71-23,171
CHASE, Donald Joseph, 1931A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE COOPERATIVE
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY-LANSING SERL
PROJECT AND THE CONVENTIONAL PROGRAM
OF STUDENT TEACHING WITH REFERENCE TO
OPENNESS AND ATTITUDE FORMATION.
[Pages
111-118, Appendix A: "Minnesota Teacher
Attitude Inventory, Form A", not microfilmed
at request of author. Available for consul­
tation at Michigan State University Library.]

U niversity Microfilms, A

XEROX Com pany , A nn Arbor, M ichigan
71-23,171

CHASE, Donald Joseph, 19 31Michigan State University, Ph.D., 1971
Education, teacher training

U niversity Microfilms, A XEROX Com pany , A nn Arbor, M ichigan

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE COOPERATIVE
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY-LANSING SERL
PROJECT AND THE CONVENTIONAL PROGRAM
OF STUDENT TEACHING WITH REFERENCE
TO OPENNESS AND ATTITUDE FORMATION
By
Donald J7 Chase

A THESIS
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
College of Education
1971

ABSTRACT
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE COOPERATIVE
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY-LANSING SERL
PROJECT AND THE CONVENTIONAL PROGRAM
OF STUDENT TEACHING WITH REFERENCE
TO OPENNESS AND ATTITUDE FORMATION
By
Donald J. Chase

Purpose of the Study
It was the purpose of this study to compare the
Michigan State University-Lansing SERL Project with the
Conventional Program of student teaching, using openness
and attitude formation as dependent v a r i a b l e s , to answer
two important questions:

(1) Are the SERL participants

more open to experience as a result of the atmosphere and
situations provided by the program?

(2) Do the SERL

participants have a more positive attitude toward children
as pupils and teaching as a profession as a result of the
program?
SERL

(Secondary Education Residency Lansing)

is a

unique, cooperatively developed pattern for providing the
student teaching experience, permitting flexibility in
assignment and interaction with parents, students, and
community.

The student teachers participate in daily group

activities designed to facilitate their acquisition of

Donald J. Chase
skills of organization, classroom management, and instruc­
tion with emphasis on the unique learning needs of a wide
variety of youngsters.

The Conventional Program allows

for the placement of a student teacher with a single
cooperating teacher for classroom experiences, with group
activities scheduled one-half day weekly.
There are no simple generalizations or character­
istics to use in correlation with teaching success.

Open­

ness and attitude formation appear to be acceptable vari­
ables to test student teaching programs as they function
in the development of teaching behavior.

While no person

is entirely "open" or "closed," each person, according to
conditions and his perceptions, lies somewhere on the
open-closed continuum.

The open person would be the ideal

teacher type, exhibiting properties of creativeness,
originality, positiveness, sensitivity, and flexibility
among others.

He is susceptible to change and new

experience and has a positive regard for self and others.
The closed person represents the opposite end of the
continuum.

Studies have shown the characteristic of open­

ness highly correlated with teaching success.
People possess attitudes, and since behavior is
a function of attitude, a change in attitude should result
in a modification of behavior.

Attitudes can change, and

the principle of consistency-inconsistency provides a

Donald J. Chase
basis for several theories regarding attitude formation
and change.
A review of literature has shown that openness is
an ideal characteristic in teaching, student teachers have
attitudes toward teaching as a profession and children as
pupils, attitudes can be changed, and different programs
provide varying changes in attitudes.

The population of the study

(N«=44) consisted of

all participants in the SERL Project and a random selec­
tion of participants in the Conventional Program.

All

student teachers were placed at random in their schools
according to their disciplines and the availability of
supervising teachers.

No other criteria were used.

Each

student teacher was pretested with the Teacher Problems
Q-sort and the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory prior
to their experience and then posttested with the same
instruments at the end.
Based on numerous tests of validity and relia­
bility, the instruments used promised to be the most
appropriate instruments available to test the openness
and attitude variables in the design of this study.
The Multivariate Analysis of Covariance was found
to be the acceptable test for the data in this study.
The level of significance was arbitrarily set at p < .01.

Donald J. Chase
Findings of the Study
Student teachers in the SERL-Project were found
to have more positive attitudes toward children as pupils
and teaching as a profession than student teachers in the
Conventional Program.

The SERL student teachers were more

open to their experience as a result of the SERL pattern
of student teaching.

The SERL student teachers showed a

greater positive change in both attitude and openness than
the Conventional student teachers.

It had been antici­

pated that there would be a significant positive correla­
tion between openness and attitude, but this was not
supported within the accepted level of confidence.

No

correlation existed and indications were that the vari­
ables might even react in opposition to each other in some
instances.

Sex differences seemed to have no effects on

either program in testing for changes in attitude and
openness.
The socialization, the interaction of the group,
appears to be, as a result of the interpretation of the
data and the related literature, the most significant
factor in the differential results of this study.

The

group, along with the contributions of the clinical con­
sultant, the cooperating teacher, the college coordinator,
and the cooperation of the many individuals and agencies
providing the multitudinous variety of experiences, seems

Donald J . Chase
to make the SERL Project a superior pattern for providing
the student teaching experience, with reference to o p e n ­
ness and attitude formation.

DEDICATION

To Jeanie, my wife, whose enthusiasm, love, and
encouragement made it all possible.
To Meagan and Melissa, my daughters, who became
an important part of this venture with their praise and
support.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The cooperation of others was an important ingred­
ient in this undertaking.

Each unique contribution was

invaluable as the study progressed.

The writer wishes to

express his deepest gratitude to all concerned:
To Dr. George Myers, chairman of the guidance
committee, must go an especial thanks for his encourage­
ment, guidance, time consuming efforts, and highly valued
friendship;
To the members of the guidance committee. Dr. Dale
Alam, Dr. Richard Featherstone, and Dr. Lawrence Sarbaugh,
for their interests and efforts on my behalf in the formu­
lation and completion of the doctoral program and disserta­
tion;
To Mr. Robert L o t t , Director of Secondary Educa­
tion in the Lansing School System, for his permission to
conduct the study, and for his assistance in randomly
placing the student teachers;
To Miss Jo Lynn Cunningham and Dr. Howard
Teitelbaum of the Office of Research Consultation, for
their invaluable assistance in the programming and inter­
pretation of the data;

iii

To Dr. Robert: Bills of the University of Alabama,
for his gracious permission to use the Teacher Problems
Q-sort;
To the clinical consultants, Mr. Curt Guy and Mrs.
Catherine Smith, and the student teachers for their
unrewarded participation in the study;
To all of these, the writ e r expresses his sincere
appreciation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.......................................... iii
LIST OF T A B L E S .......................................... vii
LIST OF APPENDICES...................................... viii
Chapter
I.

II.

NATURE OF THE STUDY..........................

1

Introduction.............................
The Conventional Program................
The SERL P r o j e c t .......................
Purpose of the S t u d y ...................
H y p o t h e s e s ..................... .
Sub-Hypotheses ..........................
Definition of Terms
...................
Scope and Limitations...................
Delimitation.............................
Some Basic A s s u m p t i o n s ................
Organization of the S t u d y .............

1
1
2
7
8
9
9
.74
IS
17
17

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE................
O p e n n e s s ................................
Openness:
Implications for Education
.
A t t i t u d e ................................
Theories of Attitude Change.............
Implications for Student Teaching.
.
Attitude and Teacher Education Programs.
S u m m a r y ................................

III.

DESIGN OF THE STUDY..........................
M e t h o d o l o g y .............................
The Teacher Problems Q-sort.............
Validity of Teacher Problems Q-sort
. .
Scoring the Teacher Problems Q-sort
.
The Minnesota Teacher Attitude
Inventory.............................
Scoring the MTAI
. . . . . . . .
S u m m a r y ................................
v

19
21
29
30
31
34
38
41
44
44
45
47
50
50
55
55

Chapter
IV.

Page
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

OF THE DATA.

.

57

Method of Statistical Analysis.
.
. .
Testing the Null Hypotheses...............
Discussion of the F i n d i n g s ..............
S u m m a r y .................................
V.

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

59
70
73
88

.

91

C o n c l u s i o n s ..............................
Recommendations for Further Research.
.

96
97

BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................103
A P P E N D I C E S .............................................. 109

LIST OF TABLES

Table

Page

4.1.

Cell identification and frequencies.

. . .

58

4.2.

Cell m e a n s ....................................... 60

4.3.

Sample correlation matrix before adjustment to
c o v a r i a n c e ...................................... 62

4.4.

Statistics for regression analysis with 2
c o v a r i a t e s ...................................... 63

4.5.

Step-wise regression to analyze the contri­
bution of each independent variable.
. . .

63

4.6.

Sample correlation matrix after adjustment
for covariates................................... 64

4.7.

Least square estimates adjusted for covaruates— effects x variables................... 65

4.8.

Standard errors of adjusted estimates—
effects x variables .........................

66

4.9.

Program effect.................................... 67

4.10.

Sex e f f e c t ................

68

4.11.

Interaction......................

69

vii

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix

Page

A.

Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory.

B.

MTAI Raw Scores............................ 120

C.

Teacher Problems Q-sort Instruction Sheet

D.

The Teacher Problems Q-sort............... 127

E.

Q-sort Raw S c o r e s ......................... 133

viii

. .

.

Ill

124

CHAPTER I
NATURE OF THE STUDY
Introduction
Student teaching programs have undergone some
radical changes during the past twenty years.

Teacher

education institutions have been faced with the need to
move off campus, away from the campus laboratory schools,
and seek student teaching experiences in cooperating
public schools.

As student teaching programs progressed

and matured, teacher educators have recognized the oppor­
tunities and challenges of social and technological change,
and new programs are being conceived, tested, adopted, and
evaluated.

This study is concerned with two programs at

Michigan State University.
The Conventional Program
The Conventional Program of student teaching, used
by a majority of institutions, has been a one-to-one
assignment of cooperating and student teacher.

In this

mentor/apprentice approach, the student teacher is exposed
to students, teaching, and school experiences in what some
people feel is a real life situation.

In effect, the stu­

dent teacher lives the life of a teacher, exposed to the

1

2
everyday problems, successes,

failures, and other experi­

ences one might expect in a career teaching role.
In the Michigan State University Conventional
Program, the student teacher,

cooperating teacher, and

college coordinator cooperate as a triad in the laboratory
experience.

The cooperating teacher and the college

coordinator share responsibilities of observation, evalua­
tion, and feedback, and, in continuing conferences with
the student teacher, provide all experiences the structure
permits.

The college coordinator meets in a group seminar

weekly with the students in his charge discussing such
things as planning, discipline, techniques, problems,
feedback p r o c e d u r e s , and many other topics of interest to
the student teachers.
The SERL Project
There has existed, however,

a difference of opinion

on the value of the Conventional experience.

With this

difference in mind, a joint committee of representatives
from the Instructional Division of the Lansing School Dis­
trict and the School of Teacher Education in the College
of Education at Michigan State University, met in 1966 to
resolve beliefs by both parties that a special kind of
student teaching program, designed to train teachers for
junior high schools, was needed if significant improvement
in the quality of teachers at this level were to be made.

3
From this meeting developed the SERL (Secondary Education
Residency Lansing) Project with the expressed purpose,
. . . "to identify and develop methods of preparing
teachers who can organize and manage instruction with
emphasis on unique learning needs of the wide variety of
youngsters in the typical junior high school classroom.
Student teachers in the SERL Project are assigned
in groups of 10-12 in each building.

The college coor­

dinator, the clinical consultant, the cooperating teacher,
and the student teacher work cooperatively to fulfill the
purposes and objectives of the project.

Student teachers

in the SERL Project participate more actively and directly
than usual in working with social agencies and organiza­
tions in the community, and are much more likely to spend
time in student homes and community activities than is
typical of student teachers.

In carrying out their in­

school activities, students are assigned on a much more
flexible basis than in the Conventional arrangement.

They

group and regroup themselves for particular purposes as
they identify problems of instruction and problems of
learning; analyze these problems and begin to develop
hypotheses about solving them; develop plans for organizing
and managing instruction to solve the identified problems;
■^Lansing School District and Michigan State Uni­
versity Student Teaching Office, SERL Project; A Project
to Improve the Preparation of Teachers, Brochure, Lansing,
Michigan.

4
and develop evaluation techniques to determine the success
of their efforts.

In the process, they examine and gain

practice with different methods of organizing instruction
such as small groups, large groups, individualized tutor­
ing, and team teaching.
Many teacher educators disagree as to what consti­
tutes a competent teacher and argue for the revision of
teacher education programs.
and Koerner,

3

Some writers, such as Conant

2

feel changes must be made in teacher prepara­

tion in such areas a s :

more depth in liberal arts prepa­

ration, fewer educational courses, and higher standards of
evaluation in teacher education.
However, emerging from the behavioral sciences is
the concept of development of creative, mature, and pro­
ductive individuals who are open to their experiences
and free to grow in directions that seem most important to
them.

Be it Kelley's^ "Fully-Functioning Self," Bill's^

2

J. B. Conant, The Education of American Teachers
(New York : McGraw-Hill^ 1963) .
3
J. D. Loerner, The Miseducation of American
Teachers (New York:
Houghton Mifflin, 1963}.
4
E.
C. Kelley, Education For What Is Real
York: Harper, 1947).
5

R. E. Bills, About People and Teaching (Lexing­
ton : Bureau of School Services, University o f K e n t u c k y ,
1955), p. 28.

(New

"Open Person," Combs'^"Perceptual Self," Maslow's^

"Self-

Actualizing Person," R o k e a c h 1s 8 "Open Mind," or Rogers' 9
"Process Person," all are susceptible to their environment,
perceive through past experiences,

and develop within the

climate in which they find themselves.

The perceptual

theory places greatest emphasis on h o w things are seen by
the behaver.

The experiences a person has affect which of

his potentials will develop.

The kinds of experiences a

person has determine the extent to w h ich he will use or be
able to use a greater portion of his potential.

Early

experiences can build the kind of structure which is p e r ­
missive, which cause the individual to see himself as
adequate and therefore able to explore new experiences and
develop more potential; or they can produce the opposite,
a restrictive structure.
The earlier the experiences that will develop
openness are provided,

the greater the possibility of

developing additional potential.

If the earlier experience

®A. W. Combs and D. S n y g g , Individual Behavior
(New York:
Harper, 1959).
7

A. H. Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being
(Princeton:
D. Van N o s t r a n d , 1962).
O

M. Rokeach, The Open and Closed Mind
Basic Books, 1960).

(New York:

Q

C.
Rogers, "A Theory of Therapy, Personality,
Interpresonal Relationships as Developed in the ClientCentered Framework," in Psychology:
A Study of S c i e n c e ,
ed. by Sigmund Koch (New Y o r k : McGraw-Hill, 1959),
pp. 184-256.

6
is restrictive it builds a kind of structure that makes it
less possible to expand into other areas.

As a person

interacts, he forms a structure of knowledge, a concept of
self, a concept of other people, and a concept of the
world about him.

As he builds his structure of knowledge

and structure of personality, he is determining by the
concepts formed how extensive his future experiences can
be and how much he can move in the direction of realizing
his potential.
I f , in his interaction with other individuals in
the society, he has many positive experiences, he develops
the kind of personality and knowledge structure that makes
it possible for him to dare to seek new and different
experiences that increase his range of understanding and
skills.

Positive experiences are those which bring satis­

faction to the individual.

Any experience that increases

the individual's belief in his worth and his ability to
solve problems that confront him is a positive experience.
Wiles states, "A person with sufficient positive
experience develops a self concept that enables him to be
more open to experience.”'*'^

Bills has defined openness as

a goal of teacher education and indicates,

. . . "the

teaching which makes the real difference in preparing
^°Kimball Wiles, Supervision For Better Schools
(3rd ed.; Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall,
1967) .

7
effective teachers is that which goes beyond knowing and
vitally effects being."11

. . this teacher is a grow­

ing , thinking, incorporating, experiencing person who con­
tinues to remain in a process of change and becoming.

He

is a person who is open to his experience and its meaning
for him.”12
Both Wiles and Bills have indicated that not all
teachers are equally open to experience, but their b ehav­
ior, perception of self, skills, role, and interpretations
can be changed by situations that release p o t e n t i a l , p r o ­
vide greater feelings of adequacy, and can be perceived
as ones in which improvement is possible and valued. 13
Purpose of the Study
This study has proposed to compare the Michigan
State University Conventional Student Teaching Program
with the cooperative Michigan State University-Lansing
School System SERL Project as alternative patterns for
the student teaching experience as means of providing an
open pattern for positive experiences.

