Career patterns of female and male administrators in Oklahoma secondary public schools including administrative assistants to the superintendent and assistant superintendents.

Abstract

Two statistical tests were used to analyze the data, the chi square and the t-test. Analysis of the data led to the following conclusions: (1) That female administrators have more years of professional experience but fewer years of administrative experience than males. (2) Female applicants for administrative positions in public schools are asked unfair questions, while male applicants are not. (3) Employment opportunities in school administration are not clearly available to women. (4) The majority of male administrators held the position of coach prior to becoming an administrator. (5) Women seeking administrative positions are interviewed more often than males before securing a position.

A data gathering instrument was used in structured interviews to obtain information from the participants. The female administrative sample was compared to a matched group of male administrators.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if differences existed between and among career patterns of female and male secondary school administrators. The study was conducted with non-teaching secondary school administrators as identified by the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Research Division.