An analysis of the background profiles and self-assessed effectiveness of Oklahoma public secondary school administrators by race and gender.

Abstract

Statistically significant differences at the .05 level were found in the comparisons for the demographic characteristics of: marital status, number of children, undergraduate majors, previous work experience in education, reason for becoming an administrator, perception of contributing factors to being hired as an administrator, perception of constraints on being hired as an administrator, professional career objectives, number of years as an administrator, and size of the district where employed.

Reliability of the self-assessment instrument was established by having 35, 17 percent, of the respondents complete a second effectiveness questionnaire approximately four weeks after the original completion. A composite reliability of .581 (Pearson r) was found.

No statistically significant differences were found for the demographic characteristics of: highest degree or hours attained, years as a classroom teacher, current age, and age at first administrative appointment. It must be carefully noted that no statistically significant difference was found for the self-assessment of effectiveness.

The instruments were mailed to a random sample of 121 white male secondary administrators and to 121 white female, minority male, and minority female secondary administrators, who were employed in administrative positions for the 1979-1980 school year in the state of Oklahoma. Of the 242 persons to whom the questionnaires were mailed, responses were received from 217, or 90 percent. Usable questionnaires totaled 207, with 99 white males, 41 white females, 59 minority males, and 8 minority females as the respondents.

This study was designed to determine and analyze the background profiles and self-assessed effectiveness of public secondary school administrators in Oklahoma by race and gender. Two instruments, the Demographic Data Questionnaire and the Self-Assessment of Effectiveness Questionnaire, were designed for use in the study.

From the data, the average administrator was 42 years of age, was married, had two children, had served 11 years as a classroom teacher and 7 years as an administrator, had additional work beyond the Master's degree, saw the main reason for becoming an administrator as career advancement, viewed experience as the contributing factor to being employed as an administrator, perceived no constraints on employment opportunities, and planned to remain in the educational field for the next ten years.

The study concluded: (1) self-perception of effectiveness was not influenced significantly by either race or gender; (2) the women in the study perceived their sex as more of a constraint on their being employed as an administrator than minority members viewed their race as a constraint; and (3) when significant differences were found in demographic characteristics, gender, and not race, was the contributing variable.