Two important

11Robert E. Bills, "The Classroom Teacher, Mental
Health, and Learning," Mental Health and Teacher E d uca­
tion, The Association for Student Teaching, 46th Yearbook
(Dubuque: Whi. C. Brown Co., 1967), pp. 1-17.

12Wiles, op. c i t . ; Bills,
Teacher . . . "

"The Classroom

8
questions for consideration are:

As compared to the Con­

ventional Program;
1.

Are the SERL participants more open to
experience as a result of the atmosphere
and situations provided by the program?

2.

Do the SERL participants have a more posi­
tive attitude towards pupils and teaching
as a profession as a result of the program?

It is the purpose of this study to compare the SERL
Project with the Conventional Student Teaching Program,
using openness1^ and attitude formation^ as variables, to
provide answers to the questions posed.
Hypotheses
As a result of the questions raised and theory
presented, the following hypotheses are proposed:
1.

Student teachers in the SERL Project will have
more positive attitudes toward children as
pupils and teaching as a profession than stu­
dent teachers in the Conventional Program, as
a result of their laboratory experience.

2.

Student teachers in the SERL Project will be
more open to experience than student teachers
in the Conventional Program, as a result of
their laboratory experience.

14
For definition, explanation, refer to Chapter II,
pp. 21-30.
15
For definition, explanation, refer to Chapter II,
pp. 30-41.

9
3.

There will be a greater positive change in
attitudes in the SERL group of student
teachers than in the Conventional group.

4.

There will be a greater positive change in
openness in the SERL group of student teachers
than in the Conventional group.
Sub-Hypotheses

1.

There will be a significant correlation
between openness and attitude.

Those people

who are more open will have more positive
attitudes.
2.

Sex differences will have an effect on changes
in openness and attitude in both the SERL and
Conventional Programs.
Definition of Terms

Some of the terms used have a variety of meanings
in educational literature.

The following explanations of

terms give the meaning applied to each term as it has been
used in this study.
Student Teacher:

A college student who is acquir­

ing practical teaching experience and skill under the
guidance of a supervising teacher or other qualified
person.1®

York:

A student teacher at Michigan State University

^ C a r t e r V. Good, Dictionary of Education (New
McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1959), pi 530.

10
has Junior or Senior standing in the College of Education,
having completed at least 105 term hours, has a 2.0 grade
point average, on a 4.0 point scale, in major field, uni­
versity basics, and overall college work.

The student

must also have a 2.0 grade point average and successful
completion of each education course prerequisite to student teaching. 17
Cooperating Teacher;

An experienced teacher

employed in the Lansing school system to work with stu­
dents and selected to supervise college students during
their student teaching experience. 18 This person is also
referred to as a supervising teacher.
College Supervisor:

A member of the college or

university faculty who regularly visits or observes stu­
dent teachers.

Supervisors are sometimes identified as

special supervisors when they supervise in a special
field or in certain subjects or grade levels, and as
general supervisors when they supervise student teachers
regardless of specialties.

The college supervisor usually

has additional responsibilities for on-campus seminars or
college courses. 19 Supervisors at Michigan State are
17Michigan State University, Catalog of Courses
and Academic Programs, 1970, p. 124.
18

Good, o p . c i t ., p. 539
this study).
19Ibid.

(modified for use in

11
general supervisors and are also called college coor­
dinators .
Clinical C o n s u l t a n t ;

The clinical consultant is

a teacher employed jointly by the local school district
and the university, working in a SERL building on a full­
time basis, responsible for all student teaching assign­
ments in the building, providing instruction to student
teachers on such matters as lesson planning and discipline,
planning and coordinating SERL group a c t i v i t i e s , and p ro­
viding leadership in counseling, evaluation,
Personality:

and feedback.

A personally symbolized reality

composed of the unique and dynamic

(though relatively

stable) meanings the individual describes to self, other
people, and universe,

and translated into unique and

purposive b e h a v i o r . ^
Intelligence:

A dynamic capacity for problem

solving which develops and expands in the course of
purposeful living.
Meanings:

2 1

The role of the organism's behavior

system in mediating the relation between signs and

20

Russell R. R e n z , Self Directed Learning for
Educational Leadership (Lexington: Bureau of School
Service, University of Kentucky, 1958), p. 6.
21Ibid.

12
significants which occurs in the organism whenever a sign
is received

(decoded) and produced

Experience

(noun):

(encoded).22

This term is used to include

all that is going on within the envelope of the organism
at any given moment which is potentially available to
awareness.

It includes events of which the individual

is unaware, as well as all the phenomena which are in
consciousness.

Thus it includes the psychological aspects

of hunger, even though the individual may be so fascinated
by his work or play that he is completely unaware of the
hunger; it includes the impact of sights and sounds and
smells on the organism, even though these are not in the
focus of attention.

It includes the influence of memory

and past experience, as these are active in the moment,
in restricting or broadening the meaning given to various
stimuli.

It includes all that is present in immediate

awareness or consciousness.

It does not include such

events as neuron discharges, or changes in blood sugar,
because these are not directly available to awareness.

It
is thus a psychological, not a physiological definition. 23
Experience

(verb):

To experience means simply to

receive in the organism the impact of the sensory or
physiological events which are happening at the moment.
22

Charles E. Osgood, George J. Suci, and Percy H.
Tannenbaum, The Measurement of Meaning (Urbana: University
of Illinois Press, 1S>57) , pp. 2-3 'I
23
Rogers, op. cit., p. 197.

13
Often this process term Is used In the phrase
"to experience in awareness" which means to symbolize in
some accurate form at the conscious level the above sen­
sory or visceral events.

Since there are varying degrees

of completeness in symbolization, the phrase is often "to
experience more fully in awareness," thus indicating that
it is the extension of this process toward more complete
and accurate symbolization to which reference is being
, 24
made •
Perception:

Perception is that which comes into

consciousness when stimuli, principally light or sound,
impinge on the organism/

When we perceive "this is a

triangle," "that is a tree," "this person is my mother,"
it means that we are making a prediction that the objects
from which the stimuli are received would, if checked in
other ways, exhibit properties we have come to regard,
from our past experience, as being characteristic of
triangles, trees, mother. 25
O p enness;

Characteristics of openness are best

described by Bills as,
. . . problems become more central.
There is
a gradual owning of experience.
The client even
begins to feel that perhaps he has some worth,
and certainly that other people have worth.
He
begins to own his own feelings, and internal
communication becomes m uch more possible.
He
begins to see himself as responsible for the

24I b id., pp. 197-198.

25I b i d . , p. 199.

14
solution of his own p r o b l e m s . He b egins to deal
more with the central aspects of problems; and
becomes focused, first in the present, and later
toward the future.26
Closedness:

Most characteristic of this stage in

therapy are things such as negative attitudes toward self
and/or other p e o p l e , dealing with the small and the
peripheral aspects of problems,

concern w i t h the external

aspects of the problems, locating the locus of responsi­
bility for the problem outside of oneself, a concern for
symptoms of the problems rather than for the problem
itself, and an overconcern with the past and/or
present . . . 27
Scope and Limitations
The population of the study w a s composed o f :
(1) 18 student teachers from the 197 0 Fall Term SERL P r o ­
ject, and
Program.

(2) 26 student teachers from the Conventional
The population

(N=44) consisted of all partici­

pants in the SERL Project,
Conventional Program.
grade levels,

and a random sample of the

No efforts were made to m a tch

sex, or discipline.

N e w suburban schools as

well as older, inner-city type schools in Lansing were
represented in both g r o u p s .
2

Schools w i t h innovative

Robert E. Bills, "Insights For Teaching From
Personality Theory:
Intelligence and Teaching," in The
Nature of Teaching, ed. by Louise M. Berman (Milwaukee,
Wisconsin:
University of Wisconsin, 1962), p. 59.

15
programs of all types for both teachers and pupils, as
well as the more structured traditional programs, were
equally represented in both groups tested.

No efforts

were made to place the more academically competent or
emotionally mature students in either group.

All partici­

pants, in both groups, were placed at random in the
schools according to discipline and availability of
cooperating teachers.

In final evaluation, all student

teachers were rated as successful.

No attempt was made to

measure level of success.
Delimitation
Many educators believe that teacher education
institutions should provide programs to help student
teachers become and/or remain more open to their experi­
ence , and that the laboratory and clinical experiences
should be perceived in ways that permit openness to remain
or to develop openness as a central focus of the learning
process. 2 8

Positive attitudes toward children as pupils

and teaching as a profession should be a prime effect of
these programs that develop openness.

This study is con­

cerned only with the effects of the SERL Project and the
Conventional Program on the openness and attitude forma­
tion of the student teachers.

It is assumed from previous

tests that the instruments used, aB described in Chapter

16
III, are valid and measure the desired variables.

No

efforts were made to assess the openness of the super­
vising teachers or college coordinators.

Freeze, in a

study of openness as a change factor, found that no
significant change in openness occurred during student
teaching as a result of cooperating-student teacher or
college coordinator-student teacher contact. 29 Conse­
quently, it will be assumed that the programs, and not
just the personal contacts with supervisors, will be the
independent variables exerting whatever differences in
effects are obtained.
M c L e v i e , in a study of student teacher concerns,
indicated women gained more from their student teaching
experience than men, and that women as a group showed
significantly greater development of pupil oriented con­
cerns than did men during their student t e a c h i n g . ^

With

data available, an effort was made to differentiate the
openness and attitude formation variables as a function
of sex on the effectiveness of the two programs.
No attempt was made in this study to investigate
other variables such as aspects of student's personality,
29

Chester R. Freeze, "A Study of Openness as a
Factor in Change of student Teachers1' (unpublished Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Alabama, 1963).
30
John G. McLevie, "An Examination of Teaching
Concerns Reported by Secondary Student Teachers" (unpub­
lished Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University,
1970) .

17
age, marital status, intelligence, and formal profes­
sional training.
Some Basic Assumptions
Underlying the basic theoretical reference of this
study are the following assumptions from perceptual theory
related to the nature of man's behavior:
1.

Man's behavior results from and is relevant
and purposeful to his perceived situation.

2.

Man's behavior always is consistent with his
perception of desirable ways to maintain
adequacy and enhance self.

3.

Man's reality is his perceptual field in
which the world of objects is void of mean­
ing until he invests objects with meaning.

4.

Man strives to maintain physical and psy­
chological adequacy.31
Organization of the Study

Chapter I describes the general nature of the
study.

The purpose, hypotheses and operational defini­

tions are stated.

The descriptions of the SERL Project

and Conventional Program are included as well as the
scope, basic assumptions, and organization of the study.
Chapter II is devoted to a review of the litera­
ture related to openness and attitude formation and its
implications for teacher education.
31
Richard Jay Elliott, 'Changes in Openness of
Student Teachers as a Function of Openness of Supervising
and Cooperating Teachers" (unpublished Ph.D. disserta­
tion, University of Alabama, 1964).

18
Chapter III describes the design of the study.
Methodology, Q-sorts, the instruments and their validity
are discussed.
Chapter IV is devoted to the presentation and
interpretation of the data.

Statistical tests of the

hypotheses are made and a presentation is made of the
findings with relevance to the hypotheses.

The findings

are discussed.
Chapter V includes the summary and conclusions
derived from the study.

Recommendations for further

research are also presented.

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In spite of the impressive number of studies on
teacher effectiveness conducted within the past decade,
no simple generalizations can be drawn at present about
characteristics of teachers and their behavior in the
1
classroom.
No widely accepted measures of teacher com­
petence correlated with teaching success have been
developed and generally accepted.

To some theorists,

environment is the highly significant factor in develop­
ment of successful teachers, while others believe the
early life experiences are more fundamental.

One theory

may emphasize relationships existing between people,
while another emphasizes the place of learning in the
development of behavior.

In the design of this study, an

effort was made to isolate two of the more important and
accepted perceptual variables commonly recognized as
indicators of teaching success to test the environment
as a place of learning in the development of teaching

^"T. A. Lamke, "Introduction," Review of Educa­
tional Research, Vol. 25 (June, 1955), 192.

19

20
Myers and Torrance, 2 Benson, 3 Emmerling, 4

behavior.
Freeze,

5

Engle,

6

Bills,

7

Wiles,

8

and others believe in

the concept of openness as an essential condition of suc­
cessful teaching.

Morsh and Wilder,^ Harvey,'*'® Jac o b s ,^

2

R. E. Myers and Paul E. Torrance, "Can Teachers
Encourage Creative Thinking?" Educational Leadership,
XIX (December, 1961), 156-159.
3
Arthur J. Benson, "An Analysis of a Guidance
Workshop in Terms of Certain Characteristics of its
Participants" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Auburn
University, 1960).
4

Frank C. Emmerling, "A Study of the Relationships
Between Personality Characteristics of Classroom Teachers
and Pupil Perceptions of These Teachers" (unpublished
Ph.D. dissertation, Auburn University, 1961).
5
Freeze, op. cit.
^Harry A. Engle, "A Study of Openness as a
Factor in Change" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation,
Auburn University, 1961).
7

Bills, "The Classroom Teacher.

..."

Q

Wiles, op. cit.
Q
Joseph H. Morsh and Eleanor W. Wilder, "Identi­
fying the Effective Instructor: A Review of the Quanti­
tative Studies, 1900-1952," Research Bulletin AFPTRCTR54:44, United States Air Force Personnel Training
Research Center, San Antonio, 1954.
10P. J. Harvey, "Teacher Attitudes:
Subject
Matter and Human Beings," Educational Leadership, Vol.
27 (April, 1970), 686-691.
11Elmer B. Jacobs, "Attitude Change in Teacher
Education: An Inquiry Into the Role of Attitudes in
Changing Teacher Behavior," Journal of Teacher Education,
Vol. XIX, No. 4 (Winter, 1968), 410-41^.

21
Berelson,

12

Sherlf,

13

and others make an excellent case

for attitude as an important condition in perception.
And if we accept behavior as a function of perception,

14

attitude becomes an acceptable characteristic of success­
ful teaching.

Objectively, Morsh and Wilder found that

attitude towards teachers and teaching seems to bear a
positive relation to teacher success measured in terms of
pupil gain. 15 Consequently, of the multitude of vari­
ables that have been identified with successful teaching,
the concepts of openness and attitude formation will be
the focus of evaluation on the topical programs.

The

review of literature will concentrate on openness and
attitudes and their implications in education and student
teaching.
Openness
What we do, the way we behave is consistent with
our perceptions of our unique environment.

In similar

situations, our perceptions may be entirely different from
12 Bernard Berelson and G. Steiner, Human Behavior:
An Inventory of Scientific Findings, Chapter 14 (New Y o r k :
Harcourt, Brace and World, 1964), pp. 557-585.
"^Sherif, Sherif, and Nebergall, Attitude and
Attitude Cha n g e : The Social Judgement-Involvement
Approach (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co. , 1*)65) .
^ B i l l s , About People and Teaching.
^ M o r s h and Wilder, op. cit. , pp. 5-7.

22
another person who has different beliefs and a different
point of view.

Bills states,

"the most important factors

in determining our perceptions are the beliefs we hold
about ourselves and other people which are learned in
interaction with them."

16

Interaction with people and

varied experiences with people are inevitable and our
openness to these experiences seems to be of prime
importance in our development as individuals and as
teachers.
The concept of openness provides a frame of
reference for the measurement of characteristics generally
accepted as ideal for effectively working with other
people.

The open person represents an ideal type as we

view openness vs. closedness as opposite ends of a con­
tinuum.

since people behave in varying degrees of open­

ness or closedness as their perceptions and conditions
vary, it can be stated that no person is entirely open or
entirely closed.

Each, however, maintains certain char­

acteristics which reserve a place on the continuum for
his unique self.
The open person is continually developing, chang­
ing, and learning.

He is highly susceptible to change and

has personality characteristics that allow him to work
effectively with other people.

He is creative and

■^Bills, About People and Teaching, p. 19.

23
original.

He is ready and willing to accept new chal­

lenges and new experiences, and is able to evaluate his
experiences in terms of evidence coming from his own
senses.

The open person does not rely upon authority for

the solution of his problems, but uses his evaluation,
and changes are made only on the basis of new evidence.
Since he readily accepts change, the open person is
highly receptive to new ideas and is able to find security
17
in change.
The open person will assume responsibility
for his actions.

He has a positive regard for himself

as he is a positive person believing in his own dignity
and worth as an individual.

He believes others have the

same regard for him as a person.

He acknowledges his

limitations but is not bound by them.

