The study sought to investigate religious practice as perceived by Florida public school principals and principals' attitudes toward religious practice in Florida public schools. / A literature search including an analysis of court cases relating to religion and the public schools was conducted. The literature search focused on federal court decisions that defined the role of religion in the public school arena. Court cases suggested a continued activism by religious groups to influence public education via the federal courts. The literature search revealed that prayer and Bible reading in public school, religious ceremonies at graduation and baccalaureate celebrations, religious studies in the public school curriculum (including creation science), and recognition of religious clubs during activity periods were areas of concern. / A survey of elementary, middle, and secondary public school principals in Florida was conducted to assess perceived religious practice, actual practice, and principals' attitudes toward religious practice in Florida public schools. The survey was based on a previous study of religious practice in American public schools, and modified to reflect the perceptions of building unit administrators. This study utilized a stratified, random sample of school principals, chosen to insure representativeness of selected demographic variables associated with the State of Florida and school type and size. / The study found that 45.6 percent of responding principals allow the practice of silent meditation in their schools. Spoken prayer is more likely to occur at the high school level and least likely to occur at the middle school level. Over forty percent of the high school principals reported that religious clubs, devotional groups, or Bible study groups meet in their schools. Only thirteen percent of these principals reported that these religious clubs met with other non-curricular clubs. The distribution of religious literature is primarily an elementary school phenomenon. Over half of the responding principals reported that prayer and Bible reading were part of the graduation ceremonies in their districts. There is a correlation between responding principals' attitudes toward religious practice and the practice of spoken prayer in their schools and the distribution of religious literature. There is no relationship between principals' attitudes toward religious practice and the practice of allowing devotional Bible reading in public schools or permitting the practice of silent meditation. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-12, Section: A, page: 3806. / Major Professor: Joseph Beckham. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78113 |
| Contributors | Grandstaff, Thomas Jeff., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 231 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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