Criteria for teacher selection : a comparative study

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to determine if the information important in the selection of teaching personnel for the public school systems in the State of Louisiana was important in the selection of teaching personnel for public schools in the State of Texas. This study provided comparisons between the responses of the 66 personnel directors of the 1972 May and Doerge study in Louisiana and personnel directors or superintendents of the 46 county-wide school districts of Texas. The following categories of information related to teacher selection were considered: (1) family background; (2) personal criteria; (3) academic criteria, general and professional; (4) results of examinations; (5) experience related to teaching; (6) experience unrelated to teaching; (7) job requirements; and (8) professional opinions. The Louisiana personnel directors and the Texas county-wide superintendents disagreed as to the importance of only 21 of the 71 informational items. Of the 21 items where a difference of opinion existed, three were significant at the .05 level and 11 were significant at the .01 level. The Louisiana personnel directors and Texas county-wide superintendents considered seven items to be very important, 12 items to be of little importance to important, and five items to be of no importance to of little importance in the selection of teaching personnel. One category of information was considered very important to essential, three categories of information were considered to be important to very important, and one category was considered to be of little importance to important by both groups. A difference of opinion as to the importance of three categories was found to exist..