to each staff and principal at a similar meeting, with each person completing and turning in the survey at that time. Every effort was made to insure that the instructions were given in a uniform manner and that all participants had adequate time to complete the inventory. Teachers were asked to 0Shostrom, op. cit., p. 33. ]'0. J. Fox, The Research Process in Education (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, I969), p. 362. 57 sign their names to the answer sheets, enabling the collection of in- formation relating to age, total years teaching experience, years ex- perience in the district, and years experience in their present school, from the Elementary Teacher Analysis program obtained through the Personnel Office. All POI answer sheets were hand scored using a different scoring template for each of the twelve scales. The templates were purchased from the Educational and Industrial Testing Service. The raw score for each scale was determined by counting the number of blackened areas showing through the appropriate holes in the key. As noted earlier, the sum of the scores for each of the two major scales . . l2 was used as the measure of self-actualization. Data Analysis According to Tuckman, it is usually not necessary to describe a statistical design in step-by-step detail when common statistical tests are used such as analysis of variance, t-tests, and correlation; l3 simply naming the test and citing the source is sufficient. The statistical procedures followed in the pursuance of this study are of IA this common nature and shall be described only briefly. leollowing the instructions of the POI Manual (Shostrom, I97A) those inventories having more than fifteen items unanswered or double- marked were considered invalid and were not considered in the data analysis. Of the ISO teacher inventories, five were invalid. 13B. W. Tuckman, Conducting Educational Research (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., I972), p. 303. 1“The SPSS (see Nie, op. cit.) program, available through the Oakland Intermediate School District, was utilized in the analysis of data. This program was accessed through a school district terminal available to the researcher. 58 Hypothesis I: There is no relationship between the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and teacher age. Hypothesis 2: There is no relationship between the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and their district teaching experience. Pearson-product moment correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the degree of relationship that existed between the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and their age and their years of teaching experience in the target school district. Since these variables were able to be measured on an interval scale and had distributions which were continuous and relatively symmetrical, the Pearson-product correlation coefficient was considered an appro- priate statistic. A one-tailed test of statistical significance was then computed for this correlation coefficient. A 0.05 level of sig- nificance was chosen in advance as being sufficient to reject each . IS null hypothe5is. Hypothesis 3: There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and their district teaching experience when controlled for: (I) teacher age; (2) total years teaching ex- perience; (3) teaching experience in the building of current assignment; (A) the self-actualization level of the building principal; (5) any combina- tion of the above. In order to determine the relative importance of several par- ticular intervening variables, partial correlation coefficients were calculated. The linear effects of the following variables were each removed individually and collectively from the relationship between ISNie, op. cit., pp. 280-86. 59 teacher self-actualization and years of district teaching experience-- teacher's age, experience in current building assignment, total years teaching experience, and the level of self-actualization of the building principal. Again, a one-tailed test of statistical signifi- cance was computed for each of these correlation coefficients and measured against a 0.05 level of significance to determine whether it was sufficient to reject the null hypothesis.1 Hypothesis A: There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self-actualization of their building principal. A Pearson-product moment correlation coefficient was again calculated to determine the degree of relationship that existed between the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self-actualization of their principal. As indicated above, the self-actualization variable was able to be measured on an interval scale and had a continuous and relatively symmetrical distribution. A one-tailed test of statistical signifi- cance was then computed for this correlation coefficient. A 0.05 level of significance was chosen in advance as being sufficient to reject this null hypothesis.'7 Hypothesis 5: There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self-actualization of their building principal when controlled for: (I) teacher age; l6Ibid., 30l-l6. As noted earlier in this chapter, the utili- zation of this procedure enables the researcher to identify spurious relationships as well as make some causal inferences from the data. '7ibid., pp. 280-86. 6O (2) total years teaching experience; (3) teaching experience in the building of current assignment; (A) district teaching experience; and (5) any combination of the above. The same process which was utilized in the analysis of Hypothesis 3 (see above) was employed in the analysis of Hypothesis 5. In this instance, the linear effects of the following variables were each removed individually and collectively from the relation- ship between teacher seIf-actualization and principal self- actualization--teacher age, total years teaching experience, experi- ence in current building assignment, and district teaching experience. A one-tailed test of statistical significance was computed for each of these correlation coefficients and measured against a 0.05 level of significance to determine whether it was sufficient to reject the null hypothesis. Summary One hundred and fifty elementary school teachers from a mid- sized suburban school district in Oakland County, Michigan, were administered the Personal Orientation Inventopy, While these teachers comprised the entire population of elementary teachers in the target school district, it is assumed that, as a group, they are sufficiently similar to their counterparts in other mid-sized suburban school districts in southeast Michigan to permit the results of this study to Ixageneralizable to that larger population. Both correlations and partial correlations were utilized in the analysis of data in this study. The data-gathering sessions and 6l the inventory scoring methods are described, along with an analysis and description of the Personal Orientation Inventory. Concluding the chapter is a restatement of the five