Date of Award

Spring 1998

Project Type

Dissertation

Program or Major

Education

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

First Advisor

Grant L Cioffi

Abstract

This study examined the perceptions of New Hampshire teachers and supervisors regarding teacher present and ideal systems for teacher supervision. Teacher supervision was defined as being inclusive of district practices which promote teacher growth and development and those which are used to make evaluative judgments about teachers' performance. The study sample included 73 supervisors and 305 teachers randomly selected from 45 school districts. The sample districts were selected using a stratified random sampling process in which the stratification variables were district wealth as reflected in the district's equalized valuation per pupil and geographic region.

Data were collected through the use of two matched surveys, one for supervisors and one for teachers. The surveys contained 37 Likert scale items and 3 open-response questions designed to measure participants perceptions regarding the structural (practices) and cultural (characteristics) and effectiveness of their present teacher supervision system and those of a system they would consider ideal.

Data from the survey were segregated first into three sub-divisions--items relating to the structural dimension, items relating to the cultural dimension, and items regarding effectiveness. Within each of the dimensions, data were further sorted by role (supervisor, teacher) and by scale (present, ideal) into four subscales. Effectiveness data were sorted by role into two subscales. Differences between supervisors and teachers on the present and ideal scales of the structural and cultural dimensions were evaluated using a repeated measures ANOVA and t-test. The analysis revealed a significant difference between supervisors and teachers on present scales but not on the ideal scales. A one-way ANOVA was used to examine differences between supervisors and teachers regarding teacher supervision system effectiveness. Supervisors and teachers again differed significantly at the $p<.01$ level on the present scale but not on the ideal scale.

These results suggest that New Hampshire supervisors and teachers share a common perception of the practices and characteristic of an ideal teacher supervision system, but differ in their perceptions of their present teacher supervision systems. Supervisors perceived their present systems as being more reflective of the ideal and more effective in achieving its intended purposes. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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