Date of Award

Spring 2003

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership

First Advisor

Cathy Stockton

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among three independent variables: teacher attitudes about professional development, earning a master's degree, and teacher certification on School Performance Scores. Independent variables included teacher attitude about professional development, proportion of teachers with masters' degrees, and proportion of certified and uncertified teachers. The researcher used a correlational design to test the hypothesized relationships among these three independent variables and school and district School Performance Scores. A ten item self-report instrument was constructed to assess teacher attitudes about professional development in the school or district. This instrument, Teacher Perception of Professional Development Survey, generated ten item scores, a total score, and two factorially derived subscale scores. The dependent variable was the school or district School Performance Score. The research hypotheses were that each of the independent variables would show a direct positive relationship with School Performance Scores. The population for this study was a set of parishes in the Louisiana Mississippi River Delta. The sample for this study included all ten schools in the five school districts in selected rural delta parishes in Louisiana that included grades 9–12 and were socio-economically similar. Prior to gathering data, human use forms and participant consent forms were completed. Archival data were obtained from the schools concerning percentage of teachers with a master's degree and percentage of certified and uncertified teachers. Each research question was evaluated by either Chi-Square test of independence, Spearman rho, or by Pearson product moment correlation coefficients as appropriate. In addition, multiple linear regression tests were conducted. None of the null hypotheses were rejected following the analysis of the data.

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