He accepts criti­

cism in his stride and maintains perspective in varying
degrees of success and failure. 18 Maslow summed up the
open person's positiveness by saying:
They can accept their own human nature with all
its shortcomings, with all its discrepencies
from the ideal image without feeling real con­
cern.
It would convey the wrong impression to
say that they are self-satisfied.
What we must
say further is that they can take the frailties
17 E.
M. Berger, "The Relation Between Expressed
Acceptance of Self and Expressed Acceptance of Others,"
Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, Vol. XLVIII
(October, 1"952) , 778-782.
18
T. M. Pierce, "The Role of College Teaching," in
Preparing College Teachers (Lexington: Bureau of School
Service, University of Kentucky, 1959), pp. 92-94.

24
and sins, weaknesses and evils of human nature
in the same unquestioning spirit that one takes
or accepts the characteristics of nature.
One
does not complain about water because it is wet,
or about rocks because they are hard, or about
trees because they are green.
As the child
looks out upon the world with wide uncritical,
innocent e yes, simply noting and observing what
is the case, without either arguing the matter
or demanding that it be otherwise, so does the
self-actualization person look upon human nature
in himself and in others.
In addition to having a positive regard for self,
open people have a positive regard for others.

They

believe others are of equal worth and are deserving of
a chance to develop their own abilities as best they can.
They believe others have the right to their own beliefs
and goals and feel no compulsion to force changes to
their perceptions.
for others. 20
people.

The open person also has a high regard

He has the desire to identify with other

Combs describes this characteristic as follows:

Because adequate persons have an extensive
feeling of identification with other people,
they can be counted upon to behave in ways
that Wj.11 not be disastrous or destructive to
their fellow men.
They can be counted upon to
behave in responsible and effective ways be­
cause they have a deep feeling of oneness with
other people.
Such people are quite likely to
show a great deal more compassion and truly
democratic concern for their fellow man.^l

York:

19
A. H. Maslow, Motivation and Personality
Harper and Company^ 1954) , p. 54.
20
21

(New

Rogers, op. c i t .

Arthur W. Combs, "Learning More About Learning"
(Washington, D . C . : Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development, 1959), p. 19.

25
A study by Benson showed people who were more
flexible in their concept of themselves and others changed
their guidance programs as the result of a workshop more
than people who were less flexible in their concept of
22

themselves and o t h e r s .

His study lends support to the

concept that open people are considered to be more adapt­
able to change and new experiences.

Emmerling stated

that, "the open teacher is highly susceptible to change
and is continually developing, learning, and changing."

23

Engle’s study found that teachers who are more open to
their experience can change more readily and thus profit
24
more from their educational experiences.
Bills con25
eluded that the open person represents an ideal type.
The closed person provides the other extreme on
the continuum, and the characteristics are much the
opposite of the open person.

According to Engle, indi­

viduals show varying degrees of openness or closedness
as conditions vary.

26

The closed person is psychologically

maladjusted, tends to deny awareness, and distorts signifi­
cant experiences.
22

He is often unable to cope with life,

Benson, op. c i t .

2^Emmerling, op. c i t . , p. 67.
24 Engle, op. c i t .
25
Bills, "The Classroom Teacher.
2g
Engle, op. c i t ., p. 88.

..."

26
cannot get along with others, and is inconsistent.

When

threatened he tends to distort grossly the data before
27
him.
He is over-reliant on authority, is sensitive to
external, irrelevant pressures, and is unable to evaluate
information independent of source. 2 8

The closed person

has a negative regard for himself, others, and the world
in general.

He is defensive, feels unwanted, unliked,

and lacking in ability.
change.

He dislikes and will not seek

His concept of self influences his concept of

others, consequently he believes in the worth of no one.
The less open teacher feels frustration and hostility
toward educational change, and is not well equipped to
understand students or to help them solve real problems.
The open person works well with others.

29

He per­

ceives problems with a high degree of sensitivity while
the closed person may not even be aware a problem exists.
The closed person ignores a problem or pleads helpless­
ness; an open person says, "It can be done."

The open

person is concerned with the central aspects of problems.
He meets a problem squarely and makes adjustments.

The

closed person deals with problems of a peripheral nature.
The open person is concerned with the self-aspect of
problems; what can he do to change to solve problems?
27 Rogers, op. cit.
2 8Rokeach, op. c i t ., p. 52.
29 Engle, o p . cit., p. 90.

27
The closed person is more concerned in changing others,
ideas, or things.

He does not accept that his rigidity

to change may result in the failure to solve a problem.
The open person is internalized; responsible for his own
decisions, his own actions.

Conversely, the closed person

views responsibility as external, totally reliant on
authority and sees anyone but himself as responsible.

The

open person is concerned with the future rather than the
past or present.

The past is only a means for better

understanding of the future.

To the closed person the

past often represents an end to be worshipped as a source
of security.

Rokeach gives some examples of a closed

person's orientation to the time perspective of problems:
There are certain kinds of people whose narrow
time perspectives are revealed in a relatively
great preoccupation with the present, with
little regard for the past or concern with the
future.
This is shown, for example, in infant's
behavior, or the behavior of the highly impulsive
adult.
A more pathological case in point is the
psychopath who typically acts in a presentoriented manner because of unrestraining superego.
Another example that comes to mind is the 'beat'
generation, who act as if they are literally
trapped in the present.
Perhaps this is so.be­
cause today's youth has turned its back on the
past, and at the same time feels compelled to
hold off the future with rear guard a c t i o n . 30
Because open people are more aware of their
experiences and because they do not tend to distort their
perceptions, Emmerling concluded that they will be more
30 Rokeach, op. cit., p. 52.

28
aware of the importance of sensitive human relations with
their students than will closed people.

For this reason

the open teacher will be likely to provide a supportive,
freeing, and facilitating, learning climate. 31
It is also believed that people who are more open
to their experience will be likely to organize in ways
which will provide the pupil with the freedom of oppor­
tunity to identify, discuss, and solve intellectual p r o b ­
lems which are of particular importance to him.
Myers and Torrance studied the personality char­
acteristics of teachers w h o were resistant to change.
They identified the following c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s :

authori­

tarianism, defensiveness, domination by time, insensitivity
to pupil's needs, low energy level, preoccupation with
information giving f u n c t i o n s , intellectual i n e r t n e s s ,
disinterest in promoting initiative in pupils, preoccupa­
tion with discipline, and unwillingness to give themselves
to the teaching-learning compact. 32 None of these
attributes are characteristic of the open person, and are
not generally accepted as characteristics of the ideal
teacher.

31

Emmerling, op. c i t .

32Myers and Torrance,

op. c i t . , pp.

156— 159.

29
Openness:

Implications for Education

There are a number of implications of the values
an open person has for teaching in the statements and
studies just cited.

Bills brought these into sharper

focus when he listed a number of specific implications of
these characteristics for working with people and more
especially for education.
1.

To teach a person we must understand him and
this is most easily accomplished by trying
to see him and his world as he sees them.

2.

Our first learnings take precedence over
later ones.

3.

Consistency of perception is a fundamental
characteristic of people.

4.

Education must start with the problems of
people.

5.

Since needs, values, and attitudes are such
important determiners of perception, educa­
tion must seek to help students to know what
needs, values, and attitudes are important
to them and to consider these fully and in
relation to each other.

6.

Personal perceptions are not readily changed
through the introduction of objective evi­
dence .

7.

Personal perceptions are most readily
changed through a reexamination of needs,
values, attitudes and the possible mean­
ings of previous experience.

8.

The learning of adequate perceptions of
self and other people is most easily
accomplished in warm interaction with
people.

9.

People grow most rapidly in the absence of
threat.

30
10.

Physiological factors are important deter­
miners of perceptions and schools must do
what they can to help.

11.

Opportunity for a variety of experiences is
necessary for the formation of adequate
perceptions.

12.

Effective teaching aids growth and thereby
paves the path for future growth.

13.

Education must start where the child is
and permit him to determine his own direc­
tion and pace.33
Attitude
All people, regardless of their position in a

society, possess certain expectations of the societal
34
groups and institutions with whom they associate.
As
a result of these expectations people behave in various
ways during their interaction with the society or group
in which they find themselves.

Sherif states, "It is

only from behavior that we can infer that an individual
has an attitude." 3 5 An attitude cannot be observed
directly.

We are forced to conclude, from activities of

different cultures, that attitudes are acquired and that
through attitude formation, the individual relates him­
self, psychologically, to objects or persons about his
environment.
33

His attitudes become constituent parts of

Bills, About People and Teaching, pp. 31-53.

^ L e o n Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dis­
sonance (Evanston, Illinois’: Row, Peterson, HT57TT
35 Sherif, op. c i t ., p. 6.

31
his self

(ego) system.

By definition, therefore, atti­

tudes have emotional and motivational aspects inseparably
intertwined with cognitive content.

Their function in the

self system partially accounts for the fact that attitudes
are not momentary affairs.

Attitudes refer to stands the

individual upholds and cherishes about objects, issues,
persons, groups, or institutions.

The referents of a

person's attitudes m a y be a "way of life";
political, or religious institutions;
government.

economic,

family, school, or

Having an attitude means the individual is

no longer neutral toward the referents of an attitude.
He is for or against, positively inclined or negatively
disposed in some degree toward them— not just momentarily,
but in a lasting way,
is operative.

as long as the attitude in question

In short,

attitudes are inferred from char­

acteristic and consistent modes of behavior toward some
class of objects, persons, events, and issues over a time
span.

36

Thus, behavior is taken to be a function of

attitude,

and a change in attitude should result in a

modification of behavior, be it good or bad.
Theories of Attitude Change
Cognition denotes the image or perception of the
world held by the individual.

How he responds to things,

persons, and events are in part shaped by the w a y they are

32
perceived.

These cognitions are selectively organized and

integrated into a system which provides meaning and
stability for the individual person as he goes about his
business in the everyday world.

Human cognitive reactions

like perceiving, thinking, imagining, and reasoning all
represent efforts after meaning.

In terms of the person's

cognitive system, therefore, there is a continual striving
for consistency, a push toward congruous, harmonious,
fitting relationships between the cognitive elements or
between the thoughts, beliefs, values, and actions that
make up a structure of cognitions about some object or set
of events.

Thus, when inconsistency occurs, some psy­

chological tension is presumably set up in the individual,
thereby motivating his behavior in the direction of reduc37
ing this inconsistency and reestablishing harmony.
Many
researchers have built theoretical models, starting with
the principle of consistency-inconsistency, to explain
attitude formation and attitude change.

Almost all deal

with changes toward restoration of consistency, although
each may focus on different modes and specify different
theoretical determinants of resolution.

Osgood and his

associates developed the principle of congruity and the
effects on attitude change.

In their scheme, a given

object is first evaluated on a scale running from good to
37
Arthur R. Cohen, Attitude Change and Social
Influence (New York: Basic Books, Inc.,1964).

33
bad.

Since a person has an infinite number of attitudes

toward a variety of objects, some of his evaluations will
be consistent with one another, others inconsistent. 3 8
Heider, in his balance model, explained attitude change,
in terms of the push to resolve inconsistency.

Its basic

postulate is that if people seek balance or congruence
between their beliefs and their behaviors toward objects,
then their attitudes can be changed by modifying either
39
40
the beliefs or the behaviors.
Studies by Rosenburg
and Carlson 41 seem to confirm Heider's ideas.
Festinger's
model for dealing with attitude change is the consonancedissonance model.

According to Festinger, cognitive dis­

sonance is a psychological tension having motivational
characteristics.

The theory of cognitive dissonance con­

cerns itself with the conditions that arouse dissonance
in an individual and with the ways in which dissonance
42
might be reduced.
3 8C. E. Osgood, "Cognitive Dynamics in the Conduct
of Human Affairs," Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 24,
341-365.
39
Fritz Heider, The Psychology of Interpersonal
Relations (New Y o r k : John Wiley & S o n s , 1958).
40
M. J. Rosenberg, "Cognitive Structure and Atti-^_
tudinal Effect," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. Vol. 53 (1956), 367-372.
41e . R. Carlson, "Attitude Change Through Modifi­
cation of Attitude Structure," Journal of Abnormal and
Social Psychology, Vol. 52 (1956), 256-261.
4 2_
..
Festinger,
op. c i t .

34
All three of the models, or theories, based on
inconsistency have implications for understanding a
person's behavior as conditions disrupt cognitive struc­
ture and the individual seeks means to resolve the
inconsistency.

However, the dissonance formulation is

unique in that it has special implications about indi­
vidual behavior.

Because of its unique emphasis on the

individual's behavior in creating dissonance for himself
as he engages in behavior discrepant from his cognitions,
the dissonance model is uniquely equipped to explain the
effects of situations where the person is induced to do
or say something he does not believe in or wants to say.
Thus, attitude change may be analyzed in terms of this
strain toward consistency.
Implications for Student Teaching
A student teacher's expectations of his role as a
student teacher, his perceptions of that role and his
relationships in fulfilling that role will either be
relatively consonant or dissonant.

If the role and the

perceptions are in consonance, the student teacher may
make the transition from the teacher education program to
the professional role with little significant conflict
and attitude change.

If, however, dissonance has occurred,

such dissonance may result in tension reducing behavior,
of which attitude change may be a distinct, definite
possibility.

35
As an extension of the Festinger theory of cogni­
tive dissonance, Waisanen suggests that in the inter­
action of the self-social systems notable pressures toward
mutual stability are exerted, and that as individuals per­
ceive less than a full measure of goal-achievement, pressures toward change may be exerted. 4 3 Waisanen notes that
where dissonance occurs, one response to reduce the condi­
tion is to change one's attitude thereby reducing the
dissonance.

A person in conflict has three alternatives:

(1) he can retreat from either his self system or his
social system;

(2) he can attempt to change either system;

or (3) he can resign to goallessness.
A student teacher who perceives conflict, with
resulting dissonance, seeks to achieve new stability.

As

previously stated by Waisanen, the person has three
alternatives:

retreat, change, or goallessness.

Although

it is possible for a student teacher to retreat by with­
drawing from the program, this course seems likely only
in extreme cases, since the student has a commitment to
the required experience as the only method for gaining
full certification as a teacher.

Goallessness is not a

probable alternative as such behavior will not be
accepted by the teacher education institution.

Therefore,

43 F.
B. Waisanen, "Stability, Alienation, and
Change," The Sociological Quarterly, Vol. IV (1963),
18-31.

36
the student teacher normally has but one alternative;
that of changing either his attitude or the institution
where he is assigned for his experience.

Since he is a

trainee and there for just a short time, it is unlikely
the latter will occur.

Becker states,

"Outsiders are

systematically prevented from exerting any authority over
the institution's operations because they are not involved
in the web of control and would be destructive to the
(established) institutional organization."44 Since the
student teacher is an outsider to the "normal" organiza­
tion, he would be expected to conform to the institu­
tion's policies, and his influence on change would be
relatively minor.

Consequently, attitude change seems

to provide the only course for reducing dissonance, and
changes should be observable as the student teacher's
expectations and perceptions are altered during his
laboratory experience.
It seems likely that all student teachers will
experience dissonance to some extent.

The perceptions

and expectations of each unique individual could hardly
be in consonance with the multitudinous variety of
experiences that occur in student teaching programs in

44H. S. Becker, "The Teacher in the Authority
System of the Public School," in Complex Organizations,
ed. by A. Etzioni (New York:
Holt^ Rinehart, and
Winston, 1961), pp. 243-251.

37
the many cooperating schools.

Shaplin supports this

contention with these arguments:
Teaching is behavior, and as behavior is sub­
ject to analysis, change, and improvement. The
purpose of practice, as with all aspects in the
training of teachers, is to take the novice
where he is (at induction) and work toward
improved teacher behavior. . . .
Much of the habitual behavior which individuals
have developed in other contexts is inappropriate
for the teaching situation, since most indi­
viduals have developed consistent ways of be­
havior in a variety of roles, such as a member
of the family, as students. . . .
Basic attitudes and orientations toward people
developed in these contexts are frequently in
direct conflict with the specialized role
expectations to be developed in teaching. . . .
The assumption is made that practice conditions
provide the kind of analysis of teaching which
will enable the (student) teacher to learn to
control his behavior.45
Charters also stated that,
the teacher's participation in the system of
social relationships which comprise the stu­
dent teaching experience are of particular
significance in that these relationships shape
the teacher's role conceptions and his atti­
tudes and values concerning himself, his
colleagues, his clients, and the teachinglearning process.
The student teaching experience provides the student
teacher with his first extended opportunity to examine the
45J. T. Shaplin, "Practice in Teaching," The Har­
vard Educational Review, XXXI (Winter, 1961) , 33-59.
4^W. W. Charters, in Handbook of Research on
Teaching, ed. by N. L. Gage (Chicago: Rand McNally,
I963), pp. 749-752.

38
applicability of previously formed attitudes and percep­
tions about teaching.

