The impact of selected teacher variables and school climate on the academic achievement in reading and mathematics of at-risk students, 1989
Davis, Tiny G.
1989-12-01
1980-1989
This study investigated relationships and differences among the independent variables�the teacher's locus of control, teacher's expectations of students, teacher's job satisfaction, teacher's knowledge of the at-risk low-income students, the school's climate, and teacher's biographical data-the effect these variables have on the dependent variables which are the achievement scores in reading and math. Participants in this study (N=47) involved first-grade teachers from a stratified population of teachers who taught at schools where at least 90% of the children were from low-income families in a large urban school system. To secure data for the variables all teachers responded to two instruments, Brookover's School Learning Climate Assessment and the researcher's original questionnaire, entitled The Locus of Control, Expectations and Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. The design that was used for this research was inferential statistics which included the use of descriptive statistics, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation, and a nonparametric Chi square analysis (Kruskal-Wallis test). The .05 level was used to test the null hypotheses. The major findings of this study were: (a) there is a relationship among the student's achievement in reading, on the one hand, and the teacher's locus of control, teacher's expectations, and teacher's knowledge of the at-risk low-income student, on the other; (b) there is a relationship between the student's achievement in math and the teacher's knowledge of the at-risk low-income student; (c) there is no relationship between reading achievement and the independent variables of job satisfaction and school climate; (d) differences in teacher's biographical data made no differences in their students' reading and math achievement; (e) there is no relationship between the teacher variables and school climate; and (0 inverse relationships exist between the dependent variables and the independent variables of teacher's knowledge and school climate. Based on these findings, the following recommendations were made: (a) more research is needed in the area of locus of control as it pertains to student achievement; and (b) staff development activities should be provided for administrators to increase their understanding of what factors are essential for teachers to effectively teach at-risk low- income students.
text
application/pdf
dissertation
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Clark Atlanta University
Department of Educational Leadership
Bradley, Phillip
Georgia--Atlanta
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1989_davis_tiny_g
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
