THE EFFECTS OF PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP, SALARY, BENEFITS, AND TEACHER INPUT ON ELEMETARY AND SECONDARY TEACHER MORALE

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to compare the morale and overall jobsatisfaction between elementary (grades K-6) and secondary (grades 7-12) teachers in theOlathe Unified School District #233. Teacher morale was measured by the affect thefollowing four variables have on teacher attitudes: principal leadership, salary, benefits,and teacher input.For this study, the researcher used the Baldrige Climate Survey as the instrumentto measure teacher morale. The survey was offered during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007school years to all certified elementary and secondary teachers. During the 2005-2006school year, 518 of the 940 elementary teachers (55%) and 353 of the 856 secondaryteachers (41%) took the voluntary survey. In 2006-2007, 750 of the 952 elementaryteachers (78%) and 555 of the 897 secondary teachers (62%) took the survey. The study compared elementary responses to secondary responses in fivecategories: overall job satisfaction, principal leadership, salary, benefits, and teacherinput. Overall job satisfaction, salary, and benefits were all scored based on response to asingle question from the survey. Principal leadership (5 questions) and teacher input (4questions) were combined and averaged for a single score for each of the two categories.A t-test for independent means was used to determine if significant differences existedbetween elementary and secondary teacher morale in each of the five categories.The results of this study indicated no difference in overall job satisfaction in2005-2006 (t=-.388); however, a significant difference between elementary andsecondary overall job satisfaction was shown (t=3.303) in 2006-2007. Principalleadership showed significant differences in 2005-2006 (t=3.38) and in 2006-2007 (t=5.4). Teacher salary showed no significant difference in elementary and secondaryteacher morale in 2005-2006 (t=1.590) and 2006-2007 (t=1.18). Teacher benefitsshowed no significant difference in 2005-2006 (t=.388) and in 2006-2007 (t=.884).Teacher morale based on benefits showed significant differences in 2005-2006 (t=5.964)and in 2006-2007 (t=5.511).