And, as has been suggested, if the

conceptual expectations of the student teacher are not in
consonance with these perceptions and attitudes once he
begins his experience, then his most likely alternative
is to change his attitude.
Attitude and Teacher
Education Programs"
One of the more important factors for the develop­
ment of student teacher fulfillment is the kind of set­
ting, social and physical, in which he finds himself.
Many facets of the structured environment of the program
help or hinder the individualization of learning and the
development of self as an open person.

Proper climate

is chiefly established by attitudes which are to the way
the student teacher perceives self and others, and to the
way both perceive the learning situation.

The limitations

and privations of these attitudes or, conversely, the
expansion and adequacy of these attitudes, greatly
influence the development of the student teacher.

The

quality of teacher attitudes is crucial, for if attitudes
are negative towards self and others, then the climate
shall be negative for growth as a teacher.

Climate is not

an objective, external phenomena, but a subjective,
internal phenomena that either frees or limits.

A stu­

dent teacher who works well with people is able to

39
establish satisfactory rapport with pupils, staff, and
parents, and this rapport is closely related to the stu­
dent teacher's ability to establish classroom climate and
manage instruction.47
Jacobs states,
One of the purposes of teacher education is to
effect a change in the behavior of students so
that they can become successful in-service
teachers.
Since attitudes show an inclination
or predisposition to act in certain ways in
given situations, it should be the purpose of
a teacher education program to mold attitudes
that will equip the prospective teacher to deal
with the teaching role in a way that will bring
the greatest benefit to his students in terms
of their individual growth toward living in a
free and democratic society.4 8
His study into attitude change in teacher education found
that significant changes in attitude did occur in both
initial professional education courses and during student
teaching.

The type of program was a significant factor in

the attitude change that took place in his study.

He

states in his conclusions, "Alternative programs to
counteract the reversal of attitudes in student teaching
49
50
51
should be considered."
Horowitz
and Courtney
A

*7

W. V. Hicks and F. H. Blackington, Introduction
to Education (Columbus, Ohio:
Charles E. Merrill Books,
Inc. , 19651 , pp. 38-56.
^^Jacobs, op. c i t . , pp. 410-415.

^Ibid.

50

Myer Horowitz, "Student-Teaching Experiences and
Attitudes of Student Teachers," Journal of Teacher Educa­
tion, Vol. XIX, No. 3 (Fall, 1968), 317-324.
5^E. W. Courtney, Attitudinal Chancres in the Stu­
dent T e a c h e r : A Further Analysis (Menomonie, W i s c o n s i n :
Stout State University, 1965), mimeographed.

40
declared in separate studies that their findings did not
permit them to claim that the cooperating teacher was
influential in bringing about the changes in attitude
toward teaching on the part of the student teacher, while
Popham 52 found there was a significant difference in
changed behavior for student teachers who completed a
planned, preferred program over those who did not.
There is indicated a greater effect on attitude
for those student teachers who work in groups, or in pro­
grams which emphasize activities in groups.

Sherif sums

it up as follows:
The properties of groups, compared with other more
transitory forms of human association, are
created by individuals acting in concert over a
period of time.
Thus, individuals are parts of
the group patterns and are also affected by these
patterns and by their particular places in them.
Among the minimum properties of any human group
are the following:
There are common problems, reflected in the moti­
vations of the individuals, which are conducive
to prolonged interaction among them.
The members develop and adopt a variety of prac­
tices, customs, traditions, and definitions that
mark off latitudes for acceptable attitudes and
behavior and for objectionable attitudes and
behavior among members in various matters of
consequence to the group.
The stability of a person's attitudes, his
involvement in a stand, and his susceptibility
to change are related to the norms and to his
5 2W. James Popham, "An Experimental Attempt to
Modify the Instructional Behavior of Student Teachers,"
Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. XVI, No. 4 (December,
i9'«), m-4<ss:------ --------

41
position {status and role) in groups with whom
he shares self identification, or with whom he
devoutly wishes to share.53
The review of literature offers support to the
hypotheses in this study confirming openness and atti­
tude formation as valid test variables in the comparative
programs.
Summary
There are no simple generalizations or charac­
teristics to use in correlation with teacher success.
Openness and attitude formation seem to be acceptable
variables to test the environment as a place of learning
in the development of teaching behavior.
While no person is entirely open or closed, each
person, according to conditions and his perceptions, lies
somewhere on the open-closed continuum.

The open person

would be the ideal teacher type exhibiting properties of
creativeness, originality, positiveness, sensitivity,
and flexibility.

He is susceptible to change and new

experience and has a positive regard for self and others
along with other characteristics.

The closed person

represents the opposite end of the continuum.
Studies
54
55
56
57
.
58
by Emmerling,
Freeze,
Benson,
Engle,
Bills,
53 Sherif, op. c i t . , p. 206.
"^Emmerling, op. c i t .
56 Benson, o p . c i t .
5®Bills,

^ F r e e z e , op. c i t .
57 Engle, op. c i t .

"The Classroom Teacher.

..."

42
and others have shown the characteristic of openness
highly correlated with teaching success.
All people possess attitudes, and since behavior
is a function of attitude,

a change in attitude should

result in a modification of behavior.

Attitude can

change, and the principle of consistency-inconsistency
provides a basis for several theories regarding attitude
formation and change.

O s g o o d , ^ Heider,^^ and F e s t i n g e r ^

explained attitude change using that principle.
Fe s tinge r 's dissonance theory seems especially pertinent
in explaining attitude change during student teaching.
If dissonance occurs during student teaching, dissonance
may induce a strain toward conflict—reducing behavior of
which attitude change may be a distinct, definite p o s ­
sibility.
Student teacher's attitudes can be changed by
teacher education programs.
Courtney,and

Jacobs,

62

Horowitz,

63

Popham^^ discovered in separate studies

varying effects of different programs on attitude change
in student teaching.

S h e r i f f indicated a greater effect

on attitudes of those effected by groups.
59 Osgood, op. c i t .

Heider, o p . c i t .

6 ^Horowitz, op. c i t .

62iJacobs, op. c i t .
64 Courtney, op. cit

^Popham,

66 Sherif, op. c i t .

^ F e s t i n g e r , op.

cit

op. c i t .

43
In final summarization, openness is an ideal char­
acteristic of good teaching, student teachers have atti­
tudes towards teaching and towards pupils, attitudes can
be changed, and different programs provide varying changes
in attitudes.

T h u s , the literature provides support for

the testing of the hypotheses as stated in Chapter I.

CHAPTER III
DESIGN OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the
design of the study, the data-gathering instruments, and
to present data relative to the validation of the instru­
ments.

To introduce the Teacher Problems Q-sort, a brief

background on Q-methodology is also presented.
Methodology
The population of this investigation was composed
of:

(1) 18 student teachers from the 1970 Fall Term SERL

Project, and (2) 26 student teachers from the Conventional
Program.

The population

(N=44) consisted of all partici­

pants in the SERL Project, and a random sample of the
Conventional Program.

No efforts were made to match the

respondents as to grade level, sex, or discipline.

New

suburban schools as well as older, inner-city type schools
were represented in both groups.

Schools with innovative

programs of all types for both teachers and pupils, aB
well as the more structured, traditional programs, were
equally represented in both groups tested.

No efforts

were made to place the more academically competent, as
indicated by grade point average, or more emotionally
44

45
mature students in either group.

All p a r t i c i p a n t s , in

both groups, were placed at random in the schools accord­
ing to their m a jor and/or minor discipline and a v ail­
ability of cooperating teachers.
Each student teacher completed the Teacher Problems
Q-sort and the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory at the
beginning of their experience.

During the 10th week of

an 11 week period of student teaching, each student teacher
was posttested w ith the same instruments.

The independent

variable was the type of student teaching program each
had experienced.
The Teacher Problems Q-sort
People who are theoretically arranged along an
openness-closedness continuum are distinguishable by the
kind of concerns they have.'*'

The Problems Q-sort has been

developed as a w a y of identifying these concerns, and from
these expressed concerns the qualities of openness and
closedness m a y be discerned.
Q - m e t h o d o l o g y , devised by William Stephenson,
is a method of making verbal descriptions objective.
make such descriptions,

2

To

the respondent iB asked to sort or

arrange a group of descriptive statements in a quasi-normal
^ R o g e r s , op. c i t .
2
Wil l i a m Stephenson, The Study of Behavior
(Chicago:
University of Chicago P r e s s , 1953).

46
distribution from "most pressing" to "least pressing."
The objective results are then available for statistical
analysis.
Q-methodology proposes that the study of selfobservations may begin from the standpoint of what a
person says about himself, or deeply believes what he is
like.

It presumes an internal frame of reference and

suggests that people can offer some kind of description
of what their personality is like in traits according to
Q-technique.

Often what the individual thinks of himself

may be quite opposed to what others think he is like.
However, all such beliefs or attitudes can be reduced to
direct operations in Q-technique.

Stephenson's view is:

It will be supposed by many, of course, that
all such self-descriptions must be biased and
therefore unreliable and unworthy of scientific
regard.
We can accept the premise, but not the
conclusions.
On the contrary, precisely because
we cannot believe what X says about himself, is
something worthy of our scientific regard.
We
surmise that the study of such self-descriptions
will provide evidence of many facets of conduct
and that we shall discover X in the act of
rationalizing, defending himself, identifying
the social setting, imitation, functional pene­
tration, negativism, and much else of the kind
can be reached by way of these innocent-looking
self-descriptions.3
One of the advantages of Q-methodology is that it
is a way to study individual behavior rather than just
what happens "on the average."
3Ibid.

4

Stephenson points out

4Ibid

47
that the person carries about with him,

"conceptual roles"

which are stable characteristics and about which predic­
tions of behavior can be made.

A student may conceive of

himself as a scholar, or as having a flair for the fair
sex; and each of us may have several such roles that we
play in appropriate behavioral settings.^
The Teacher Problems Q-sort used in this study was
devised by Robert E. Bills.®

The population of statements

for the instrument was developed from the expressed prob­
lems of 500 teachers who were polled while enrolled in
graduate field laboratory courses conducted primarily in
Alabama by Auburn University.

These teachers were asked

to describe briefly their most pressing problems.

The

resulting array of problems was examined by three psychol­
ogists who made overall judgments about the positive or
negative, the central or peripheral, the future or past,
the self or non-self aspects of the problems.

These

factors were consistent with the theoretical concept of
openness.
Validity of Teacher
Problems Q-sort
To check the validity of the Teacher Problems
Q-sort as a valid measure of openness, staff members of
5I bid.
^Robert E. Bills, Professor of Educational Psy­
chology, University of Alabama, University, Alabama.

48
-two elemen t a r y and one s e c o n d a r y school In the same system
were asked to sort the problems.

The superintendent and

the princ i p a l s of the schools w e r e a s ked to estimate the
success of the teachers by div i d i n g each faculty into two
groups;

the m o r e successful and the less successful.

Double dichot o m o u s Chi-sq u a r e s w e r e completed bet w e en
ratings and success and ope n n e s s scores,

the openness

scores of e a c h faculty m e m b e r b e ing d ivided at the m e d i a n
of the ope n n e s s scores for each group.

The o b t a i n ed Chi-

squares w e r e a s s o c i a t e d w i t h the p r o b a b i l i t y levels of
.01,

.001, and

.02.

7

A l t h o u g h bas e d o n subjective e v i ­

dence p r o v i d e d b y the a d m i n i s t r a t o r s , there was r e a s o n to
conclude that a s ignificant r e l a t i o n s h i p e x i s t e d b e t w e e n
openness as shown by the Q-s o r t descri p t i o n s and the
ratings of success g i v e n the teachers b y their a d m i n i s ­
trative officers.
O

E m m e r l i n g v a l i d a t e d the Tea c h e r Problems Q-sort
by identifying from a g r o u p of 57 teachers,
most open and 10 w h o w e r e least open.

10 who wer e

These w e r e d e t e r ­

mined by the 10 having the hig h e s t scores and the 10
having the lowest s c o r e s .

A r a n d o m s a m p l e , selected by

use of a table of r a n d o m numbers, of 30 of each teacher's
students was t h e n sel e c t e d to p a r t i c i p a t e in the study.
To determine if there was a significant difference
7Emmerling, o p . c i t ■

8I b i d .

49
between the way the two groups of pupils saw their
teachers and the manner in which they believed they were
seen by their teachers, the pupils were tested with the
Relationship Inventory and the Schuman StudentCenteredness Scale.
Emmerling found the two groups of teachers to be
very much alike in terms of age, subject matter taught,
and tenure of teaching experience.

Yet, the Q-sort

scores revealed definite differences in terms of the way
the teachers perceived their problems and what could be
g
inferred about their openness from these problems.
The
students’ results showed that pupils perceived the
teachers who were identified as more open as having
significantly more open characteristics than teachers
who were identified as less open.

The open teachers

were perceived by their pupils to be significantly dif­
ferent in the five variables tested:
regard,
(4)

(2) empathic understanding,

(3) congruence,

unconditionality of regard, and

ness than the less open teachers.

(1) level of

(5) student centered-

The evidence from the

five variables indicated that the teachers who were
identified by the Problems Q-sort as having more open
characteristics were creating a more free and facilitating
atmosphere than the teachers who were less open, and were
9Ibid.

50
exhibiting these as characteristics and q u a lities of "good"
teaching.

F r e e z e 10 and E l l i o t t 11 added f urther v a l i dat ion

in their studies.
Scoring the T e a c h e r Problems Q-sort
Scoring of the Q-sort problems is plus or m i nus
according to the five dimensions e s t a b lished by the p s y ­
chologists in the initial validation.

Thus, a subject is

given a plus 1 or a m i nus 1 depending u p o n the d e s crip­
tion the subject gives to the p r o b l e m as m o s t pressing
or least pressing.

Hence a scoring range of plus or

minus quantity is possible, ranging from -38 to +38.

12

The M i n n e s o t a Teacher A t t i t u d e Inventory
The M i n n e s o t a Tea c h e r A t t i t u d e I n v entory is by far
the most popular instrument for the m e a s u r e m e n t of teacher
13
attitudes.
D e v eloped at the U n i v e r s i t y of M i n n e s o t a by
Cook, Leeds,

and Callis the manual, p u b l i s h e d in 1951,

states:
Investigations carried on b y the a uthors o ver
the past ten years indicate that the attitudes
of
teachers toward children and school w o r k can
be
m e a s u r e d w i t h high reliability, and that they
10Freeze, o p . c i t .
11Elliott, o p . c i t .
12 Scoring procedures can be o b t a i n e d from Robert
E. Bills, Un i v e r s i t y of Alabama, University, A l a b a m a .
13
J. W. Getzels and P. W. Jackson, "The Teacher's
Personality and Characteristics," in H a n d b o o k of Research
on T e a c h i n g , ed. b y N. L. Gage ( C h i c a g o : Rand M c N a lly
and C o . , 1963), p. 508.

51
are significantly correlated with the teacherpupil relations found in the teacher's class­
rooms.
The MTAI has emerged from these
researches.
it is designed to measure those
attitudes of a teacher which will predict how
well he will get along with pupils in inter­
personal relationships, and indirectly how
well satisfied he will be with teaching as a
vocation.14
The validity of the experimental forms and the
final edition. Form A, is based on three assumptions:
(1) Pupil's attitudes toward the teacher and
their school work are a reflection of the
attitudes of the teacher towards them and
toward teaching procedures.
There should be
a positive relationship between the attitudes
of teachers and their pupils.
(2) A competent and experienced principal can
detect the emotional relationship between
teacher and pupil and can discriminate those
who have good rapport with pupils and those
with poor rapport.
(3) Using objective measures, an expert in
teacher-pupil relations can visit a classroom
and reliably assess the social climate.
The construction of items for the preliminary
out

of the MTAI involved the canvassing of five areas

socio-educational literature about children.

of

This was

done to obtain an adequate sampling of attitudes.
ing

try­

Accord­

to the m a n u a l , the five areas w e r e :
(1) Moral status of children in the opinion of
a d u l t s , especially as concerns their adherence
to adult-imposed standards, moral or otherwise.
Example:
"Children should be seen and not heard."
14

W. W. Cook, C. H. Leeds, and R. Callis, The
Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory (New Y o r k : The
Psychological Corporation, l££l) , p. 3.

52
(2) Discipline and problems of c onduct in the
c l a s s r o o m and elsewhere, and m e t h o d s employed
in dealing w i t h such p r o b l e m s . E x a m p l e :
"Pupils found w r i t i n g notes should be severely
p u n i s h e d ."
(3) Princi p l e s of child d evelopment and behavior
related to ability, a c h i e v e m e n t , l e a r n i n g , motiv a t i o n , and p e r s o n a l i t y development.
Example:
"The boastful child is usually o v e r c o n f i d e n t of
his ability."
(4) Pr i n c i p l e s of education related to philosophy,
curriculum, and administration.
Example:
"Pupils
should be r equired to do m o r e studying at home."
(5) Personal reactions of the t e a c h e r , likes and
d i s l i k e s , sources of irritation, etc.
Example:
"Without children life w o uld be dull."
Or i g i n a l l y 756 items w e r e wri t t e n to discriminate
between teachers who have desired and those w i t h undesired
types of teacher-pupil relations.