testable hypotheses upon which this study is based and a brief description of the statistical procedures which were utilized in testing their support or rejection. CHAPTER IV RESULTS Introduction The central concern of this study was to determine whether there were significant relationships between the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and several selected variables generally associated with a decline in student enrollment. These variables included: total years of professional teaching experience; years of teaching experience within a specific school district; years of teaching experience in a particular school; and teacher age. .In addition, the relationship between the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self-actualization of their school prin- cipal was explored. Data on the subject population as well as the operational hypotheses, along with the results and an analysis of the data pertaining to each hypothesis,are discussed in this chapter. Uti- lizing these results, the acceptance or rejection of each hypothesis is determined. Together, these findings are intended to set the stage for the conclusions and implications which follow in chapter five. Description of the Subjects Data relating to the years of teacher teaching experience (total, district and school) and teacher age as obtained for the IAS teachers included in this study are contained in Tables I and 2. The ”average" 62 63 elementary school teacher in the target school district (as determined by obtaining the mean for each of the variables) is A0 years of age, with a total of twelve years teaching experience--nine of which have been within their present school district and six in their current school. Generally, it was assumed that the demography of this population is similar to that of the teacher populations in surrounding suburban school districts where a decline in student enrollment has caused the closing of one or more elementary schools. Table l TOTAL, DISTRICT, AND BUILDING TEACHING EXPERIENCE OF SELECTED ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS Years Experience Total (TEX) District (DEX) Building (BEX) O-A 25 27 68 5'9 36 AS Al IO-IA 28 55 29 15-19 28 7 2 ZO-ZA l7 9 A 25-29 8 2 l 30-3A 2 -- -- 35-39 -' -- '- AO-AA I -- -- TOTAL IAS IAS IAS m=l2.3 m=8.7 m=5.8 ”=8 0 0'=6.A 015.6 6A Table 2 AGE OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS Age n Percent of Total 20-29 2A l6.5 30'39 A9 33.7 AO-A9 35 2A.l 50*59 3A 2.0 TOTAL 11-05 99.7.}: m=AO.6 dr=I0.A 7"less than IOO due to rounding off the figures Null Hypotheses and Study Results Hypothesis I: There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and teacher age. A Pearson-product moment correlation coefficient yielded a cor- relation Of 0.02 which was not statistically significant at the 0.05 level. As a result, this null hypothesis was supported. Table 3 presents the correlation coefficients representing the relationships between the level of teacher self-actualization and teacher age. In addition, the correlation coefficients for the relationship between teacher self-actualization and the other variables included in this study are displayed in Table 3. 65 Table 3 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND SELECTED VARIABLES Age BEX TEX PSA DEX Teacher self-actualization 0.02 -O.l6* -O.II O.27** -O.IA* (TSA) Teacher age (AGE) - o.ho** o.7o** O.IA* o.57** Building Teaching Experience - O.6A** -O.ll O.7l** (BEX) Total Teaching Experience - 0,05 e.ghee (TEX) Principal Self-actualization - -O.l0, (PSA) District Teaching Experience - (TEX) :‘:p .z 05 :‘::':p < 0] Hypothesis 2: There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and their district teaching experience. Again, a Pearson-product moment correlation coefficient was calculated-~this time yielding a correlation of -O.IA, which was statis- tically significant at the 0.05 level. Therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. Data indicating the correlations between teacher self- actualization and the years' teaching experience in the target district are presented in Table 3. Rejection of this null hypothesis indicates that there was a definite relationship between teacher self-actualization and the length of experience within the target school district. The negative nature of this correlation indicates that teacher self-actualization tends to 66 decrease as the number of years' teaching experience in the district in- creases. While it cannot be concluded from these data that the length of experience in a district causes a decrease in the level of self- actualization, or vice versa, it seems probable that a measure of experi- ence in a school district may be an indicator of teacher self- actualization. Hypothesis 3: There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and their district teaching experience when controlled for: (I) teacher age; (2) building teaching experi- ence; (3) total teaching experience; (A) the level of self-actualization of the building principal; or (5) any combination of the above. As indicated above, the initial investigation revealed a moderately strong negative correlation between the level of teacher self-actualization and the length of teaching experience in the school district. It was sus- pected, however, that this relationship was spurious and due to the fact that four other variables, i.e., teacher age, total teaching experience, building teaching experience, and the level of self-actualization of the school principal, co-vary strongly with both teacher self-actualization and length of district experience, and therefore, the relationship between level of teacher self-actualization and district teaching experience is purely a function of the former's relationship to these other variables. It is clear from the correlations displayed in Table 3 that the relationships between building experience and teacher self-actualization and between principal self-actualization and teacher self-actualization are even stronger than that between district experience and teacher self- actualization. In order to ascertain whether the relationship between 67 district experience and teacher self-actualization was a spurious one, the ’ computation of five partial correlation coefficients with four first- order partials, and one second-order partial, was cOmpleted. To begin, first-order partials were computed between district ex- perience and teacher self-actualization controlling individually for the effects of teacher age, building experience, teaching experience, and principal self-actualization. The results of this computation appear in Table A. When controlling for age, the partial correlation is -O.l8, indicating that the initial correlation of -O.IA has been increased rather than decreased. Thus, part (I) of this hypothesis is rejected, as the correlation remains significant at the .05 level. Table A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND DISTRICT EXPERIENCE CONTROLLING FOR TEACHER AGE, TOTAL EXPERIENCE, BUILDING