JOB SATISFACTION, DECISIONAL DISCREPANCY, ACADEMIC SOCIAL CLIMATE, AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SELECTED TITLE I ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

This study compared and examined teacher job satisfaction with respect to salary, student achievement and interpersonal relationships; teacher decisional participation at the local level with respect to student and staff personnel, curriculum, policy and school community relations; and the academic social climate of the school with respect to such feelings as motivation/futility, satisfaction/dissatisfaction, and evaluations and expectations held for students as perceived by teachers. In addition, this investigation examined sex, seniority in the school and seniority in the profession as they relate to the variables of job satisfaction, decisional participation and academic social climate in high and low achieving Title I elementary schools. Some major findings and conclusions were: (1) The teachers in the High Achievement Group perceived the academic social climate to be more positive than did the teachers in the Low Achievement Group and teacher feelings of futility were negatively associated with student achievement. (2) Concerning job satisfaction, the High Achievement Group showed more dissatisfaction with the item of salary level than the Low Achievement Group and the Low Group was more dissatisfied with student achievement and parent-teacher relationships than the High Group. (3) Relative to decisional participation the High Group showed more decisional deprivation, overall, and significantly more on curriculum selection and evaluation than the Low Group. (4) Regarding personal characteristics, female teachers were more satisfied with their job than males, they perceived the academic social climate to be more supportive, they had more continued experience in the current school, and they held higher expectations for student achievement than males. Some major recommendations were: (1) Practitioners should attempt to maximize the supportiveness of academic social climate and minimize negative decisional participation with the intention of creating academic social climate more conducive to the teaching-learning process. (2) Practitioners should attempt to increase satisfaction and to develop a more supportive academic social climate through processes of need fulfillment and organizational development. (3) Further research should be undertaken to determine to what extent teachers have been involuntarily transferred and what effects (if any) this has had on teacher perceptions of the academic social climate and job satisfaction