Principals of 70 schools

were asked to d e s ignate one or two teachers w h o seemed to
be effective and w ere liked by pupils.

T h e y were also

asked to name one or two teachers who r a ted low in this
respect.

C r i terion groups of 100 superior teachers and

100 inferior teachers in grades 1-12 w e r e then created.
Each teacher c o m pleted Tryout Forms A and B and using
Chi-square it was found that 115 of the 756 items d i s ­
criminated at the

.05 level and 188 items at the

.10 level.

Fr o m these items, 164 of the m o s t discriminating
items became the first experimental form and was admin­
istered to a r a n d o m selection of 100 teachers in grades
406.

Their scores w e r e correlated w i t h three outside

criteria of teacher pupil r a p p o r t :

53
(1) The Pupil-Teacher Rating Scale was admin­
istered to at least 25 pupils of each of the 100
teachers and reliability was .93.
(2) The Principal-^eacher Rating Scale was completed by the principals of the 100 teachers and
reliability was .87.
(3) The Rating Scale of the T e a c h e r 1s Personal
Effectiveness was completed for each teacher by
an expert i n t e a c h e r - p u p i l relationships and
reliability was .92.
The reliability of the three outside criteria for the
random group of 100 4-6 grade teachers using the SpearmanBowman split-half procedure was found to be .89.
The MTAI, Form A, is the form in current use.

In

the selection of the 150 items used for Form A, six factors
were considered:
item,

(1) the discriminating power of the

(2) the extent to which item responses are influenced

by professional education courses,

(3) the extent to which

the item responses are influenced by teaching experience,
(4) the extent to which the content of the item duplicates
that of another item,

(5) the clearness of the statement,

and (6) the consistency of the response patterns of the
superior and inferior teachers. 15 Three measures of dis­
criminatory power were considered for the items:

(1) Chi-

square, indicating the power of each item to discriminate
between the original 100 superior and 100 inferior
teachers,

(2) the significance of the difference between

the per cent of responses of the superior and inferior

54
teachers for each of the five categories of each item, and
(3)

an internal consistency measure of discrimination

based on the upper and lower 20 per cent of the random
group of the 4-6 grade teachers.
A further check of validity was undertaken b y two
studies in South Carolina and Missouri.

These followed

the original validation in schools in northwestern
Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio.

In both cases v a l i d ­

ity and reliability correlated significantly with all
other checks.
Studies by Gittler, 16 Munro, 17 and Popham
18
and Baker
all validated the significance of the MTAI.
Popham and Baker stated,
Attitude Inventory,

"other than the Minnesota Teacher

there are few carefully studies atti-

tudinal measures whi c h have explicit relevance to teach­
ing. 1,19
There is evidence that the MTAI is only slightly
susceptible to "faking good."

Three testing sequences

Steven Gittler, "Professional Characteristics of
Elementary School T e a c h e r s : Undergraduate Programs Versus
Intensive Teacher Training Program," Journal of Teacher
Education, X I V (December, 1963), 399-401.
17
Barry S. Munro, "The MTAI as a Predictor of
Teaching S u c c e s s ," The Journal of Teacher E d u c a t i o n ,
LVIII, No. 3 (November, 1964), 138.
18
W. James Popham and Eva L. Baker, "Measuring
Teachers * Attitudes Toward Behavioral Obj e c t i v e s ," The
Journal of Educational Research, LX, No. 10 (JulyAugust, 19'5T> , *53.-------------19Ibid.

55
were arranged by the MTAI authors.

Group I took the same

test twice and sufficient insight was gained to increase
the average score 4.2 p o i n t s .

Group 2 took the test

twice and were told on the second try to get as high a
score as possible.

The gain was 9.6 points, a little

less than one-half a standard deviation.

Group 3 took

the test twice but were told from the beginning to try to
get as high a score as possible.

The average raise in

score for this group was 1.8 points.

The results of these

three testing sequences seem to support the auth o r 's con­
tention that the instrument is only slightly susceptible
to "faking g o o d ."^®
Scoring the MTAI
The MTAI consists of 150 items.

There are no

right answers, but rather levels of agreement or dis­
agreement.

Agreements have a value of plus one and dis­

agreements a value of minus one.

Therefore, the possible

range of scores for the test is from plus 150 to minus
150.
Summary
The population of the study

(N*=44) consisted of

all participants in the SERL Project and a random selec­
tion of participants in the Conventional Program of
^°Cook, o p . c i t .

56
Student Teaching.

All student teachers were placed at

random in their schools according to their disciplines
and the availability of cooperating teachers.
criteria were used.

No other

Each student teacher was pretested

with the Teacher Problems Q-sort and the Minnesota
Teacher Attitude Inventory prior to their experience and
then posttested with the same instruments at the end.
Based on numerous tests of validity and r e l i a ­
bility,

the Teacher Problems Q-sort and the Minnesota

Teacher Attitude Inventory promised to be the most
appropriate instruments available to test the openness
and attitude variables in the design of this study.

CHAPTER IV
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

In the design of this study, considerations were
given to the preservation of the integrity of the data.
Efforts were made to reduce the student teachers' feelings
of intimidation, recognizing they were "captive" partici­
pants.

At the very beginning of their experience, explana­

tions were made to the student teachers that the depart­
ment was interested in their feelings about student
teaching, children as pupils, and teaching as a profes­
sion, and they were asked if they would attempt to report
their feelings through the instruments chosen.
ever reasons, no one refused to participate.

For what­
In order to

offer and maintain assurances that the tests in no way
represented an evaluation of their individual performances
during student teaching, and consequently there were no
reasons for "faking good," the instruments were admin­
istered by the experimenter and not by their cooperating
teachers, clinical consultants, or college coordinators.
At the first session, each respondent was given
four IBM answer sheets.

Two of the answer sheets were

for the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory
two were for the Teacher Problems Q-sort
57

(MTAI) , and

(Q-sort).

The

58
student; teachers w ere asked to label each answer s h e e t ,
as instructed, with the following information:
1.

The dates;

(9— 70) for the pretest,

(11-70)

for the posttest.
2.
themselves,

A personal

symbol or l ogo, known only to

for later identification o f the posttest

answer sheet, and for the subsequent matching of pretest
and posttest results for comparison.
3.

A four digit n u m b e r assigned b y the investi­

gator according to the pattern

(a) the first digit i ndi­

cated the program with 1 for SERL, 2 for Conventional,
(b) the second digit indicated the sex w ith 1 for male,
2 for female, and

(c) the third and fourth digits e s tab­

lished a number for order and w e r e given at random from
01 to 44.

TABLE 4.1.— Cell identification and frequencies.
Cell

Program*

Sex N

SERL
Male

1

10

SERL
Female

1

8

Conv.
Male

2

9

Conv.
Female

2

16

‘Program identification:

1-SERL,

N**44

2-Conventional

59
In no apparent order or pattern, the student
teachers were assigned their numbers at the pretest,
numbers such as 1104, 2143, or 1217.
identify individuals in any way.

The numbers did not

No names were used.

Most of the student teachers had forgotten their numbers,
but all remembered their logos, by posttest time.
each type of answer sheet, dated

One of

(11-70), was returned to

the investigator for use at the posttest.
Method of Statistical Analysis
The statistical test used in this study was the
Multivariate Analysis of Covariance.

The groups,

especially the SERL, must be studied as composed.

The

students were not matched, but assigned at random to the
program with only limited matched characteristics.

The

Analysis of Covariance appears to be the acceptable sta­
tistical test for this type of research data.

It analyzes

the total variance of a set of measures into systematic
and error variances to the analysis of covariance.
Analysis of covariance tests the significance of the
differences between means of final experimental data by
taking into account and adjusting initial differences in
the data.

The accepted level of significance for this

study was arbitrarily set at p < .01.

The Teacher

Problems Q-sort was hand scored using an answer key.
other data were scored, compared, and tested for

All

60
significance by the Control Data Corporation 3600 computer
at the Michigan State University Computer Center.
Establishing the Need
for Covariates
In using the Multivariate Analysis of Covariance,
it was necessary to establish statistically a need for the
covariates.

This was established after a series of tests

and comparisons of the data.

As illustrated in Table 4.2,

cell means were determined by the four variables and the
four factors of the design.

The table shows the m e a n gain

by the SERL male and female in both the MTAI and the Qsort, as measured by the difference in the pretest and
posttest, compared to the m ean loss by the Conventional
group male and female p a r t i c i p a n t s .

SEKL m a l e respondents

TABLE 4.2.— Cell means.
MTAI
Posttest

Q-sort
Posttest

MTAI
Pretest

Q-sort
Pretest

SEKL
Male

50.60

15.30

16.80

10.00

SERL
Female

44.37

17.87

19.25

14.12

4.44

3.55

19.33

9.00

35.29

8.58

48.41

13.64

Conv.
Male
Conv.
Female

61
gained a mean of 33.80 on the MTAI, as compared to the
Conventional male change of -14.89.

SERL female respond­

ents showed a mean gain of 25.12 on the MTAI, while the
Conventional female produced a mean negative change of
-13.12.

On the Q-sort, the SERL male respondents showed

a Q-sort mean gain of 5.30, while the Conventional male
group showed a mean rlegative change of -5.45.

The SERL

female group produced a mean gain of 3.65 on the Q-sort,
while the Conventional females finished with a mean nega­
tive change of -5.06.

Raw score data, then, indicated

the SERL group to be more positive in their attitudes
toward children and teaching, and more open to experi­
ence.

At this point, however, the changes in attitude

and openness could not be attributed to the effects of
the programs.

The groups contained a considerable number

of differences and, since it was impossible to account
for and control all of the variables, the Multivariate
Analysis of Covariance was needed to adjust the initial
differences so the posttest scores would accurately
reflect differences in the groups' performances.
Pretest and Posttest
Correlation
A sample correlation matrix within cells was run
to see if a correlation existed between the pretest and
posttest.

In Table 4.3, a high correlation exists

between the dependent variables

(the posttests)

and the

62
covariates

(the pretests) within the accepted range of

.6 to .8, and indicates it is a candidate for covariate
analy s i s .

TABLE 4.3.--Sample correlation matrix before adjustment to
covariance.
MTAI
Posttest

Q-sort
Posttest

MTAI
Pretest

MTAI
Posttest

1.00

Q-sort
Posttest

-0.06

1. 00

MTAI
Pretest

0.72

0. 04

1.00

Q-sort
Pretest

0.14

0. 69

0.24

Q-sort
Pretest

1.00

Establishing the Need
for Both CovariateF
Table 4.4 gives the data for the regression analy­
sis with the 2 c o v a r i a t e s .

The Chi-square for the test

of the hypothesis of no association between dependent and
independent variables shows a level of significance of
p < .01 and demands a definite need for the c o v a r i a b l e s .
Tests were then run in a step-wise regression to analyze
the contribution of each independent variable to determine
whether one or both covariables were needed in the analysis
of covariance.

Table 4.5 presents the data representing

63
TABLE 4.4.— Statistics for regression analysis with 2 co­
variates.
Variable

Square Mult R

Mult R

F

P

MTAI
Posttest

0.52

0.72

20.68

p < .01

Q-sort
Posttest

0.49

0.70

18.71

p < .01

Degrees of Freedom for Hypotheses *» 2
Degrees of Freedom for Error » 38
Chi Square for Test of Hypothesis of No Association
between Dependent and Independent Variables « 53.86
D.F. = 4

p < .01

TABLE 4.5.— Step-wise regression to analyze the contribu­
tion of each independent variable.
Adding Covariate 1 (pretest-MTAI) Through 1 (PretestM TAI) to the Regression Equation
Chi Square = 2 8 . 4 5
D.F. “ 2
p < .01
Variable

Univariate F

MTAI
Posttest

42.26

Q-sort
Posttest

0.06
D.F. = 1 and 39

P
p < .01
p > .01

Adding Covariate 2 (Pretest Q-sort) Through 2 (Pretest
Q-sort) to the Regression Equation
Chi Square = 25.43
D.F. =*2
P < *01
Variable
MTAI
Posttest
Q-sort
Posttest

Univariate F
0.09
37.30
D.F. = 1 and 3 8

P
p > .01
p < .01

64
the adding of covariate 1 (Pretest-MTAI) through 1
(Pretest-MTAI) to the regression equation, and the add­
ing of covariate 2 (Pretest-Q-sort)
Q-sort)

to the regression equation.

through 2 (PretestIn both tests the

data indicated, at p < .01, the need for both covariates
in the analysis.

It was found necessary to pretest for

both of the dependent variables.
Correlation of Attitude
and Openness
With the two covariates eliminated, a sample cor­
relation m a t r i x , Table 4.6, indicated a low correlation
between m e a s u r e s .

This suggests the measures of attitude

TABLE 4.6.— Sample correlation matrix after adjustment for
covariates.
Q-sort
Posttest

MTAI
Posttest
MTAI
Posttest

1.00

Q-sort
Posttest

-0.13

1.00
Standard Deviation

Variable

Variance

MTAI
Posttest

581.38

24.11

Q-sort
Posttest

58.75

7.66

(2 Covariates Have Been Eliminated)

65
and openness m a y be thought of an independent of one
another, that the v a r iables of attitude and openness are
distinct and separate,
sign)

and

(as indicated b y the negative

one increases as the other decreases.

The c o r r e l a ­

tion after adjusting for covariance is not significant.
This implies that in the po p u l a t i o n the correl a t i o n is
zero, w h i c h in turn implies knowledge of one var i a ble does
not aid us in pr e d i c t i n g what the other v a r i a b l e m a y do.
Program E f fect--SERL
v s . Conventional
W i t h covariates adjusted, tests of hypotheses were
made wit h least square estimates on effects x variables.
Table 4,7 shows that Gro u p 1, the SERL group, did better
that Group 2, the Conventional g r o u p .

A test using

TABLE 4.7.— Least square estimates adjusted for c o ­
v a r i a t e s — effects x variables.
MTAI
Posttest

Q-sort
Posttest

Grand
Mean

14.71

2.92

Male vs
Female

-0.44

-0.92

SERL vs.
Conventional

40.19

9.18

Sex s Program
Interaction

16.15

3.24

66
standard error of adjusted estimates, was conducted by
multiplying 1.96 times the standard error, and adding or
subtracting the score and relating to zero.

If zero is

in the range of the test, the comparison is not signifi­
cant.

If zero is not in the range, the comparison is

significant.

For example:

program effect was 4 0.19.

(1) the MTAI posttest for
The standard error was 7.85.

1.96 times 7.85 is equal to 15.38.

At 15.38 + 40.19,

zero is not in the range, and according to the test, the
program is significant.
effect was -0.92.

(2) The Q-sort posttest for sex

The standard error was 2.52.

times 2.52 equals 4.93.

1.96

At 4.93 + -0.92, zero is in the

range, and according to the test, the sex effect is not
significant.

In the test for program effect, the fact

that 40.19 is positive indicates SERL did better than
Conventional.

In the test for sex effect, the findings

show that sex had no effect on either programs or

TABLE 4.8.— Standard errors of adjusted estimates— effects
x variables.
MTAI
Posttest

Q-sort
Posttest

1

6.43

2.04

2

7.93

2.52

3

7.85

2.49

4

15.50

4.92

67
d e p endent variables.

W h e n tes t e d by the above p r o c e d u r e ,

there is in d i c a t i o n that n o interaction bet w e e n sex and
programs existed.
T a ble 4.9 p r esents the data for the F-test for the
multivari a t e test of e q u a l i t y for p r o g r a m effects w i t h two
covariates eliminated.

W i t h initial d ifferences adjusted,

the effect of the programs on b o t h attitude and openness
changes w ere p r o v e n to b e s ignificant at p < .01.

This

indicates that b o t h openness and attitude can be effected
by a plan n e d p r o g r a m , and as already shown in Table 4.7,
the SERL pattern,

as a p l a n n e d program, was superior in

effecting change than the C o n v e n t i o n a l pattern in this
study.

TABLE 4.9.— P r o g r a m effect.
F-Ratio for M u l t i v a r i a t e T e s t of Eq u a l i t y of M ean
Ve c to r s = 21.51
D.F. = 2 and 37.00
p < .01
Variable

B e t w e e n M e a n s Sq.

