Relationship between Personal Characteristics of School Board Members and Importance Assigned to Educational Problems

Purpose. The purpose of the study was to determine whether there were statistically significant relationships between selected personal characteristics of school board members of the First Development District of Tennessee and the relative importance those board members assigned to selected problem areas in education. Interrelationships were tested among ten dependent variables and thirteen independent variables. Methods and Procedures. The data were collected through the use of a two-part instrument sent to eighty-eight board members of the First District. Part I collected data on personal characteristics of board members; Part II identified the relative importance board members assigned to the selected educational problem areas. The thirteen personal characteristics were identified as: sex, age, race, level of formal education, marital status, occupation, gross annual family income, children enrolled in public elementary or secondary schools, political preference, number of years as a resident of the school district, number of years served as a school board member, and election or appointment to the school board. The ten selected problem areas in education were identified by the superintendents of the fourteen school systems of the First Development District. The ten topical areas were: collective bargaining, school and community relations, teacher performance and evaluation, reading and literacy, education for the world of work, educational financing and equality of educational opportunities, accountability and assessment, discipline and the constitutional rights of students, local control of education, and individualisation of instruction. The collected data were processed and analyzed for statistically significant relationships at the .05 level of confidence using chi square testing. Results of the Study. The following findings appeared to be justified by an analysis of the data: 1. A relationship existed between the personal characteristic of age of school board members and the rankings of the problem area of Education for the World of Work. 2. Relationships existed between the personal characteristic of age of school board members and the rankings of the problem area of Education for the World of Work. 3. Relationships existed between the personal characteristic of number of years of residence in the school district and the rankings of the problem areas of Collective Bargaining, Teacher Performance and Evaluation, Education for the World of Work, and Individualization of Instruction. 3. A relationship existed between the fact that school board members had children enrolled in the public elementary or secondary schools and the rankings of the problem area of Education for the World of Work. Summary. As a result of the study, the investigator concluded that, although significant statistical relationships were found between certain personal characteristics of First Development District school board members and the relative importance those board members assigned to selected educational problem areas, the composite rankings of the problem areas could not be predicted on the basis of the personal characteristics of the board members who ranked them