The relationship between the job preview and the job related behaviors of absenteeism, turnover, and job satisfaction was investigated. The objective of the study was to attempt to determine if a job preview booklet that contained information about teaching would have a statistically significant effect on the three job-related behaviors of absenteeism, turnover, and job satisfaction. Data were gathered by examining absenteeism and turnover information from 103 newly hired teachers in the seven school divisions participating in the study. Job satisfaction of control and experimental groups was measured by administering the Job Descriptive Index and the Job in General measure. Results of the multiple analysis of variance indicated that none of the eight control variables were statistically significant. Several possible limitations of the present study were discussed. Future job preview studies might include video-tapes of actual work settings. to avoid contamination problems, entire school divisions could be matched with comparable samples, with each being entirely control or experimental. The job preview could be provided after the interview, but before the contract was signed. The potential benefits of reduction in absenteeism and turnover, and improved satisfaction might justify additional job preview research.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the Virginia system of school finance from 1979 through 1986 to determine the degree of comprehensive resource equity and funding adequacy for pupils and public school divisions. The study extends prior research by assessing the effectiveness of the current finance system on the basis of three principles of equity and two measures of funding adequacy. Five different years of financial data were analyzed and 13 different variables of educational resource inputs, outputs, wealth, and effort were gathered and measured. The financial data included in this study were drawn from 133 public school divisions and approximately one million pupils in Virginia public schools.;Three principles of equity were examined: horizontal equity, equal opportunity, and vertical equity. Adequacy was measured by examining the equal opportunity principle for school divisions and pupils grouped by local characteristics on a scale of urbanization and by comparing state funding efforts to ensure a sufficient educational program for all pupils. A unique application of discriminant analysis was used to isolate differences among urban, suburban and rural school divisions. The findings of these analyses produced the following conclusions: (1) that Virginia has not achieved a reasonable level of horizontal equity. Marginal, but consistent, progress was noted from 1983 to 1986 as state funding increased. (2) that Virginia does not provide equal opportunity in its funding efforts. The link between local wealth and educational expenditures, although declining, is still unreasonably high. (3) that Virginia has a particularly poor record in providing appropriate support for special need pupils. Vertical equity for disadvantaged and vocational pupils represents a serious deficiency in the state funding scheme. (4) that the legislative policy of encouraging teacher salary increases has triggered a decline in equity among school divisions. (5) that significant differences exist in educational resources between school divisions classified by urbanization. (6) that future studies concerning Virginia school finance should utilize the pupil unit of analysis in order to reflect more accurately the impact of financial alternatives.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify the degree of principal leadership style adaptability and teacher use of effective teaching skills in schools where a staff development program in effective teaching skills has been institutionalized.;The null hypothesis to be tested was: In a school division where a staff development program in effective teaching skills has become institutionalized, teacher use of effective teaching skills will not be significantly different in schools with significantly different degrees of principal leadership style adaptability.;Method. The population of the study included elementary principals and teachers in a large urban school division in Virginia. This school division was selected because the staff development program in effective teaching skills was ten years old and met the requirements for institutionalization. The principals had been assigned to their schools for a year or more and teachers had been trained in the division-wide staff development program in effective teaching skills.;Teachers at three schools completed Hersey and Blanchard's Leader Effectiveness and Adaptability Description which measured the principal's leadership style adaptability. The adaptability scores were analyzed using t-tests. Teachers who had completed teacher effectiveness training were observed and rated using the Instructional Skills Observation Instrument by Wolfe, which measured use of effective teaching skills. These scores were analyzed by using one-way analysis of variance.;Findings and Conclusions. The t-test revealed a significant difference in principal leadership style adaptability in School A and B and School A and C. Analysis of data collected by observers by using analysis of variance showed a significant difference between School A and B and School A and C in use of effective teaching skills. This led to the rejection of the null hypothesis.;The null hypothesis was rejected at high levels of confidence. It was concluded that the leadership style adaptability of school principals has an effect on whether a teacher uses effective teaching skills learned through a staff development program. This study suggests that when undertaking a staff development program principal leadership style adaptability may be considered an important contributing factor.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to identify how closely evaluations of professional development programs provided at the district level in public school districts in Virginia are congruent with the National Staff Development Council Standards for Evaluation. The author also sought to identify the types of professional development programs offered at the district level in Virginia public schools.;Professional Development directors or supervisors in all Virginia public schools were asked to complete an online survey that would describe the types of professional development programs offered and how they evaluated those programs.;Fifty-three districts responded to the survey. Most of the responding districts described professional development programs that were content and strategy based and lasted up to one full day. In addition, most districts reported completing an initial survey evaluating initial reaction to the program. However, less than 20% of the responding districts reported completing follow-up evaluations that assessed whether teachers had acquired new knowledge or content, whether teachers were applying new knowledge or content in their instruction, what impact the training had on student achievement or district climate. Further study is needed to determine how districts are using evaluations, and how evaluations are determining impact of training on student achievement.