EXPERIENCE, AND PRINCIPAL SELF‘ACTUALIZATION Controlling for DEX AGE TEX BEX PSA TSA -0.IA* -0.I8* -0.09 -0.03 -O.l2 *p‘< 0.05 Note: If the correlation between teacher self-actualization and district teaching experience disappears (i.e., becomes zero) when controlled for age, total teaching experience, building teaching experience, or principal self-actualization, evidence will exist in support of the notion that the relationship is a spurious one. When controlling individually for total teaching experience, building experience, and principal self-actualization, however, the initial correlation of -0.IA is reduced to the extent that it is no longer significant. This reduction is particularly drastic in the case of both 68 total teaching experience and building teaching experience.' As a result, parts (2), (3), and (A) of this hypothesis are supported. Next, a second-order partial was computed which indicated the re- lationship between teacher self-actualization and total years district experience while simultaneously controlling for the effects of total years teaching experience, years of building experience and principal self-actualization; this partial was -0.0l, or essentially zero. The result is that these relationships were clarified considerably: the re- lationship between teacher self-actualization and district experience is spurious; the effects of total teaching experience, building experience, and principal self-actualization together acting to create the spurious relationship; but building experience is the single variable among these three having the greatest contaminating effect, and appears to be the major cause of the spurious relationships. Restated, these findings suggest that, when controlled for the effects of total teaching experi- ence, building experience, and principal self-actualization, the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers is similar irrespec- tive of the number of years they have taught in the same district, and part (5) of the hypothesis is supported. Hypothesis A: There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self-actualization of their school principal. A Pearson-product moment correlation was calculated and revealed a correlation of 0.27 which proved to be statistically significant at the .OOI level. As a result, this null hypothesis was rejected. As can 69 be readily Observed in Table 3, the level Of principal self-actualization is more highly correlated with teacher self-actualization than any of the other variables under consideratiOn. Hypothesis 5: There is no relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self-actualization of their school principal when controlled for: (I) teacher age; (2) total teaching experience; (3) building teaching experience; (A) district teaching experi- ence; or (5) any combination of the above. As noted above, the relationship between the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self- actualization of their school principal was a strong one (p<:.00l). The question was again asked regarding whether or not this relationship was spurious and due to the fact that the four other variables, i.e., teacher age, total teaching experience, building teaching experience, and district teaching experience co-vary strongly with both teacher and principal self-actualization. Unlike the relationship between teacher self-actualization and district experience (see Hypothesis 3, above), however, it is clear that the relationship between teacher self- actualization and principal self-actualization is not spurious. This is verified in Table 5 where the first-order partials are displayed. Note that in each instance the effect of controlling for any one variable is almost non-existent. 70 TABLE 5 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER SELF-ACTUALIZATION AND PRINCIPAL SELF-ACTUALIZATION CONTROLLING FOR TEACHER AGE, TOTAL EXPERIENCE, BUILDING EXPERIENCE, DISTRICT EXPERIENCE Controlling for PSA AGE TEX BEX DEX TSA , .27** .27** .28** .25** .26** *p<'0.0S **p<’0.0I The examination of second-order partials, i.e., controlling simultaneously for the effects of two or more variables, yielded similar results. The correlation remained high as the level of significance ranged between .00I-.002. As a result, this hypothesis was rejected in that whichever variable(s) was controlled, the original relationship between teacher and principal self-actualization remained strong. Summary Proceding from the research question (Is the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers related to selected vari- ables generally associated with enrollment decline?), the entire elemen- tary school teaching staff of a mid-sized suburban school district was administered the Personal Orientation Inventory. Information was then gathered regarding the number of years' teaching experience for each teacher in the district, in their current building, and in total. The principal was also administered the POI, and each of the scores was related to those of their teachers. 7I Results of the study indicate that: I. There is no relationship between the level of teacher self- actualization and teacher age. There is a significant and negative correlation between a teacher's level of self-actualization and the number of years they have taught in their current school district. In other words, the level of self-actualization is inversely related to years' experience in the district. When examined further, the above relationship proves to be spurious in that total teaching experience, principal self- actualization, and, most specifically, building experience, act to contaminate the relationships. Restated, these findings suggest that when controlled for the effect of total teaching experience, principal self-actualization and building experience, the level of self-actualization of elementary school teachers is similar irrespective of the number of years they have taught in the same district. There is a significant correlation between the level of teacher self-actualization and that of their school prin- cipal. CHAPTER V SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Summary In comparison with the l960's and early l970's, the composition of the teaching staff in the classrooms of our schools today shows an increase in average teacher age and in the number of years of teaching experience. The transition to an older, more experienced staff is due, in large part, to reductions in staff which have resulted from a sustained decline in student enrollment. The pOpular educational literature is replete with the ”consequences“ of this marked change in the demography of the teaching professionals. In most cases, these “consequences” have been viewed as being negative, and teacher dis- illusionment, stagnation, and peremptory concern with job security have been cited as limiting the capability of school districts to examine and react to the changing needs of students, staff and community. It was the primary purpose of this study to investigate the possible implications