An examination of teachers\u27 perceptions of district staff development programs and their relationship to perceptions of district quality management

摘要

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships and differences between teachers\u27 perceptions of their district staff development programs and perceived levels of overall quality improvement efforts in those districts. Following an extensive review of the literature, two instruments were developed and validated. The first instrument was based on the Malcolm Baldrige Award\u27s seven dimensions of district quality. Respondents were asked to indicate the current and ideal situations for each of the items. The second instrument, based on effective district staff development programs, elicited perceptions on the scope and quality of staff development in the districts;The population selected for the study consisted of 44 Iowa school districts that volunteered to participate. The districts were representative of the state in size and geographic distribution. The quality management instrument was delivered to each district with instructions that it be completed by the superintendent, all board members, two administrators, five teachers, three support personnel, and two high school students. Out of a total of 720 possible respondents, 471 (65.4%) surveys were returned. Four districts had very low returns so were removed from the study, leaving 40 districts for analysis. The staff development instrument was given to six teachers in each district (different from those filling out the quality management instrument), randomly selected, and 196 (79.55%) were returned;Means were computed and analyzed for perceptions of the current and ideal situations of quality management for each district. A quality effectiveness index (ratio) was calculated and means were computed for district perceptions of staff development effectiveness. A number of analyses were then performed to determine relationships and differences in the perceptions on the dimensions investigated;The findings of the study revealed that the quality of staff development programs was related to perceived district quality over 50 percent of the time, suggesting that effective staff development programs may have an impact on the levels of quality management in the district.