Purpose. This study was undertaken to investigate the following major questions: (1) Is there a significant difference in the organizational climate of IGE and non-IGE schools in an eastern Virginia city school division? (2) Do IGE and non-IGE schools differ significantly on each of the eight subtests identified by Halpin and Croft (1963) in the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire--Disengagement, Hindrance, Esprit and Intimacy (teacher behavior), Aloofness, Production Emphasis, Thrust, and Consideration (principal behavior)?;Scope of the Study. The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire (Halpin and Croft, 1963) was selected as the research tool for use in collecting the data for the study. In addition, information regarding teacher absenteeism and turnover was analyzed. All faculty members in the six schools sampled (100 percent) participated by completing the OCDQ. The t-test was performed to test for significance at the .05 level of confidence. A one-way analysis of variance was employed across schools. When significant f ratios were produced, the Scheffe test was used to probe the difference between the mean scores of the eight subtests of the OCDQ.;Findings. An analysis of the data revealed: (1) No significant differences in teacher perceptions of organizational climate in IGE and non-IGE schools were found. (2) A significant difference was observed for subtest eight, Consideration, with IGE schools achieving a higher score. (3) The one-way analysis of variance produced an f ratio significant at the .01 level of confidence for seven of the eight subtests of the OCDQ. (4) Using the Scheffe test to compare all pairs of means of the seven subtests with significant f scores, it was found that the IGE school implementing the greatest number of the thirty-five outcomes of the IGE process achieved a climate which tended to be more open than any of the other five schools. (5) Information collected on teacher absenteeism showed a significant difference in teacher attendance in IGE schools.;Conclusions. Consistent with the findings of this study, the following conclusions appear to be warranted: (1) The expressed willingness to become involved in the IGE process does not appear to affect teacher perceptions of school climate. (2) High implementation involvement in the IGE process appears to produce more favorable teacher perceptions of school climate. (3) Teachers employed in IGE schools in this sample had better attendance records than did teachers in non-IGE schools. (5) Neither IGE nor non-IGE schools as a group could be characterized as one of the six climate types described by Halpin and Croft (1963).

The purpose of this study was to determine whether certain variables, utilized as a group, discriminated between black middle school children from father-absent homes and black middle school children from father-present homes. The selected variables used were ability, achievement, grade point average, attendance, number of siblings, sex, age, the level of agression and the level of anxiety. The theoretical rationale was based primarily on the conflict between Coleman's (1966) and Moynihan's (1965) findings. Coleman (1966) asserted "contrary to much that has been written, the structural integrity of the home (principally the father's presence or absence) shows very little relationship to achievement for Negroes" (p. 302). Moynihan (1965) reported "the matrifocal black family is a hindrance to success striving" (p. 1).;It was hypothesized that selected variables (ability, achievement, grade point average, attendance, number of siblings, sex, age, the level of aggression and the level of anxiety) utilized in combination will discriminate between black middle school children from father-present homes and father-absent homes.;It was found that two of the variables discriminated between black middle school students from father-absent homes and black middle school students from father-present homes. It was also found that some of the variables discriminated between boys and girls within the father-absent group.;Further study is needed to determine why the father-absent students scored 7.07 percentile points lower than the father-present students on the STEA, an ability test.

The importance of participation in budgeting for managers and its relevance to job satisfaction has been the subject of a number of studies over the last several decades. In addition, the belief systems of such managers appear to constitute a significant influence on the attitudes they hold in various social situations. Specifically, the personality variable, locus of control, utilized in this study and first introduced by Rotter, refers to the individual's perceptions of events in his/her life as the result of his/her own actions (internal control), or the consequences of such forces as fate, luck, or powerful others (external control).;The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between principals' extent of participation in budgeting, locus of control, and job satisfaction. Subjects were 191 K-12 Virginia principals from a stratified random sample of 250 who responded to a 4-part mail survey consisting of a Budgeting Participation Questionnaire, Rotter's I-E Scale, the short form of the Minnesota Satisfaction (MSQ) Questionnaire, and a demographics section.;The evidence garnered from factor analysis and multiple regression analysis in this investigation supported the following conclusions: (1) that there were no relationships found in the level of job satisfaction due to the interaction of locus of control and extent of budget participation; (2) decision influence was the only budget-related variable found to have a statistically significant relationship to job satisfaction; (3) locus of control was also found to have a statistically significant relationship to job satisfaction.;The practical significance of the findings is that only the two variables associated with how a person feels about his/her ability to influence outcomes (decision influence and locus of control) were the ones which related to job satisfaction. Perceptions and beliefs may account more for how satisfied a person is than job facets. In order to confirm this, it is recommended that future researchers should replicate this study by substituting other job facets (in place of budgeting participation) which may be deemed critical to the performance of school principals.

Since the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983, educational theorists and practitioners have begun to reevaluate the business of schooling in America. In Virginia, the Department of Education has instituted World Class Education (WCE), Common Core of Learning, and Outcome Accountability Project (OAP) initiatives in producing an educational system on par with systems internationally by developing curricula based upon perceived twenty-first century needs and by measuring school and division productivity based on student outcomes. It is likely that innovative school scheduling practices will play a critical role as school districts and individual schools begin to restructure their programs within the framework of these initiatives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between scheduling practices and selected Outcome Accountability Project indicators in Virginia high schools. Subjects were 212 high school principals from a total of 265 high school principals in Virginia who responded to a mail survey consisting of a Scheduling Practices Questionnaire.;The evidence attained from a simple analysis of variance in this investigation supported the conclusions that there were no relationships found to exist between scheduling type and the four OAP indicators. Additionally, descriptive data revealed that since 1983 a large majority (83%) of respondents reported changes in their school schedule and that a significant number (33%) of principals reported that consideration is being given to future changes in schedule type. While it was not the primary intent of this study to investigate the relationship between location-specific factors and scheduling type, principals reported that two factors (school bus schedules and school board regulations) were deemed to be important influences on schedule development.;The practical significance of the findings is that although there tends to be little variation in present scheduling type in Virginia, there is an interest expressed by principals to change schedule type in the future. For this reason, though no relationship can presently be seen between scheduling type and student productivity, future changes may affect that finding. Also, the high rate of return and high rate of request for results of the study indicate a high degree of interest by principals in the scheduling topic.