of this change on the demography of teaching professionals. To accomplish this, variations in the level of self- actualization among elementary school teachers were related to a number of variables generally associated with declining enrollment. These variables included teacher age: the length of professional teaching experience; length of experience within the target school district; 72 73 and the length of experience within the current school of assignment. In addition, the relationship between teacher self-actualization and a variable not associated with declining enrollment, i.e., principal self-actualization, was investigated. This latter question was examined because of the increasing emphasis being placed on the school principal as a key educational leader and change agent. In a time of declining enrollment and changing staff demography, it is quite possible that the school principal will become even more important in these roles. The selection of self-actualization as a primary variable in this study was based upon two assumptions. First, that there is something very different about the personality characteristics or orientation of successful teachers as compared to unsuccessful teachers, and that this difference can be identified as the teachers' degree of self-actualization as measured by the Personal Orientation Inventory. This assumption appears warranted based on the results of several studies dating back to the mid-l960's. Keytonl and Murray,2 for example, found significant differences in the self- actualization scores of teachers identified by students as being successful and the self-actualization scores of those teachers identified as less successful. In both of these studies the more IF. R. Keyton, ”Some Relationships Between a Measure of Self- Actualization and Various Aspects of Intermediate Grade Teacher Effec- tiveness” (unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Catholic University of America, l966). 2E. Murray, ”An Exploration of the Relationship of Self- Actualization and Teacher Success” (unpublished Masters thesis, Pennsylvania State University, I968). 7h 3 successful teachers were more self-actualizing. Likewise, Dandes, 5 Smith“ and Sands each found a significant relationship between teacher self-perception of competency and self-actualization. 7 Additional studies by Boston,6 Coble, and Farmer,8 have also supported the notion of the existence of a positive relationship between teacher level of self-actualization and ”successful” teaching. The second assumption underlying this study is that the con- cept of self-actualization is consistent with many of the most widely promoted and accepted goals of education in America. For example, Maslow has defined the concept of self-actualization as ”...the full 9 use of talents, capacities, potentials....” Rogers has referred to 3H. M. Dandes, “Psychological Health and Teaching Effective- ness,” Journal of Teacher Education, XVIII (l966). 1, M. L. H. Smith, ”The Facilitation of Student Self-Directed Learning as Perceived by Teachers with High and Low Levels of Self- Actualization and Dogmatism” (unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, I968). 5B. L. Sands, ”An Exploratory Study of Self-Actualization and Self-Perception of Competency among Michigan Family Life Teachers" (unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, l970). 6B. D. Boston, ”Self-Actualization as a Predictor of Teaching Success in Individually Guided Education” (unpublished Doctoral dis- sertation, Bowling Green State University, 1975). 7C. R. Coble, “Self-Actualization and the Effective Biology Teacher,” The American Biology Teacher, XXXV (l973). 8R. B. Farmer, ''The Relationship Between Social Studies Teacher Self-Actualization and Teacher Effectiveness,” Dissertation Abstracts, 39:5900, March, l979. 9A. H. Maslow, Motivation and Personality (New York: Harper and Brothers, l95h). 75 the self-actualizing person as ”fully functioning"‘0 and Combs as those who ”...see themselves in essentially positive ways and as a conse- quence are free and open to their experience, and to aCcept both them- selves and others...."II In each case the idea is presented that the self-actualizing person is “dynamic,” i.e., is continuing to experience life and to learn. The Personal Orientation Inventory was administered to all th elementary school teachers in a mid-sized suburban school district in southeast Michigan. Data on teacher age and teaching experience were obtained for each teacher from district personnel records. Although the subjects of this study comprised an intact population, they were believed to be sufficiently similar to their counterparts in other suburban school districts experiencing declining enrollment to permit the results to be generalizable to that larger_population. Following the collection of the data during the spring of l980, they were analyzed through the use of the Pearsoneproduct moment correla- tion coefficient and partial correlations. The findings revealed no relationship between level of self-actualization and teacher age, and, although there was a significant negative relationship between the level of teacher self-actualization and the length of their teaching experience, years teaching experience in the school of current assign- ment, and the level of principal self-actualization, separately and 'OC. R. Rogers, 0n Becoming a Person (Boston. Houghton- Mifflin Company, l961). HA. w. Combs and D. Snygg, Individual Behavior. A Perceptual Approach to Behavior (Revised ed. ; New York: Harper and Brothers, l9§§). 76 as a group, contaminated the apparent relationship. The relationship between level of teacher self-actualization and the level of principal self-actualization, however, proved statistically significant and was not a spurious one. A summary of the tested hypotheses is displayed in Table 5. Table 5 SUMMARY OF THE TESTED HYPDTHESES Null Hypotheses Tested Level of Significance i. There is no relationship between the level not significant of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and teacher age. 2. There is no relationship between the level -.0lh* of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and their years of teaching experience in the target school district. 3. There is no relationship between the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and their years of teaching experience in the target school district, when controlled for: 3. Years experience in current school not significant of assignment. b. Total years teaching experience. not significant c Level of principal self-actualization. not significant d. Any combination of the above. not significant A. There is no relationship between the level .00] of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self- actualization of their school principal. 