0.3 Cook, l. (october 2011). will a twenty percent salary bonus  (Page 4/9)

Method

Participants

The 61 participants from the first year of our l0-year longitudinal study were invited to continue their participation in the second year via an email invitation, a letter of explanation for the new, one-page survey, and a self-addressed and stamped envelope. The letter thanked them for their continuing participation, emphasized the importance of their willingness to give back to the profession of educational administration, and explained how they were helping to improve in a significant way the preparation of school administrators at their university and in the

educational administration profession. A second letter of invitation and survey instrument were sent four weeks later to first-year participants who had not returned the survey from the first mailing. In the end 55 PLCs returned the second-year survey.

Instrument

The survey instrument used for the second year of the 10-year study was developed by the department chair after discussions with EDAD faculty, EDAD students currently enrolled in the principal preparation program and in the superintendent licensure program, and after considerable reflection by the chair related to discussions with administrators from remote rural and urban districts challenged by very low student achievement and often accompanied by chronic poverty. Participant responses were recorded using a five-point Likert scale, with Strongly Disagree corresponding to the number 1, Disagree corresponding to 2, Neutral a 3, Agree a 4, and ending with Strongly Agree being a 5. Space was also included for participants to provide narrative reactions.

Findings

Although not statistically significant, in total PLCs agreed ever so slightly with the statement that, given a 20 percent salary bonus, they would agree to serve as a principal in a low-performing building for at least four years, as evidenced by the mean score of 3.05 for the 55 participants (1 was Strongly Disagree and 5 was Strongly Agree). See Table 1. However, analyses of subsets from the sample, including ANOVA tests for interaction effects, provided several interesting findings related to the research questions.

Research questions

1. Does an incentive of at least 20 percent above the principal salary motivate Principal License Completers (PLCs) to accept a position in a high-needs, low-performing building for a minimum of four (4) years?

Using a Likert scale with Strongly Disagree being a “1” and Strongly Agree being a “5,” PLCs mean score was 3.05, very slightly on the “Agree” side of the Neutral score of 3 on the Likert scale. At this stage of their career, where 32 of the 55 participants are still teaching and 23 are in the first few years of a principalship, PLCs as a group could neither agree nor disagree that they would take a principalship in a low-performing building. See Table 1.