The teacher selection process as perceived by public school administrators in the state of Tennessee

The purpose of this study was to provide a data base for making pertinent decisions concerning the teacher selection process in the State of Tennessee. A secondary purpose was to validate the findings with the expert opinions of a national panel of experts.

The study was descriptive research. A mail questionnaire was sent to 145 superintendents and principals in Tennessee. One hundred nine superintendents and 225 principals returned usable questionnaires. The questionnaire was pilot tested for content and face validity; the Spearman-Brown split-half Alpha reliability coefficient was 0.86422.

The Delphi technique was used-to validate the criteria of the Tennessee teacher selection process by a national panel of experts comprised of ten members. Four criterion statements were elicited from the literature and organized in the following categories; Purposes of Teacher Selection, Personnel Involved in Teacher Selection, the Individual with Primary Responsibilities for Selection, and Essential Criteria to Use in Collecting Data on Applicants.

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Program was used for data analysis. Frequencies, adjusted percentages, and total percentages were computed for the criteria. Chi square and one-way analysis of variance tests were computed to determine significant differences at the .05 level. A mean of 5.000 was established for the reference groups as indicating agreement with the panel of experts for modal responses for a teacher selection process.

Major findings of the study were:

1. The Tennessee superintendents and principals significantly differed in their perceptions of the purposes of teacher selection.

2. The Tennessee superintendents and principals significantly differed in their perceptions of the criteria used for teacher selection.

3. No significant differences were found in the perceptions of superintendents and principals from school systems of varying sizes in the design, attitude, and outcome of the teacher selection process.

4. The mean scores of the Tennessee superintendents and principals indicated a low level of agreement with the panel of experts on purposes of teacher selection and who should be involved in the selection process. The mean scores of the reference groups indicated a high level of agreement on essential criteria used for teacher selection.

Tennessee superintendents and principals should utilize the criteria validated by a national panel of experts for teacher selection in order to develop a systematic selection process for local school districts.