5. There is no relationship between the level of self-actualization among elementary school teachers and the level of self- actualization of their school principal, when controlled for: 77 Table S--continued Null Hypotheses Tested Level of Significance a. Years experience in target school .00l district. b. Years experience in current school of .00l assignment. c. Total years teaching experience. .000 d. Any combination of the above. .001-.002 *This relationship proved to be spurious due to the contaminating effect of variables b, c, and d in Hypothesis 3. Conclusions Several conclusions were drawn from the data as revealed through the current study. These were: i. The belief held by many that an aging professional staff has an automatic and negative impact on the quality of educational pro- grams, teaching and teachers, is not substantiated in this study. While it may be true that some older teachers are inflexible, resistant to educational innovation, and unable to relate to children, there is no evidence to support the notion that any of these characteristics are a direct result of age or the aging process. The results of this study indicate that there is no relationship at all between teacher age and level of self- actualization. With self-actualization being a measure of psychological health, it would appear that the psychological health of teachers is not a function of age. To the degree that a school district is experiencing an inordinate amount of these undesirable characteristics (inflexibility, resistance to change, 78 inability of teachers to relate to children) among its ”older” teachers, it should examine variables other than age to determine possible contributing factors. The concerns expressed by many educators and educational observers that the longer teachers remain in the profession the more likely they are to experience ”burnout," or that younger teachers are so concerned with low-level psychological needs such as security that they are unable to be self-actualizing, are not supported in this study. Although there was a significant and negative relationship between length of teaching experience within the target school district and the level of teacher self-actualization (the longer one taught in the district, the lower the level of self- actualizationL this relationship did not hold up when controlled for other variables. While length of'experience within a school district may be an indicator of teacher self-actualization, the lack of horizontal mobility (by choice and/or circumstance) within the district may be a better indicator. At a time when educators are looking more and more to the indi- vidual school as the most strategic unit for the initiation of meaningful change, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the building principal holds the key to that change. The fact that the results of this study revealed a more significant relation- ship between the level of teacher self-actualization and the level of principal self-actualization than between the level of teacher self-actualization and any of the variables generally associated with declining enrollments would appear to support that notion. Perhaps if educational decision-makers at the district 79 level are concerned about the ”psychological health” of an aging and increasingly experienced teaching staff, they ought to look first to the “psychological health” of the building administra- tive staff. Implications The results of this study help to clarify the relationship between the level of teacher self-actualization and the impact that declining enrollment is having on the demography of the teaching staff. In addition, the results provide some insights into the possible relative importance of the variables generally associated with enrollment decline (teacher age and experience) when compared with that of the building principal. Cer- tainly, the findings of this study will provide educational decision makers with data helpful in understanding and reacting to the needs of a changing teaching staff. While the results of this study are specific to the school district where the research was conducted, the findings, conclusions, and implica- tions can be inferred to other school districts to the extent that the demography of the teaching staff matches that of the target school district. Essentially, three major implications emerge from this study. First, the need for assessing the needs of teachers as individuals and as profes- sionals rather than to attempt to react to the perceived needs and/or problems of a particular age group. Second, the need for school district decision makers to consider implementing a program(s) which will en- courage teachers to be more mobile within the district. Finally, the need for school district decision makers to assess and address the personal and professional needs of building principals. 80 The need to meet both the personal and professional needs of teachers: The current trend toward increasing the quantity and improving the quality of professional development oppor- tunities for teachers at the local school district level is a laudable one. Too often, however, these ”opportunities” become requirements and are designed to meet the perceived rather than the real needs of older teachers. It appears that in many instances educational decision makers have been swayed by the popular press (as well as by reports in a variety of educa- tional publications) into adopting the negative psychology of decline. As a consequence, simplistic responses are proposed to address the very real problems confronting education in a period of enrollment decline. One such response has been the trend toward ”professional deveIOpment” programs designed to retrain or ”remake” older teachers. The assumption being, of course, that older teachers (because of their age) Eggg_to be retrained and/or “remade.” At their best these programs may, in fact, meet the needs of a few individuals. At their worst they alienate staff and reinforce the public perception that the quality of educational programs, as well as teaching, is on the decline because the staff is getting older. The findings of this study imply, however, that age may not--or at least need not--be the culprit. Because of these findings, school district leaders might better spend their time and resources assessing and addressing the needs of teachers as individuals as well as professionals. When this happens, professional develOpment 8] occurs, but as an outgrowth of an emphasis on personal/profes- sional growth programs designed to enhance an individual's self- concept and to facilitate one becoming a more fully-functioning person. The need to encourage greater teacher mobility within a local school district: The findings of this study imply that a school district may benefit from a program designed to encourage teachers (and not just poor teachers) to periodically transfer from one school and/or level to another. Said another way, school district leaders may be encouraging stagnation on the part of teachers by not encouraging them to be more mobile. Generally, the practice in most school districts is to transfer, involuntarily in most cases, I'poor" teachers while ”good” teachers are rewarded by not being asked or encouraged to Change assign- ments and/or schools. While on the surface this practice seems to make sense, and appears to be in the best interest of students and teachers alike, the long-range effect may be to reinforce inflexi- bility and to discourage risk-taking. If this, in fact, is a result of such practice, then school district decision-makers must be ready to assume some of the responsibility for any inflexibility exhibited by teachers. In addition to implementing programs designed to facilitate and support the voluntary transfer of teachers, school districts might examine other incentives to teachers to change their role and/or environment periodically. Such things as internships, sabbatical leaves, and opportunities to participate in local, state and 82 national conferences, provide teachers the potential to gain new and growth-producing experiences. Because of past practices, however, the full implementation of a comprehensive program to accomplish the above may take time. School district leaders will recognize the value of such programs and begin to support them. The need to meet both the personal and professional needs of principals: At a time when educators are looking more and more to the individual school as the most strategic unit for the ini- tiation of meaningful change, it is becoming increasingly apparent that it is the principal who holds the key to that change. One of the major implications of this study is that the I'psychological health” of the teaching staff is tied to the ”psychological health” of the principal. Therefore, if it is important for teachers to be self-actualizing, it is perhaps even more important that principals--those charged with the responsibility of leadership and supervision of teachers-~be self-actualizing. Unfortunately, in a time of enrollment decline, a principal's personal growth needs frequently fall victim to the needs of the district --needs that often include such things as more effective evaluation of teachers and im- proved management skills. While these district needs and the needs of the individual principal are not necessarily mutually exclusive, school district decision-makers must take the time to adequately assess and respond to the personal growth needs of principals. Indications are that if this is done, the principal will be able to function more effectively as a leader 83 and facilitator for the personal and professional growth of teachers. Recommendations for Further Study Through the process of investigating variations in self- actualization among elementary school teachers, a number of interesting questions arose which generated recommendations for further study. Some of these questions are related to limitations in the current investiga- tion, while others are intended to extend the scope and to further describe the apparent relationship between principal and teacher self- actualization. Replication studies with other districts are seen as useful to yield additional data for support or rejection of the current study results. Replication studies with secondary school teachers would yield data regarding differences, if any, between teachers at the elementary and secondary levels. Comparative studies utilizing teachers from school districts experiencing enrollment decline and teachers from school districts with stable or growing enrollment would provide researchers with interesting insights into the relative im- portance of declining enrollment on the level of self- actualization of teachers. Studies designed to further examine whether increased mobility within a school district is related to a high level of self- actualization would be helpful to school district personnel 8h considering altering current practice as it relates to teacher transfer. 5. Replication studies with administrators would yield data regarding the relationship between administrator level of self-actualization and age/experience-related variables. 6. Studies designed to identify specific behaviors of self- actualizing and non-self-actualizing principals which facili- tate or inhibit the self-actualization of teachers would provide insights into the relationship between principal and teacher self-actualization. Reflections Upon the Study A major question facing schools today is how to provide young peOple with an education that not only will meet each one's personal needs, but also will incorporate social realities, including the per- petuation and realistic interpretation of democratic values. Stated another way:'%kwvcan we liberate each individual in order to enable him or her to function at the highest possible level as a member of our rapidly-changing society?” This question is especially significant at a time when declining school enrollments have cast a pessimistic shadow over educational institutions and professionals which had become accustomed to the positive psychology of growth. During the time I have been involved with this study, I have become acutely aware of the impact this negativism is having on the profession. Too often we seek easy answers and/or solutions to problems and in the process we have, on many occasions at least, confused the symptoms of these problems with the causes. This is unfortunate 85 because a declining enrollment actually presents the opportunity for moving ahead educationally-~for doing some of the things we have always known to be worthwhile, but could not do because we had too manv students and our minds and energy were being devoted to ”building schools and buying buses.” The findings of this study reinforce my belief that opportunities exist for the creative solution of the problems confronting education today. These problems can be resolved and the goal of helping each person to function at his or her highest potential can be achieved if we pay serious attention to facilitating the problem-solving capabilities and the self-actualizing potential of those responsible for the education of young people. We cannot forget that education is first and foremost a ”people business.” This applies to the relationship between teacher and student as well as the relationships between principal and teacher, and teacher and teacher. To lose sight of that fact is to lose sight of the essence of education. There is still great truth in Dewey's assertion that ”education is the process of living and not a preparation for future living. Education must be conceived as a continuing recon- struction of experience...the process and the goal of education are one in the same thing.” I Perhaps the most exciting finding from this study is that a relationship exists between the level of self-actualization of principals and the level of self-actualization of teachers. As a principal, this finding reaffirms my belief that I do have a significant role to play in improving the quality of education, both for the students and for the 86 teachers. As one still involved in the process of education, this finding reaffirms my belief that I can continue to grow and devel0p per- sonally. IZJ. Dewey, Democracy and Education (New York: MacMillan, l96h ed.),p. 68. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Anderson, B. D. and Mark, J. H. “Attrition, Mobility, and Productivity Among Teachers: The Case of Metropolitan St. Louis.” September, l976. Argyris, C. Understanding Organizational Behavior (Homewood, Illinois: Dorsey Press, l960). Atkinson, B. (ed.) The Complete Essays and Other Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Edition; New York: Random House, ISEO). Bidwell, C. E. and Kasarda, J. 0. ”School District Organization and School Achievement,” American Sociological Review, XL (February, 1976). Bloomfield Hills School District, Enrollment Projections (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, I979). Boston, 8. D. “Self-Actualization as a Predictor of Teaching Success in Individually Guided Education.” Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, l975. Bouverat, R. A. “A Study of Self-Actualization and Perceptions of Teaching Roles of Young Children.” Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, l970. Chase, L. ”The Development of a Training Program to Facilitate the Self- Actualization of Teachers,” Dissertation Abstracts, 38:723h, May, I979. Coble, C. R. ”Self-Actualization and the Effective Teacher.” The American Biology Teacher, 35:h79-8l, l973. Coble, C. R. and Hounshell, P. B. ”Teacher Self-Actualization and Student Progress.” Science Education, 56:3ll-l6, l972. Combs, A. W. ”The Personal Approach to Good Teaching,“ Educational Leadership, XXI (March, l96h). Combs, A., ed. ”The Process of Becoming,” Perceiving, Behavipg, Becoming. (Washington, D.C.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, l962). Combs, A. W. and Snygg, 0. Individual Behavior. New York: Harper, l9h9. Combs, A. W. and Snygg, 0. Individual Behavior: A Perceptual Approach to Behavior (Revised ed.; New York: Harper and Brothers, l959) 87 88 Committee on the Costs of Education. Interim Report No. A. Demogra- phic Influences on School Enrollment. Toronto, Canada: Ontario Executive Council, 197%. Dandes, H. M. ”Psychological Health and Teaching Effectiveness.“ Journal of Teacher Education, 18:301-06, 1966. Dewey, J. Democracy and Education. New York: Macmillan, 1916. Epstein, C. B. Declining Enrollment (Arlington: National School Public Relations Association, 1976). Erickson, E. H. “Identity and the Life Cycle.’I Ppychological Issues Monograph, Vol. I, New York: International Universities Press, 1959. Farmer, R. B. ”The Relationship Between Social Studies Teacher Self- Actualization and Teacher Effectiveness.” Dissertation Abstracts, 39:5900, March, 1979. Fitzgerald, S. M. ”Career Needs and Satisfactions of Teachers: A Replication Study." Unpublished paper, Michigan State University, I978. Ford, 5. S. ”The Relationship of Self-Actualization to Measures of Academic Success.” Dissertation Abstracts, 39:6500, April, 1979. Fox, 0. J. ”On the Clinical Use of the Personal Orientation Inventory.” in E. Shostrom, EDITS Manual for the POI. San Diego, California: EDITS Publishers, 197“. Fox, J. ”The Self-Actualizing Teacher,” Improving College and University Teaching, XIII (I965). Gardner, J. Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, Incorporated, l96h. Garver, G. G. ”Declining Enrollment, A Challenge to Personnel,” Michigan School Board Journal, XXIV (April, 1977). Goldstein, K. Human Nature in the Light of Psychopathology. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 19h0). Goodlad, J. I. Facing the Future: Issues 12 Education and Schooling, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1976. Grambs, J. D. and Seefeldt, C. “The Older Teacher: Education's New Majority.” The National Elementary Prinpipal, 57:63-68, March, 1979. Gross, A. “Twilight in Academe: The Problem of the Aging Professoriate.” Phi Delta Kappan, 58:10, June, 1977. 39 Hall, C. and Lendzey, G. Theories of Personalities (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1957). Hanushek, E. The Value of Teachers in Teaching (Rand Corporation, December, 1970). Harmer, E. W. ”Veteran Teachers: OId Myths and New Realities." Phi Delta Kappan, 60:7, March, 1979. Heintschel, R. M. ”An Analysis of the Relationship Between Science Teacher Self-Actualization and Science Student Attitude and Achievement." Dissertation Abstracts, 39:3501, November, 1978. Heitzeg, H. T. ”Student Enrollment Decline: A Model for Staffing and Staff Development in Public Schools.” Unpublished Doctoral disserta- tion, Michigan State University, 1978. Horney, K. Self-Analysis (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, l9A2), Hull, J. A. ”Self-Actualization of Teachers, Student Estimate of Teacher Concern, and Related Other Variables.” Dissertation Abstracts, 37:6366, March, 1977. Isaac, S. and Michael, W. Handbook in Research and Evaluation. San Diego, California: EDITS Publishers, 1971. Keough, W. F. Declining Enrollments: A New_Dilemma folEducators. Bloomington, Indiana: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1978. Kervin, J. B. "Collective Bargaining Under Declining Enrollments: Trends in Conditions-of—Employment Clauses.” Working Paper 7803. Toronto, Canada: Toronto University, Center for Industrial Relations, June, 1978. Keyton, F. R. ”Some Relationships Between a Measure of Self- Actualization and Various Aspects of Intermediate Grade Teacher Effectiveness.” Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Catholic University of America, 1966. Kilpatrick, W. H. Philosophy of Education. New York: Macmillan, 1951. Knapp, R. Handbook for the Personal Orientation Inventopy, San Diego, California: EDITS Publishers, 1976. Knoblock, P. and Goldstein, A. The Lonely Teacher. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., I971. Marbrook, D. Emppy Desks. Croft Leadership Folio, 99 (Washington, D. C.: Bureau of Business Practice, Inc., 1977). ‘ Maslow, A. H. Motivation and Personality (New York: Harper and Brothers, I9Sh). 9O Maslow, A. H. Toward a Psychology of Being. Princeton, New Jersey, V. Van Nostrand Co., 1962. Maslow, A. H. The Farther Reaches of Human Nature. New York: Viking, 1971. Maslow, A. H. ”Some Basic Propositions of a Growth and Self- Actualization Psychology,” Perceiving, Behaving, Becoming, ed. A. Combs (Washington, D. C.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1962). Mayhew, L. B. Educational Leadership and Declining Enrollments. Berkeley, California: HcCutchan Publishing Co., l97h. Michigan Department of Health. Population of Michigan Counties (Lansing: Department of Education Publication, 1975). Miskel, C. et. a1. ”Expectancy Work Motivation, Central Life Interests, Volunteerism, Organizational Situation, Job Satisfaction, and Perceived Teaching Performance.“ Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Research Association, San Francisco, April, 1979. Murray, E. ”An Exploration of the Relationship of Self-Actualization to Teacher Success.