Univariate F

P

MTAI
Posttest

14753.84

25. 37

p < .01

Q-sort
Posttest

772.90

13.15

p < .01

Degrees of F r e e d o m for Hypothesis =* 1
Degrees of Fre e d o m for Error = 38

Sex Effect
The F-Ratio for m u l t i v a r i a t e test of equality on
sex effects, as shown in T a b l e 4.10, w i t h 2 covariates

68
TABLE 4.10.— Sex effect.
F-Ratio for Multivariate Test of Equality of Mean
Vectors = 0 . 1 3
D.F. = 2 and 37.00
p > .01
Variable

Between Mean Sq.

Univariate F

MTAI
Posttest

22 .94

0.03

p > .01

Q-sort
Posttast

12 .38

0.21

p > .01

Degrees of Freedom for Hypothesis = 1
Degrees of Freedom for Error = 38

eliminated,

shows the effect of sex on the effectiveness

of the two programs was not significant at the p > .01
level for both attitude and openness.

Indications are the

SERL program need not be concerned with the makeup or
balance of male and/or female participants.

Both sexes

performed similarly in their response to the effects of
the program in producing changes in attitude and openness.
Test for Interaction
of Variables
Table 4.11 presents the data for the F-ratio for
multivariate test of equality for interaction of the pro­
grams.

The data shows that interaction effects are not

significant at the p > .01 level of confidence.

Conclu­

sions are that there are no variables within the programs
that seem to be affecting the quality of the data, and
that it can be determined with reasonable certainty that

69
TABLE 4.11.— Interaction.
F-Ratio for Multivariate Test of Equality of Mean
Vectors = 0 . 8 4
D.F. = 2 and 3 7.00
p > .01
Variable

Between Mean Sq.

Univariate F

MTAI
Posttest

631.40

1. 08

p > .01

Q-sort
Posttest

25.49

0.43

p > .01

the variables of attitude and openness were tested, and
that interaction of the variables did not cause the
results to be altered.

With tested significance, it can

be said that the MTAI tested for attitudes, the Q-sort
tested for openness and, within the selected programs,
produced the results of only that program tested.

Both

the SERL Project and the Conventional Program were
successfully tested for their effects on attitude and
openness with no interfering effects from other u n d e ­
termined variables or from an interaction of the dependent
variables.

With the interaction effect not significant,

strength is added to the significant effect of the p r o ­
grams on the dependent variables and to the conclusions
that the SERL Project is superior in producing positive
changes in the attitude and openness of student teachers.

70
Testing the Null Hypotheses
The format to be used in testing the hypotheses
will be one of stating each hypothesis in null form, and
then either accepting or rejecting the null hypothesis,
with reference to the data presented.
Hypothesis 1
No differences will be found in attitudes toward
children as pupils and teaching as a profession between
student teachers in the SERL Project and student teachers
in the Conventional Program as a result of their labora­
tory experience.
It was indicated in Table 4.7, that in this study,
the SERL Project did better than the Conventional Pro­
gram in producing positive changes in attitudes of student
teachers.

Table 4.9 reports, at p < .01, the SERL pro­

ject caused the difference in scores.
respondents apparently had no effect

The sex of the
(p > .01, Table

4.10), and there were no other variables in interaction
(p

>.01, Table 4.11) to cause the change.

The null

hypothesis is therefore rejected, and the hypothesis is
accepted at the p < .01 level of confidence.
Hypothesis 2
No difference will be found in openness between
student teachers in the SERL Project and student teachers

71
in the Conventional Program as a result of their labora­
tory ex p e r i e n c e .
The results of Table 4.7 indicate that the student
teachers in the SERL Project did better than the student
teachers in the Conventional Program in producing p o s i ­
tive changes in openness.

It was shown, at a level of

confidence of p < .01, that che SERL Project pattern was
responsible for the gain in scores indicative of attitude
and openness.

Tables 4.10 and 4.11, respectively, report

at p > .01, that sex and the interaction of variables had
no effects on the changes that took place.
hypothesis is rejected.

The null

The hypothesis is accepted at

the p < .01 level of confidence.
Hypothesis 3
Greater positive changes in attitude will not be
observed in the SERL group of student teachers than in
the Conventional g r o u p .
SERL males and females showed greater positive
gains in attitude as indicated by m ean scores o n the MTAI
and the Q-sort.

Table 4.2 reports negative changes for

both male and female participants in the Conventional
group.

The null hypothesis is rejected and the hypothesis

accepted.

72
Hypothesis 4
Greater positive gains In openness will not be
observed for the SERL group of student teachers than in
the Conventional group.
SERL males and females showed greater positive
gains in openness as indicated by mean scores on the MTAI
and the Q-sort.

Table 4.2 reports positive gains for

openness for male and female respondents in the SERL
group, and negative results for male and female respond­
ents in the Conventional group.

The null hypothesis is

rejected and the hypothesis accepted.
Sub-Hypothesis 1
A correlation will not exist between openness and
attitude.

Those people who are more open will not have

more positive attitudes.
Table 4.6 shows that a correlation after adjusting
for covariance is not significant.

This implies that in

the population the correlation is zero, which in turn
implies knowledge of one variable does not aid us in
predicting what the other variable may do.

Consequently,

it can be concluded that those people who are more open
are not necessarily those who have the more positive
attitudes.

The null hypothesis cannot be rejected.

73
Sub-Hypothesis 2
Sex differences will have no effect on changes in
openness and attitude in both the SERL Project and the
Conventional Program.
Table 4.7 shows no effect of sex on the results of
tests for openness and attitude in the two programs.

The

F-Ratio test, Table 4.10, indicates at p > .01 for both
the MTAI and the Q-sort, that there was no sex effect on
the results obtained in testing the dependent variables.
The null hypothesis cannot be rejected.
Discussion of the Findings
SERL v s . Conventional
The data have indicated, quite conclusively, that
the SERL Project pattern of student teaching is a superior
pattern for producing positive changes in attitude and
openness.

In reviewing the purposes and objectives of the

SERL Project, and examining more closely the details of
SERL activities,

some insight might be gained in the

attempt to isolate the factors, or combination of factors,
that contributed to the positive changes in the dependent
variables.
Student teachers in the SERL Project are assigned
in groups of 10-12 in each SERL building.

The student

teachers are originally assigned to a clinical consultant
who is responsible for their assignments to cooperating
teachers, and the organization and coordination of their

74
activities.

The clinical consultant is available to each

student teacher at any time and for any reason.

The

consultants are employed jointly by the Lansing School
System and Michigan State University.

They are released

half-time from their regular duties to provide group
activities for the student teachers, and their salaries
are reimbursed for this time by the university.
Student teachers in the SERL Project are expected
to participate at a much higher level them usual in work­
ing with social agencies and organizations in the com­
munity.

They are much more likely to spend time in stu­

dent 's homes and community activities than is typical of
Conventional student teachers.

In carrying out their

in-school activities, students are assigned on a much
more flexible basis than in the Conventional arrangement.
They group and regroup themselves for particular purposes
as they identify problems of instruction and problems of
learning; analyze these problems and begin to develop
hypotheses about solving them; develop plans for organiz­
ing and managing instruction to solve the identified
problems; and develop evaluation techniques to determine
the success of their efforts.

In the process, they

examine and gain practice with different methods of
organizing instruction such as small groups, large groups,
individualized instruction, and team teaching.

75
The SERL participants teach an average of 3-4
classes per day.

They may or may not work in their major

areas as they shift responsibilities in search of a m u l ­
titude of experiences in instructional techniques.

A

student teacher with an English major also has the oppor­
tunity to teach in his minor area, as well as visit, aid,
or tutor in all types of teaching situations from gifted,
to handicapped, to disadvantaged.

A SERL student teacher

regularly participates in classroom activities from
8:00 A.M. until 12:30 P.M.

At approximately 1:00 P.M.

each d a y , the student teachers group for a variety of
experiences.

Typical experiences would be:

sion with the school social worker,
juvenile court,

(1) discus­

(2) a trip to the

(3) a week-long audio-visual workshop

with overlays, films, video-tape, slides, etc.,

(4) a

trip to the Black, Mexican-American, or other culturally
oriented areas in the district and the city,

(5) working

with the administration and counseling areas of the
school,

(6) group discussions of common problems and

concerns, successful and unsuccessful techniques dis­
covered in the classroom, planning, and discipline,
(7) a visit to the county jail,

(8) a joint meeting with

the SERL group from the other building,

(9) seminar dis­

cussions with the college coordinator concerning philos­
ophies, educational foundations and relating theory into
practice,

(10) visiting the vocational departments and

76
special pr o g r a m s off e r e d by the system,
class for a full day,

(11) w o r k i n g in

(12) vie w i n g films,

articles,

and

other current literature of interest to t h e i r e d u c a ­
tional growth,

(13) talking w i t h students, parents,

and

other m e m b e r s of the community in their homes and in the
s c h o o l , about concerns and vi e w p o i n t s on p r o b l e m s and
opportunities for the c h ild as a pupil,

and

(14) endless

other g r o w t h - o r i e n t e d activities.
Purposely,

a c o m m o n d e n o m i n a t o r of the SERL p r o ­

ject is the group as it interacts to solve p r o b l e m s and
seek oppo rtunities for gro w t h thr o u g h e x p e r i e n c e and
exposure.

E ach p a r t i c ip a n t has an o p p o r t u n i t y to p e r ­

ceive as an i n d i v i d u a l , but the gro u p reinforces that
perception through interaction and exchanges of e x p e r i ­
ences.

E ach person,

as a m e m b e r of the group,

is exposed

to a planned pat t e r n of experiences d e s i g n e d to p r o mote
openness to all kinds of ideas,

cultures,

and peoples.

The SERL pattern allows the student teacher,
interaction,

thr o u gh

to b u ild a backlog of k n o wledge and positive

concept of self and o t h e r people.

The individual's p e r ­

ceptions are exposed to the g r o u p 's p e r c e p t i o n s as they
interact daily.

The individual is g i v e n the opportunity,

as a result of the SERL pattern,

to t est ideas, concepts,

and potential for future experiences,
effective feedback and evaluation.

and to rec e i v e

The SERL p a r t i c ipants

77
purposely have many positive e xperiences.^

Visits to

community service and social organizations exhibit the
many opportunities available to aid pupil and teacher.
Efforts are made to aid the student teacher in building
the necessary knowledge and personality to cope with
future experiences, and which dare him to accept future
experiences as a means fo developing potentialities to
the fullest.

Through the previously cited planned experi­

ences, the SERL group develops understanding, insight into
other's problems, and problem solving skills.

As a group,

SERL members seek ways of helping others develop their
own abilities and goals.
Attitudes of the SERL participants appeared
especially susceptible to change.

All 18 members of the

SERL Project had positive gains in attitude as a result
of their experience.

The Conventional student teachers

had quite an opposite effect with 5 positive changes, 2
no changes, and 19 negative changes.

Festinger has stated

that all people possess certain expectations of the
societal group and institutions with whom they associate.
It is typical for beginning student teachers to be rather
idealistic and theoretical in their approach to education,
teaching, and children as pupils.

As a result of

^■Refer to Chapter X, page 6, for definition of
positive experience.
2
Festinger, o p . c i t .

78
prerequi s i t e experiences in univer s i t y courses prior to
student teaching, e ach has d e v eloped rat h e r definite
attitudes.

E a c h has d e v e l o p e d a p o s i t i o n on techniques,

children, opportunities,
education.

and o t her issues involved in

Each person reacts or behaves as a function of

his attitude as he begins the student teaching experience.
Previous studies h ave shown that a typical r e action after
student teaching is a n e gative change in attitude as a
result of the contacts and experience.^
During the student teaching experience, the stu­
dent teacher encounters m a n y experiences w h i c h result in
cognitive dissonance.

M a n y expect to have free class

situations, eager pupil participation,
respect of the children.

and instant mutual

M a n y encounter extreme d i s ­

sonance as the m e n t a l model fails to materialize.
problems mount,

As

as the structure of the school inhibits,

dissonance grows,

and as e x p lained in Chapter II, attitude

change becomes the m o s t likely m e a n s of reducing that
dissonance.

T h e student t eacher in the Conventional

Program is n ormally alone in his q u est to resolve the
dissonance.

He h e s itates to talk w i t h the cooperating

teacher or the college coordi n a t o r because of the effect
it might have o n his evaluation.

There are fewer a l t erna­

tives for h i m in seeking resolution.
^Jacobs, o p . c i t .

Att i t u d e change

79
takes place with little chance to reinforce his basic
beliefs.

The SERL participant, on the other hand, has the

clinical consultant and the group to influence his deci­
sions on resolving dissonance.

The pattern of the SERL

Project seems to provide the climate for positive growth
of attitude and development of those characteristics
generally associated with "good" teachers.

The individual,

as a part of the group, is affected by the group's ideas
and motivations.

He recognizes problems, not as indi­

vidual problems, but as common problems, shared by all,
to be discussed by the group.

The interaction of the

group -reinforces the group's opinions and ideas, and aids
in maintaining the individual's initial attitudes.

The

group provides the individual with a certain n o r m , status,
and role.

The individual shares identification with the

group and wishes to share and become an accepted member
of the group.

The customs, traditions, and practices of

the group affect the individual.

Those with entering

positive attitudes are influenced to maintain those
attitudes.

Those with entering negative attitudes soon

are affected by group pressures, concerns, interactions,
and discussions to change their attitudes.

Since each

individual perceives differently and enters at a differ­
ent level of attitude and perception, differences in
change occur.

It is not expected that all people who

were initially negative will necessarily end as positive.

80
However, each mem b e r of the SERL group experienced p o s i ­
tive change from his entering l e v e l , as measured b y the
MTAI.
The clinical consultant, along with the college
coordinator, plays an important role in building and
maintaining positive attitudes within the group.

The

availability of a qualified person for immediate consul­
tation to reinforce, correct, and/or redirect the student
teacher, as he seeks guidance through his experience, may
stay the development of dissonance and a resulting change
in attitude.

Immediate action or assurance often elimi­

nates the brewing of dissatisfaction and the feelings of
inadequacy m a n y student teachers experience.
In the Conventional Program, student teachers are
normally assigned individually in m a n y different b u i l d ­
ings and departments.

Their activities w ith other stu­

dent teachers are often times only accidental and u n ­
organized.

Their contacts are limited to their cooperating

teacher and a few friendly faculty.

They often become

the apprentice as the cooperating teacher claims full
control of the student teacher's time and exposure to
experience.

A seminar is scheduled for one afternoon a

week with the college coordinator, but the schedule is
often times necessarily inflexible, and time is insuffi­
cient to cover the great variety of activities that could
be experienced.

Teaching a full schedule of classes.

81
all day, every day, does not leave extra time for the
important extracurricular activities and relationships the
SERL people experience.

As problems mount, the student

teacher, often the only one in the building, is expected
to confer with the cooperating teacher and/or the college
coordinator.

Some do, but many hesitate to express their

true feelings of inadequacy because of their concerns for
evaluation.

They have fewer opportunities for group

support than do the SERL student teachers.

They have

opportunities for community, student, and parental inter­
action only after school hours, and because of their own
personal commitments, many cannot participate.

Many of

their experiences are negative and this appears to affect
their growth toward openness and positive attitude forma­
tion, as indicated by this study.
Correlation of the
Dependent Variables
Expectations were that a significant correlation
would exist between openness and attitude, and that those
student teachers who were more positive in their attitudes
would be more open.

It was anticipated that those student

teachers who experienced positive changes in attitude
would also experience positive changes in openness.

The

hypothesis was not supported within the accepted level of
confidence.

The correlation was low and indications were

that the variables might even react in opposition to each

82
other In some Instances.

As a result of this study, It

appears that no predictions can be made about the r ela­
tionship of the variables in either the SERL or C o n ­
ventional Program.
It was mentioned previously that m ost student
teachers approach their experience w i t h rather definite
attitudes concerning education and techniques.

It would

appear that as dissonance occurs, and consonance is sought
and achieved, there are differing effects on the openness
of the i n d i v i d u a l .

Some SERL student t e a c h e r s , who

achieved positive changes in attitude were able to gain
enough support from the group to be open enough to
recognize, attempt, and seek new experiences.

Others,

be they positive or negative in attitude, reacted in
different ways.

Their attitudes m a y have been so p o s i ­

tive and fixed w i t h convictions that they were correct
in their educational beliefs and teaching techniques that
they closed their minds to new experiences.

They so

believed in the free, unstructured classroom atmosphere,
they refused to believe some students could learn by
controlled, structured means.

A highly positive attitude

may possibly result in negative openness.

A student

teacher w h o is open and highly susceptible to change,
and unsuccessfully experiences new methods and ideas, may
seek consonance by changing his attitude negatively.

