Many community colleges have attracted a large number of "new students", defined as students with poor academic preparation. The recent influx of these students has brought new pressures to the community college. Many leaders feel that these students can succeed and educational quality can be maintained if the students are offered the proper programs by faculty who have proper attitudes and perspectives. Proper attitudes are generally described as student-centered or progressive rather than subject-centered or traditional. Coupled with this is an assumption that faculty goals must be congruent with institutional goals if both are to function well. / This study was designed to investigate the traditional/progressive perspectives of faculty in the community college, their perceptions of the goals that are emphasized and should be emphasized, and their perceived level of job satisfaction. A questionnaire was developed utilizing a modification of Kerlinger's ESVII to measure the progressive/traditional attitudes of the faculty. Items were also developed to measure faculty perceptions of transfer program goals and perceived levels of job satisfaction. / The full-time faculty teaching in the college transfer program of six public two year colleges participated in the survey. Three of the colleges were located in Northwest Florida and three in Southeastern Alabama. A total of 211 questionnaires were included in the final analysis. / Findings and Conclusions. The faculty were found to be more progressive in attitude than traditional. Traditionalism, however, was common. Respondents indicated considerable concern over the influx of "new students" and perceived their institutions as placing a great deal of emphasis on them. While the faculty were supportive of the open admission policies, they expressed a desire to see greater emphasis placed on maintaining quality and academic standards. They also expressed concern over the lack of emphasis they perceive their institutions placing on the academically talented student. / Mean score of the job satisfaction items indicated that the faculty were "somewhat" satisfied. They were especially satisfied with the kind of work they do and the amount of responsibility it entails. They were least satisfied with their salary and the policies and practices of their institutions. Alabama faculty were considerably more satisfied with their salary than were the Florida respondents. Florida faculty, however, were more satisfied with their job security than were the Alabama respondents. Progressive faculty scored higher on the satisfaction scale than did traditional; the difference, however, was not found to be statistically significant. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-03, Section: A, page: 1028. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74446 |
| Contributors | RAMSEY, JUNE KILLINGER., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 103 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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