Selection of Secondary School Teachers: Perceptions of School Adminstrators Concerning Criteria, Procedures, and Problems

Tills study of secondary teacher selection ascertained which selection criteria administrators regarded as important and which criteria were used, ascertained which procedures administrators regarded as important and which procedures were used, and ascertained which problems administrators encountered in selecting secondary teachers. An Analysis of Variance procedure was conducted to ascertain whether differences existed in administrators\u27 perceptions related to the size of school, to the location of the school, and to administrative role. Data were collected by securing responses to a questionnaire mailed to a stratified (by enrollment size) random sample of 768 public school administrators in North Dakota, South Dakota, and northwestern Minnesota. Demographic questions were included. The most valued criteria were ability to relate to students and ability to get along with others, while the most utilized criteria were ability to relate to students and ability to control students. The most valued procedures were phone call to previous employer and principals involved in interview, while the most utilized procedures were personal references and letter of application. The highest ranked problems were inadequate salary or benefits and too few good applicants. The demographic differences were analyzed by examining clusters of similar items. A numDer of significant differences were found between different-sized schools regarding which criteria clusters and procedures clusters were regarded as important and reportedly used. Larger schools placed more value and reported greater utilization in all the criteria clusters and almost all of the procedures clusters. Problems clusters grew in seriousness as the size of the school decreased. No differences were found between variously located schools regarding which criteria clusters and procedures clusters were regarded as important or reportedly used. The problems clusters grew in seriousness as the distance of the school from a community of 25,GOO increased. Superintendents placed greater value on and reported higher utilization of all criteria clusters than did secondary principals. Superintendents placed more emphasis on the procedures clusters of examinations and background, while secondary principals placed greater value on interviews. There were no significant differences between superintendents and principals regarding the perceived seriousness of the various problems clusters