One

characteristic of an open person is the ability to perceive

83
realistically without distortion.

The student teacher

may, regardless of program pattern, realistically perceive
conditions completely contrary to expectations, and then
undergo a negative change in attitude towards children as
pupils and teaching as a profession.

A student teacher,

very open to experience, may have many new ideas and
techniques to try, but when stymied by administrative
policy, may react with a negative attitude change.

A

student teacher, either negative or neutral in attitude,
may become open to experience as he searches for any
technique or solution that may solve his problems.

Each

person has a place on the cpenness-closedness continuum,
and it appears as each perceives differently, the reac­
tions occur differently, and as this study indicates, no
predictions can be made with significant accuracy and
reliability on how the individual participant may react.
Sex Effect
McLevie

4

had indicated, in his study of student

teacher concerns, that females derived more benefits from
student teaching than m a l e s .

Accepting this finding

would indicate that special programs would need to be
developed to prepare males to overcome those deficiencies
resulting from standard programs, or give serious recon­
sideration to the male's role in public education.
4
McL e v i e , op. c i t .

This

84
study indicated that sex effect was not significant in
affecting the dependent variables.

It appears that no

special efforts need be made in the SERL Project or C o n ­
ventional Program to compensate for male deficiencies.
The male participants were able to benefit from the
advantages of the SERL pattern of providing experiences
with the same efficiency as the females.

E oth males and

females exhibited the qualities of openness and positive
attitudes.

Both males and females were affected by

changes in attitude and o p e n n e s s , and the changes were
attributed to the p r o g r a m s .

Neither program was signifi­

cantly more successful in producing changes in the
dependent v a r i a b l e s , with reference to the sex of the
participant.
Factors Contributing
to Change
The socialization, the interaction of the group
appears to be, as a result of the interpretation of the
data and related literature,

the most significant c o n t r i ­

buting factor in the differential results of this study.
As described in the design of this study, the participants
in the SERL Project were assigned at random by the Lansing
School System.

Consequently, the group was formed as a

"work unit," not as a volunteer unit.

A number of studies

on such situations support the findings of this study as
pertaining to and offering evidence for the results

85
obtained in changes of attitude and openness.

Studies

have shown how unrelated individuals can form into a
cohesive group of interacting, performing members of a
group.

Schacter

5

reported that subjects under high

anxiety and affiliation need preferred to spend a wait­
ing period with others to waiting alone, preferred
associating with involved others to associated with
uninvolved others, and preferred being with other sub­
jects to being left alone.

Byrne** concluded from studies

in which attitude similarity was varied with respect to
affiliation need that
. . . when strangers' attitudes are identical,
the response is a positive one, regardless of
affiliation need; when there is a moderate
degree of attitude dissimilarity, affiliation
need is positively related to attraction; and
when attitudes are consistently dissimilar,
affiliation need and attraction are inversely
related.
Student teachers commonly find themselves in high anxiety
situations as they begin the laboratory experience.

Evi­

dence indicates they prefer the affiliation and associa­
tion with the group.

The propinquity hypothesis states

that the frequency of interaction and probability of
friendship increases with greater communicative
^S. Schachter, The Psychology of Affiliation
ford, California:
Stanford University Press, 1959).

(Stan­

**D. Byrne, "Interpersonal Attraction as a Func­
tion of Affiliation Need and Attitude Similarity," Human
Relations, Vol. 14 (1961), 283-289.

86
accessibility.

The members of the SERL group become

friends because of their propinquity and their c o m m u ni­
cative abilities increase as they m eet regularly.
Settings which provoke ambiguous, inconsistent,
or threatening perceptions of self, object, or other are
likely to intensify the need to engage in interpersonal
communication.

Affiliation with others, then, provides

a means of anxiety reduction, of self evaluation and
comparison, and of achieving cognitive clarity.
Both
7
8
Radloff
and Schacter
found the need to affiliate reg
lated to the desire for self confirmation.
Pepitone
supported the idea that interpersonal attraction is
prompted by the desire to develop and maintain reliable
valuations of self and others.

Homans,^*0 in examining

the impact of various group structures upon the people
in them, has hypothesized that the act of communicating
itself produces positive feelings between the parties.
The daily meetings of the SERL group lead to regular
communication, and communication leads to similarity of
7

R. Radloff, "Opinion Evaluation and Aff i l i a­
tion," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol.
62 <196l)T'S76-583.--------- ------------ -----g
Schacter, o p . c i t .
g
A. Pepitone, Attraction and Hostility (New
Y o r k : Atherton P r e s s , 1964).
■^G. Homans, The Human Group
court. Brace, 1950).

(New York;

Har-

87
information, of attitude, of value among communicants; and
this kind of similarity is personally satisfying.^

An

important ingredient of the meetings is the daily, regular
schedule.

Homans 12 found that increasing interaction more

or less automatically leads to greater attraction.
Newcomb'*’3 added to this by stating that this is true only
if homogeneity of attitude prevails or develops.

It seems

logical, then, that the regular daily group meeting of
the SEKL student teachers provides a means for self con­
firmation, satisfies the personal need for valuation of
others, produces positive feelings, and leads to develop­
ment of similarity of attitudes and values.

This study

has indicated that this is the case.
The group, along with the contributions of the
clinical consultant, the cooperating teacher, the college
coordinator, and the cooperation of the many agencies
providing the multitudinous variety of experiences, seems
to make the SERL Project a superior pattern of providing
the student teaching experience, with reference to open­
ness and attitude formation.

33D. Barnlund, Interpersonal Communication;
vey and Studies (Bostonl Houghton Mifflin, 1968).
12 Homans, op. c i t .

Sur­

■*"3T. Newcomb, "Stabilities Underlying Changes in
interpersonal Attraction," Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology, Vol. 66 (1963) , 37'6-3'86.

88
Summary
Many considerations were given to preserve the
integrity of the data collected by disassociating the
tests from personal evaluation, cooperating teachers,
clinical consultants, college coordinators, and by keep­
ing scores anonymous.
The Multivariate Analysis of Covariance was
found to be the acceptable test for the data in this
study.

The level of significance was arbitrarily set

p < .01.
Tests were made of the null hypotheses of the
study, and were accepted or rejected on the basis of the
data collected at the level of significance.

As a result

of these t e s t s , a restatement of the hypotheses is now
made, followed by a statement of support or non-support.
Hypothesis 1
Student teachers in the SERL Project will have
more positive attitudes toward children as pupils and
teaching as a profession than student teachers in the
Conventional Program as a result of their laboratory
experience.
The hypothesis was supported.
Hypothesis 2
Student teachers in the SERL Project will be
more open to experience than student teachers in the

89
Conventional Program as a result of their laboratory
experience.
The hypothesis was supported.
Hypothesis 3
There will be a greater positive change in atti­
tudes in the SERb group of student teachers than in the
Conventional g r o u p .
The hypothesis was supported.
Hypothesis 4
There will be a greater positive change in o pen­
ness in the SERL group of student teachers than in the
Conventional g r o u p .
The hypothesis was supported.
Sub-Hypothesis 1
There will be a significant correlation between
openness and attitude.

Those people who are more open

will have more positive attitudes.
The hypothesis was not supported.
Sub-Hypothesis 2
Sex differences w ill have an effect o n changes
in openness and attitude in both the SERJL Project and the
Conventional Program.
The hypothesis was not supported.

90
The socialization, the interaction of the group
appears to be, as a result of the interpretation of the
data and related literature, the most significant contri­
buting factor in the differential results of this study.
The group, along with the contributions of the clinical
consultant, the supervising teacher, the college coordi­
nator, and the cooperation of the many individuals and
agencies providing the multitudinous variety of experi­
ences, seems to make the SERL Project a superior pattern
of providing the student teaching experience, with refer­
ence to openness and attitude formation.

CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, A N D RECOMMENDATIONS

The purpose of this study was to compare the
cooperative Michigan State University-Lansing SERL P r o ­
ject with the Conventional Program of student teaching,
using openness and attitude formation as dependent v a r i ­
ables.

Answers were sought for some basic questions:

(1) Do the SERL participants have a more positive atti­
tude towards children as pupils and teaching as a p r o ­
fession as a result of that pattern of student teaching?
(2) Are the SERL participants m ore open to experience as
a result of the atmosphere and activities provided by the
SERL Project?

(3) Will the SERL student teachers change

more in their attitudes toward children as pupils and
teaching as a profession as a result of their experience
in the project?

(4) Will the SERL student teachers

change more in openness as a result of their experience
in the SERL Project?

(5) Will there be a correlation

between openness and the stated attitude, as dependent
variables, in the student teachers?

(6) Will the sex of

the student teachers have an effect on the perceptions
and experiences gained in student teaching, w i t h reference
to attitude and openness?
91

92
As a result of these questions It was hypothesized
that:

(1) Student teachers in the SERL Project will have

more positive attitudes toward children as pupils and
teaching as a profession than student teachers in the
Conventional Program, as a result of their laboratory
experience.

(2) Student teachers in the SERL Project will

be more open to experience than student teachers in the
Conventional Program, as a result of their laboratory
experience.

(3) There will be a greater positive gain in

attitude in the SERL group of student teachers than in the
Conventional group.

(4) There will be a greater positive

change in openness in the SERL group of student teachers
than in the Conventional group.

(5) There will be a

significant correlation between openness and attitude.
Those people who are more open will have more positive
attitudes.

(6) Sex differences will have an effect on

changes in openness and attitude in both the SERL and
Conventional Programs.
To study the hypotheses of this study, all of the
student teachers assigned to the SERL Project

(18) were

tested and compared with a random sample of student
teachers assigned to the Conventional Program
population of the study

(26).

The

(N=44) completed pretests, before

student teaching, and posttests, during the 10th week of
their experience, of the Minnesota Teacher Attitude
Inventory and the Teacher Problems Q-Bort.

Both

93
instruments have p r o v e n v a lidity and r e l i a b i l i t y to test
attitude and openness, respectively.
The Multiv a r i a t e Analysis of Co v a r i a n c e w a s found
to be the acceptable test for the data in this study.
The level of significance was a rbitrarily set at p < .01.
No wide l y accepted m easures of teacher competence
correlated w i t h teaching success have b e e n developed.

To

some theorists e nvironment is the highly s ignificant
factor in the development of successful teachers, w h ile
others believe the early life experiences, the p e r c eptual
approach,
study,

are more f u n d a m e n t a l .

In the des i g n of this

an effort was m ade to isolate two of the m o r e

important perceptual variables, openness and attitude,
to test the environment as a place of learning in the
development of teaching b e h a v i o r .

The r e v i e w of the

literature offered support and confir m a t i o n for openness
and attitude formation as acceptable d e p endent variables.
While no one person is entirely open or closed,

e ach p e r ­

son, according to conditions and his perceptions,
somewhere on the open-closed continuum.

lies

The open person

would be the ideal teacher type exhibiting p r o p e r t i e s of
creativeness, originality, positiveness,
and flexibility.

sensitivity,

To the open person, p r o b l e m s b e c o m e mor e

central and there is a gradual owning of experience.

The

open person believes in his own w o r t h and the w o r t h of
others.

He sees himself as r esponsible for the solutions

94
of his own problems.

He deals with the central aspect of

problems and becomes focused first in the present and
later in the future, building on the past.

He is sus­

ceptible to change and accepts new challenges and oppor­
tunities.

The closed person represents the opposite end

of the continuum.

Many studies have shown the character­

istics of openness to be highly correlated with teaching
success.
People possess attitudes, and since behavior is
a function of attitude, a change in attitude should result
in a modification of behavior.

The literature shows that:

(1) student teachers do have rather definite attitudes
toward children as pupils and teaching as a profession,
(2) attitudes can and do change, and

(3) different pro­

grams provide varying changes in attitudes.
Tests were made of the null hypotheses of the
study and were accepted or rejected on the basis of the
data collected at the predetermined level of significance.
As a result of these t e s t s , a statement of support or n on­
support of the hypotheses was determined.
Hypothesis 1
Student teachers in the SERL Project will have
more positive attitudes toward children as pupils and
teaching as a profession than student teachers in the

95
Conventional Program, as a result of their laboratory
experience.
The hypothesis was supported.
Hypothesis 2
Student teachers in the SERL Project will be more
open to experience than student teachers in the C o n v e n ­
tional Program, as a result of their laboratory experience.
The hypothesis was supported.
Hypothesis 3
There will be a greater positive change in a tti­
tudes in the SERL group of student teachers than in the
Conventional g r o u p .
The hypothesis was supported.
Hypothesis 4
There will be a greater positive change in o p e n ­
ness in the SERL group of student teachers than in the
Conventional group.
The hypothesis was supported.
Sub-Hypothesis 1
There w ill be a significant correlation between
openness and attitude.

Those people w h o are more open

will have more positive attitudes.
The hypothesis was not supported.

96
Sub-Hypothesis 2
Sex differences will have an effect on changes in
openness and attitude in both the SERL Project and Con­
ventional Program.
The hypothesis was not supported.
Conclusions
Student teachers in the SERL Project showed more
positive gains in both attitude and openness as a result
of their exposure to the activities of the project, and
finished at a higher level of openness and attitude than
the Conventional student teachers.

As a result of their

group activities, in interaction with pupils, parents, and
individuals from community service organizations, the SERL
student teachers should be better prepared to meet their
obligations as first-year teachers.

The SERL participants

have had greater opportunities to develop techniques and
to recognize and use opportunities from a wide variety of
sources.

The socialization, the interaction of the group,

appeared to be the most significant contributing factor to
the differential results of the study.

The group, along

with the clinical consultant, the cooperating teacher, the
college coordinator, and the cooperation of the many indi­
viduals and agencies providing the multitudinous variety
of experiences,-make the SERL Project a superior pattern
for providing the student teaching experience, with refer­
ence to openness and attitude formation.

97
No longer Is -the professional teacher limited to
the classroom in his efforts to provide a relevant e duca­
tion for children, and so no longer can the student teacher
be limited to only classroom activities in his pursuit of
excellence in his chosen career.

No longer can this p u r ­

suit of positive relevant experiences be left to chance.
A planned program,

such as the SERL Project, must guarantee

to each student teacher the opportunity to attempt the
accepted responsibilities a career teacher encounters.
Planned, even staged, activities and resulting strategies
must be discovered and experienced during the limited d u r a ­
tion of the laboratory experience.

With new teaching p r o ­

grams, techniques, and innovations continually arising,
the "teacher of the future" must be skilled in group
dynamics, group interaction, and communication.
team teaching, differentiated staffing,
teacher activities,

With

and other m u l t i ­

the ability to work effectively in

the group situation becomes m ore and more important as
a functional teaching characteristic.

More efficient,

effective use must be made of the student teacher's time
in acquiring the characteristics and skills of the "good"
teacher.

Programs such as the SERL Project can provide

these opportunities.
Recommendations for Further Research
The findings of one dissertation cannot hope to
prove conclusively the merits, validity,

and reliability

98
of a pattern of student teaching such as the SERL Project.
This particular study was limited to the variables of
openness and attitude formation, and to student teachers
in the Lansing School System.

Suggestions for further

research include:
1.

...

testing the SERL pattern with other

acceptable variables such as personality characteristics,
performance with reference to intelligence, age, marital
status, etc.
2.

...

patterns of student teaching, similar to

SERL, tested in a replication of this study, in other
schools, and in other districts throughout the state.
3.

...

examination of existing successful

cooperative programs between universities, colleges, and
school districts to determine common elements that might
lead to more successful interrelationships.

A common out­

look and fusing of the domains of the practical reality of
the public schools and the theoretical considerations of
the universities might be realized if common elements do
exist, are recognized, and used.

New structures for

cooperation might be more effectively devised to facilitate
the required partnership, develop operational levels of
decision making, and encourage an effective link between
the participating units in each local situation.
4.

...

relating openness and attitude formation

with level of success as a student teacher.

The design of

99
this study required anonymity of participant's scores, but
another design might relate the highly successful, a v e r a g e ,
and below average student teacher to openness and attitude
formation, as a result of the student teaching program.
5.

...

differences in planned group activities,

within the SERL pattern, studied to determine the effect
of those differences on attitude, openness, or other
variables during student teaching.

What kinds of activi­

ties can be planned for the most effective, efficient use
of the student teaching period to provide the changes
expected?
6.

...

a follow-up study to determine if the

participants in the SERL Project are more successful
career teachers than the Conventional Program partici­
pants.

The study might determine if the SERL Project

pattern was successful in eliminating or reducing some of
the problems of the beginning teacher, and if gains in
attitude and openness prevailed during and after the
first year of teaching.
7.