“ Unpublished Masters thesis, Pennsylvania State University, 1968. National Center for Educational Statistics. Student Enrollments: Projections to 1981-82 (Washington, D. C.: United States Office of Education, 1976). Nie, N et. al. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975. Reddick, T. L. l'A Study of Professional Attitudes of Teachers in Five Public School Systems in Tennessee and Michigan." Paper presented at the Mid-South Educational Research Association. New Orleans, November, 1978. Rich, J. M. Innovation in Education: Reformers and Their Critics. Boston: Allyn-Bacon, 1975. Rizzo, R. and Vinacke, W. E. ”Self-Actualization and the Meaning of Critical Experience.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 15, 1975. Roberts, 0. |'Adult Life Cycles.” English Journal, 66:6, September, 1977. Rogers, C. R. Client-Centered Thergpy: Its Current PracticeJ Implica- tions and Theory (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1951. Rogers, C. R. On Becoming a Person (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Company, 1961). 91 Rogers, C. R. ”Toward Becoming a Fully Functioning Person.” Combs ed. Perceiving, BehavingJ Becoming: A New Focus for Education. Washington, D. C.: ASCD, 1962. Ronen, S. ”Job Satisfaction and the Neglected Variable of Job Seniority.” Hunan Relations. 3h:h, April, 1978. Sands, B. L.“An Exploratory Study of Self-Actualization and Self- Perception Competency Among Michigan Family Life Teachers.” Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1970. Scrivens, R. ”The Big Click.” Today's Education. November-December, 1979. Sergiovanni, T. J. and Carver, F. D. The New School Executive: A Theory of Administration (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1973). Shostrom, E. L. EDITS Manual for the P01. San Diego, California: EDITS Publishers. 1974. ' Shostrom, E. L. Personal Orientation Inventory. San Diego, California: EDITS Publishers, 1968. Shostrom, E. L. Knapp, L. F. and Knapp, R. R. Actualizing Therapy: Foundations for a Scientific Ethic. San Diego, California: EDITS Publishers, 1976. Smith, M. L. H. ”The Facilitation of Student Self-Directed Learning as Perceived by teachers with High and Low Levels of Self-Actualization and Dogmatism.” Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1968. Start, K. B. ”Teaching Ability and Personality.” British Journal of Educational Psychology) 36, 1968. Summers, A. and Wolfe, B. ”Which School Resources Help Learning? Efficiency and Equity in Philadelphia Public Schools.” Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Business Review, Vol. 3 (February, 1975777 Tucker, F. C. “A Study of the Relationships Between (1) Teachers' Levels of Self-Actualization and Their Teaching Behavioral Styles, and (2) Teachers' Teaching Behavioral Styles and the Gratifications They Derive from Interacting With Their Students.” Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Syracuse University, 1970. Tuckman, B. W. Conducting Educational Research (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1972). 92 Williams, R. T. “Teacher Motivation and Satisfaction.” NASSP Bulletin, lxii (December, 1978). Wilson, J. “A Study of the Relationship Between Level of Administrative Position and Self-Actualization When Analyzed by Age, Academic Preparation and Years of Administrative Experience.” Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, Northern Illinois University, 1977. Wilson, T. C. ”The Large Goals of Education.” NASSP Bulletin, 6hzhO7, March, 1977. APPENDIX APPENDIX A 1 SCORING CATEGORIES FOR THE PERSONAL ORIENTATION INVENTORY Number of Items I. Ratio Scores 23 127 Scale Number 1/2_ 3/h II. Sub-Scales 26 32 23 26 5 10 Symbol Tl/TC O/I SAV Ex Fr Sr Sa Description TIME RATIO: Time Incompetence/ Time Competence measures degree to which one is ”present” oriented. SUPPORT RATIO: Other/Inner measures whether reactivity orientation is basically toward others or self. SELF-ACTUALIZING VALUE measures affirmation of a primary value of self-actualizing people. EXISTENTIALITY measures abilitm to situationaily or existentially react without rigid adherence to principles. FEELING REACTIVITY measures sen- sitivity of responsiveness to one's own needs and feelings. SPONTANEITY measures freedom to react spontaneously or to be oneself. SELF REGARD measures affirmation of self because of worth or strength. SELF ACCEPTANCE measures affir- mation or acceptance of self in spite of weaknesses or deficien- cies. f/ 95 Number Scale of Items Number Symbol Description 16 ll Nc NATURE OF MAN measures degree of the constructive view of the nature I of man, masculinity, femininity. 9 12 Sy SYNERGY measures ability to be syn- ergistic, to transcend dichotomies. 25 I3 A ACCEPTANCE OF AGGRESSION measures ability to accept one's natural aggressiveness as opposed to defen- siveness, denial, and repression of aggression. 28 1h C CAPACITY FOR INTIMATE CONTACT measures ability to develop contact- ’1 ful intimate relationships with 2 other human beings, unencumbered by expectations and obligations. lE. L. Shostrom, EDITS Manual for the POI (San Diego: EDITS Publishers, 1974), p. 5. APPENDIX B POI SCALE MEANS FOR ”SELF-ACTUALIZED,” ”NORMAL,” AND ”NON-SELF-ACTUALIZED” GROUPS2 Comparison of TotaT Mean Score S Seif- Normal Non-Self— Critical Ratio Between POI Actualized Adult Actualized Self-Actualized and Non- Scale Group Group Group Self-Actualized Groups (29L (158) (3‘1) TC 18.93 17.70 15.82 h.05** I 92.86 87.25 75.76 h.89** SAV 20.69 20.17 18.00 2.92** Ex 2h.76 21.80 18.85 5.09** Fr 16.28 15.7h 1h.26 2.h3* S 12.66 11.65 9.79 3.59** Sr 12.90 11.97 10.21 3.96** Sa 18.93 17.09 1h.21 k.97** Nc 12.3% 12.37 11.29 1.98 Sy 7.62 7.32 6.18 3.69** A 17.62 16.63 14.7“ . 3.5h** C 20.21 18.80 16.97 5.0h** *Significant at the .05 confidence level. **Significant at the .01 confidence level. Ibid., p. 24. 96 APPENDIX C MEANS, STANDARD DEVIATIONS AND TESTS OF SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEGINNING THERAPY AND ADVANCED THERAPY GROUPS 0N POI SCALES3 POI BeginningI Advanced2 Scales Mean 5.0. Mean 5.0. CR TC 15.59 3.74 19.72 1.90 6.01** I 81.24 13.41 104.21 8.38 8.91** SAV 19.59 3.10 23.26 1.89 6.19** Ex 20.11 4.87 27.21 3.18 7.49** Fr 14.46 3.35 19.64 1.99 8.14** S 10.68 3.17 14.82 1.78 6.97** Sr 10.70 3.05 13.51 1.55 5.01** Sa 15.00 3.59 20.03 3.54 6.15** Nc 12.35 2.14 13.62 1.60 2.91** Sy 6.65 1.32 8.31 .83 6.54** A 15.62 3.62 19.38 2.95 4.96** C 17.78 4.01 23.05 2.709 6.69** lN=37 ZN.” *Significant **Significant at the .05 confidence level. .01 confidence level. at the Ibid., p. 25. 97 TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY COEFFICIENTS FOR PERSONAL ORIENTATION INVENTORY APPENDIX D I, POI Scales liTest-Retest- Reliability Time Competent Inner Directed Self-Actualizing Value Existentiality Feeling Reactivity Spontaneity Self-Regard Self-Acceptance Nature of Man Synergy . Acceptance of Aggression Capacity for Intimate Contact TC SAV .71~ .77 .69 .82 .65 .76 .71 .77 .68 -71 -52 ‘.67 hBased on a cample of 48 college students from a study by Klavetter and Mogar (1967). 98 "11IIIIIIIIIII'LIII'IIIIIIT