An Exploration of Emotional Intelligence Scores among Students in Educational Administration Endorsement Programs.

The purpose of this study was to explore the emotional intelligence scores of students in educational administration endorsement programs. The relationship between the length of time in an educational endorsement program and emotional intelligence scores was examined. Relationships with other factors were also examined. The respondents were students in educational administration endorsement at three east Tennessee universities. A total of 85 students participated in the study. Basic frequency based analyses were calculated to identify any relationships between variables. A literature review gave an explanation of emotional intelligence and examined the historical development of emotional intelligence. The existing literature concerning the evolvement of emotion as an intelligence and its connection to leadership was also reviewed. The study\u27s investigation of the relationship between students\u27 emotional intelligence scores and their amount of time in an administration endorsement program could assist instructors to design programs to address weaknesses evident at a certain level. Specifically, universities with administrative endorsement programs could measure their students\u27 initial levels of emotional intelligence at the beginning of their studies, seek to address areas identified as low in relation to others, and measure again at the conclusion of the program. This would enable them to gauge the extent to which the students\u27 emotional intelligence had been enhanced. Although there were no statistically significant findings, the following observations were made. The study found that the students who had been enrolled the longest in an administrative endorsement program had the majority of their scores in the low category of the emotional intelligence aggregate and several cluster scores. Older students had a greater percentage of scores in the medium and high categories for social skills and aggregate emotional intelligence when compared with younger students. A greater percentage of males scored in the low category for aggregate emotional intelligence than females. Finally, students with 1 or more years of administrative experience had a greater number of their scores in the medium category of self-awareness, while students with no years of administrative experience had a majority of scores in the low category