...

the role of the clinical consultant

studied to determine the definition, qualifications,
effectiveness, preparation, and selection for maximum
returns of time, effort, and money expended*

Who should

be selected, for how long, and for what reasons?
8.

...

a study of student teacher, cooperating

teacher, clinical consultant, and college coordinator

100
interaction in planning the student t e a c h e r 's e x p e r i e n c e .
A study could h elp determine the effect i v e n e s s of each
p a r t i c i p a n t 's r o l e , and c onclusions m a d e o n h o w e a c h could
be more effectively em p l o y e d in d etermining strategies
for planned change.
9.

. . .

attitude studies.

Along w i t h this

study, attitude studies indicate student teachers do
undergo a change in attitude during student teaching.
When do these changes take place?

Is there a m o r e or

less effective time span for the student teaching e x p e r i ­
ence, wit h reference to attitude formation?
10.

. . . d e t e r m i n a t i o n and d e f i n i t i o n of i n n o ­

vativeness such as team teaching patterns,
staffing,

d i f f e r e ntiated

in-service teacher p r e p a r a t i o n p r o g r a m s and

their effects on student teaching patterns,

such as SERL,

in producing positive changes in student teachers.
11.

. . .

d e t e r m i n a t i o n of e f f e c t i v e n e s s of

classroom teaching time on successful p r e p a r a t i o n of
student teachers.

SERL student teachers teach an average

of 3 to 4 classes p e r day.

Is this enough to p r o v i d e the

necessary experience for the p r e p a r a t i o n o f career
teachers?

Should student teachers spend m o r e or less

time in the classroom?

H o w do t h eir p e r f o r m a n c e s compare

with student teachers w h o t e a c h m o r e o r fewer classes?
12.

. . .

testing an e l e m e n t a r y p r o g r a m as well

as the secondary p r o g r a m t e s t e d in this study.

A r e there

101
characteristics of the elementary experience that would
produce different results?
Many of the questions raised may be incorporated
into the design of one study, but all seem relevant to the
search for methods of providing more efficient, effective
strategies and patterns of student teaching.

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102

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Combs, Arthur W.
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1964).
Domas, Simeon J . , and Tideman, David V.
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Experimental Education, XIX (December^ 1950)•
Gittler, Steven.
"Professional Characteristics of Ele­
mentary School Teachers: Undergraduate Programs
Versus Intensive Teacher Training Program."
Journal of Teacher Education, XVI (December,
1963) , 399-401.
Hamachek, Don.
"Characteristics of Good Teachers and
Implications for Teacher Education."
Phi Delta
Kappan, L:6 (February, 1969).
Harvey, P. J.
"Teacher Attitudes:
Subject Matter and
Human Beings."
Educational Leadership, Vol. 27
(April, 1970).
Horowitz, Meyer.
"Student-Teaching Experiences and Atti­
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Education, XIX (Fall, 1968), 317-324.
Jacobs, Elmer B.
"Attitude Change in Teacher Education:
An Inquiry Into the Role of Attitudes in Changing
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Kemp, L. D.
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The

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Lamke, Thomas A.
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-----------------------

_________ . "Introduction."
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"The MTAI as a Predictor of Teaching
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Myers, R. E., and Torrance, Paul E.
"Can Teachers
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Educational
L e a d e r s h i p , XIX (December, 19617^
Newcomb, T.
"Stabilities Underlying Changes in Inter­
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Osgood, C. E.
"Cognitive Dynamics in the Conduct of
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24, 341-365.
Popham, W. James.
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Instructional Behavior of Student T e a c h e r s ,"
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Popham, W. James, and Baker, Eva L.
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Radloff, R.
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------------- -----Rosenberg, M. J.
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Shaplin, J. T.
"Practice in Teaching."
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Waisanen, F. B.
"Stability, Alienation, and Change."
The Sociological Q u a r t e r l y , Vol. IV (1963), 18-31.

107
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U n p u b l i s h e d Ph.D. dissertation, A u burn
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Bills,

Robert E.
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Un i v e r s i t y of Kentucky, 1955.

Booklet,

_________ . "Insights for Teaching F r o m Personality
Theory:
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Madison:
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The A s s o c i a t i o n for Student Teaching, 46th
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W i l l a i m C. Bro w n Co., 1967.
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A speech to ASCD,

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Emmerling, Frank C.
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Engle, Harry C.
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Freeze, Chester R.
"A Study of Openness as a Factor in
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Unpublished Ph.D.
dissertation. University of Alabama, 1963.
Getzels, J. W . , and Jackson, P. W.
"The Teacher's P er­
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Research on T e a c h i n g . Edited by N. L. Gage.
C h i c a g o : Rand McNally and Co., 1963.
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Student Teaching Office.
SERL Project:
A
Project to Improve the Preparation of T e a c h e r s .
Brochure, L a n s i n g , Michigan.
McLevie, John G.
"An Examination of Teaching Concerns
Reported by Secondary Student T e a c h e r s ." U n ­
published Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State
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Michigan State University.
Catalog of Courses and
Academic Programs, 1 9 7 0 .
Mitzel, Harold E.
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C~. WT Harris. New Y o r k : MacMillian Company,
1960.
Morsh, Joseph H . , and Wilder, Eleanor W.
"Identifying the
Effective Instructor:
A Review of the Quantita­
tive Studies, 1900-1952.” Research Bulletin
AFRTRC—T R 5 4 :44, United States Air Force Personnel
Training Research Center, San Antonio, 1954.
Pierce, T. M.
"The Role of College Teaching."
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Rogers, C.
"A Theory of Therapy, Personality, and Inter­
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A Study of
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New Y o r k :
McGraw-Hi11, 1959.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A
MINNESOTA TEACHER ATTITUDE INVENTORY

110

PLEASE NOTE:
Pages 111-118, Appendix A:
"Minnesota Teacher Attitude
Inventory, Form A " f (c) 1951
by The Psychological
C orporation not microfilmed
at request of author.
Available for consultation
at Michigan State University
Library.
UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS.

APPENDIX B
MTAI RAW SCORES

119

SERE
RAW SCORES
MTAI

rtici

Pretest

Posttest:

1101

53

74

1102

24

34

1103

7

79

1104

23

27

1

50

1206

34

60

1207

7

24

1108

-41

-14

1109

8

26

1210

48

79

1111

56

108

1212

22

34

1213

22

25

1114

24

44

1115

-22

84

1216

68

74

1117

36

44

1218

-46

9

1205

-

120

121
CONVENTIONAL
RAW SCORES
MTAI
Participant

Pretest

Posttest

Change

2219

65

42

-23

2220

88

59

-29

2221

13

-

1

-14

2222

14

-37

-51

2223

27

8

-19

2224

5

3

-

2225

46

-27

2226

42

34

-

2227

64

49

-15

2228

67

45

-22

2129

-47

-36

+11

2130

-38

-37

+ 1

2131

38

33

- 5

2132

21

2

-23

2233

49

49

0

2134

24

19

- 5

2235

68

83

+15

2236

74

67

- 7

2237

33

33

0

2238

87

97

+10

2139

42

2

-40

2240

43

28

-15

-

2

-73
8

122
Participant

Pretest

Posttest

Change

2141

53

48

- 5

2242

48

64

+16

2143

15

-17

-32

2144

66

30

-36

APPENDIX C
TEACHER PROBLEMS Q-SORT
INSTRUCTION SHEET

123

INSTRUCTIONS
Teacher Problems Q-Sort

You have been given a packet containing 80 problems.
Each
slip in the packet contains one problem which may be of
concern to you as a teacher.
All 80 problems have been
suggested by other teachers.
We would like you to use
these statements to describe the most pressing problems
you experience as a teacher.
You have also been given an IBM answer sheet for recording
your responses.
If you will, please follow the verbal
instructions for identification.
The name is not important
for identification.
In making marks on the answer sheet, please use the pencil
provided.
Please be careful to make your mark heavy and
black, and as long as the pair of lines.
If you change
your mind, or make an error, please erase your first mark
COMPLETELY.
Please be careful to make no stray marks
anywhere on the p a g e .
To describe the problems you experience as a teacher, the
80 statements are sorted as indicated below.
Least Pressing
Pile number:
Number of cards:

1 2
2

Most Pressing

3
6

8

14

10

16

14

10

In sorting the cards you must place two and only two cards
in pile number 9. These are the two problems which are
most pressing for you.
Pile #8 will contain six (and only
six) next most pressing problems for you.
Pile #7 will
contain the next 10 most pressing problems, etc.
The easiest way to make the sort is to begin by dividing
the 80 statements into three piles:
"most pressing,"
"least pressing," and a third pile between the two.
The
three piles may then be subdivided into the final 9 piles.

124

125
After you have c o m p l e t e d the s o r t , please r e c o r d your
responses on the IBM sheet.
You w i l l noti c e that each
card has a number o n it.
This n u m b e r c orresponds to the
large line numbers o n the a n s w e r sheet.
The pile numbers
are one thru nine.
M a t c h the n u m b e r o n the card to the
line on the answer sheet, and r e c o r d w h i c h p ile it is in.
For instance:
If card 3 is in p i l e n u m b e r 8, find line 3
and b l a c k e n the lines in d i c a t i n g 8.
Please start sorting the cards.
Ple a s e do not h estiate
to raise y o u r h a n d if y o u have any questions.
T H A N K YOU

APPENDIX D
THE TEACHER PROBLEMS Q-SORT

126

1.

H o w to m a k e the subject
m a t t e r interesting and
meani n g f u l to all pupils
of varying ability.

2.

Teaching chi l d r en w h o
lack the desire to
learn.

3.

Student's lack of k n o w l ­
edge of the funda­
mentals.

4.

How to k e e p children
b u s y and to encourage
them to use their time
wisely.

5.

Working w i t h p arents in
such a w a y that they
have an o p p o r t u n t i y to
help define the school
program.

6.

Trying to get students
to apply the kn owledge
they have.

7.

Students w a n t i n g to be
on an equal w i t h
teachers.

8.

How to become the m o s t
pos i t i v e educational
i n f luence in the lives
of m y students that I
can be.

9.

How to constantly
change curricular
practices to adjust to
the latest ideas and
research findings.

10.

L a c k of concern of
students in developing
high s t a n d a r d s .

11.

Lack of time to do what
you think should be
done in a particular
subject.

12.

Lack of parents
participating in PTA.

13.

H ow to develop
responsibility of
pupil s for their
behavior.

14.

Learning n e w w a ys of
reaching the slow and
fast learner.

15.

Immaturity of today's
children.

16.

Getting children to
p ut forth the n e c e s ­
sary eff o r t to accom­
p l i s h the task assigned.

17.

How to decide h o w m u c h
time to spend in c r e a ­
tive pursuits.

18.

Trying to t e a c h c h i l d ­
r en w h o do not have
the ability to even
follow directions.

127

128
19.

Developing a school
spirit.

20.

Children's lack of a
sense of responsibility
for their materials.

21.

I expect too much from
my pupils.
I am too
anxious and ambitious
for them.

22.

How, in spite of the
many handicaps that
face me, can 1 be the
best possible teacher
1 can be.

23.

Finding time to use the
added materials which
we are receiving.

24.

X need to inspire the
children to take more
initiative.

25.

What to do with
"bright" pupils to
prevent their wasting
time.

26.

Trying to teach a class
with abilities that
spread over four or
five grade levels.

27.

Getting children to
realize the importance
of an education, and
being willing to spend
the necessary time and
effort to achieve it.

28.

Lack of interest
shown by students.

29.

How to give homework
that will strengthen
the subject matter
presented in class­
room instruction.

30.

Students who are not
able to do the work
required for their
g r ade.

31.

Lack of interest
among many parents
whose children need
parental guidance.

32.

Motivating children to
want to do more than
just pass.

33.

How to secure the
cooperation of
parents in carrying
good habits over to
the home.

34.

Lack of professional
attitude on the part
of other teachers.

35.

Lack of cooperation
of other teachers and
sometimes the admin­
istration in dis­
cipline problems.

36.

Communicating to
parents the value of
present-day teaching
procedures.

129
37.

Helping children to
learn to think for
themselves and to be
independent.

38.

Students who are
satisfied with only a
passing grade when
they have the ability
to do so m u c h better.

39.

Adequate space for
creative e f f o r t s .

4 0.

The mastery of more
and better diagnostic
techniques in the
classroom for the
better instruction of
pupils.

41.

Inability on part of
children to think
for themselves.

4 2.

Finding time to do
needed individual work
with pupils.

43.

Too m uch emphasis on
sports.

44.

Putting the subject
matter over in a way
that students can get
the most out of it.

45.

Teaching pupils w hen
"A" and "F" pupils
are dumped into the
same class.

46.

Not enough uniformity
in what is expected
of children from dif­
ferent t e a c h e r s .

47.

Too many dropouts.

4 8.

Parents who feel that
your job is to see
that their child
passes even though
classes are much too
large for individual
attention.

49.

Getting quiet c h ild­
ren to enter into
class discussions.

50.

How can we maintain
better parent-teacher
r e l ationships.

51.

Too m u c h absenteeism.

52.

Getting all children
to do assigned h o m e ­
work.

53.

Knowing how to m o t i ­
vate children to
want to learn what
is important.

54.

Learning n e w ways of
helping children
develop their maximal
potentials through
school work.

130
55.

Lack of materials to
work with so that
every child will have
a chance to develop
at his top level
individually.

56.

Lack of appreciation
of the job of the
teacher in the com­
munity .

57.

Carrying out the
policies formulated
by others such as
the principal or
the superintendent.

58.

Parents whose emphasis
is on the grading
system rather than on
the development of
the individual child.

59.

Getting students to
use wisely the
abilities and talents
they possess.

60.

Insufficient library
materials for studentcentered teaching.

61.

Lack of set standards
for judging progress
or promotion.

62.

Changing teaching
practices to fit the
needs of individual
students.

63.

Getting the children
to listen.

64.

Lack of sufficient
funds to accomplish
what I'd like to
accomplish.

65.

Children who cannot
read or understand
what they have read.

66.

Finding better and
newer ways of relating
subject matter to
daily living.

67.

Sufficient time for
teaching subject
matter.

68.

Problems from socially
promoted children.

69.

Not enough time to
accomplish all I'd
like to accomplish.

70.

Helping pupils express
individual needs and
interests.

71.

Inability of some
students to have a
spark of ambition.

72.

Children who are not
interested in any type
of homework or study
at home.

73.

Learning better
ways of evaluating
pupil progress.

74.

Children who fail to
give attention in
class— poor attitudes.

131
75.

Teaching pupils who
are not adequately
prepared by the
teachers before us.

76.

Some students feel
they are different
and think they should
be treated as teachers
are.

77.

Continuing to develop
new and better ways
of getting students
to participate and
enter classwork with
their fullest atten­
tion.

78.

Inability of some stu­
dents to learn, and
the fact that they
retard or slow down
the most intelligent
ones in some instances.

79.

How to continue to
improve my teaching
in a fast-changing
world.

80.

Although class work is
all planned by the
c l a s s , interest beings
to fal-1- away if any
real obstacles arrive
in working on our
problems.
1 need to
rethink my methods of
work to prevent this.

APPENDIX E
Q-SORT RAW SCORES

132

SERL
RAW SCORES
Q-SORT

Participant

Pretest

Posttest

Change

1101

19

20

+ 1

1102

13

20

+ 7

1103

7

19

+12

1104

20

21

+ 1

1205

21

23

+ 2

1206

19

25

+

1207

17

17

0

2

7

+ 9

1109

20

17

- 3

1210

19

22

+ 3

1111

20

26

+ 6

1212

17

17

0

1213

12

15

+ 3

1114

- 3

11

+14

1115

1

2

+ 1

1216

11

12

+ 1

1117

5

10

+ 5

1218

- 3

12

+15

1108

-

133

6

134
CONVE N T I O N A L
R A W SCORES
Q-S O R T
Participant.

Pretest

P o sttest

Change
2

2219

-23

-25

2220

18

7

-11

2221

27

22

- 5

2222

12

10

-

2223

13

10

- 3

2224

16

15

- 1

2225

10

6

- 4

2226

19

21

+ 2

2227

12

14

+

2228

20

17

- 3

2129

12

3

- 9

2130

- 4

-

2

2

-12

-

8

-

8

2131

7

- 1

2132

7

2

- 5

2233

14

7

- 7

2134

12

- 1

-13

2235

12

0

-12

2236

19

-22

-41

2237

10

10

0

2238

20

14

-

2139

18

19

+ 1

6

135
Participant

Pretest

Posttest

Change

2240

16

25

+9

2141

- 2

- 3

- 1

2242

17

15

- 2

2143

13

18

+5

2144

18

7

-11