| dc.description.abstract | This study examined the influence administrators' values have on their
selection of certificated teaching personnel. It was a qualitative study consisting
of interviews, observations and document analysis to gather data from five
administrators from a large urban school district. The data were"-' restricted to the
administrators' experiences of opening new schools in this district.
The research centered ar.ound the general question, 'what influence do
values have on the teacher selection practices as reported by selected school
based administrators?'. The researcher began by identifying and categorizing
values noted by the administrators with the aid of an existing values matrix.
Once the categories were refined to better reflect the intentions of the
participants, they were then analyzed against the teacher selection process as
identified by the participants.
The research finding indicated that the administrators did not necessarily
use the same values in their selection process as they did in their daily decisionmaking
activities. In teacher selection, the values which held the most influence
were those from the social and political category, followed by basic human
values and general moral values. With respect to the process of teacher selection
as identified by the participants, value judgments could be found as influencing
their actions at every step.
An added benefit of this study was the reflective nature of the
participants. Throughout the data gathering, they were forthright in
acknowledging their value judgments and even began to apply them to their
current practices. The hope here is that this will improve the decision-making
practice of teacher selection thereby creating a more effective process. | en_US |
