UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date:___________________ I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in: It is entitled: This work and its defense approved by: Chair: _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ Teacher Job Satisfaction in Kentucky: The Impact of Accountability, Principals, and Students A dissertation submitted to the Division of Research and Advance Study of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D.) In the Department of Educational Studies of the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services 2007 by Rachel Elizabeth Noll B.A. Secondary Education, Northern Kentucky University, 1995 M.A. Secondary Education, Northern Kentucky University, 2001 Committee Chair: Annette Hemmings, Ph.D. Abstract The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze job satisfaction and the impact accountability, principals, and students have on high school teachers in two Kentucky school districts. The study explored how teachers fulfilled intrinsic needs, such as achievement, recognition and the work itself, while dealing with the demands of heavy-handed governmental bureaucracy and fostering relationships with principals and students. This qualitative study used observations from field notes, classroom maps, teacher artifacts, and participant responses to interview questions to gather data. Individual, semi- structured interviews were based on open-ended questions and allowances were made to assist in the collection of additional data important to the study. Findings of the study showed that the relationship teachers had with principals and students was a major factor in determining job satisfaction. While teachers mostly criticized accountability measures such as Kentucky’s CATS testing and No Child Left Behind, they contended that the positive relationships they developed with principals and students mitigated the extent to which accountability measures impacted their job satisfaction. iv Acknowledgements To my parents Lou and Pat Noll: Thank you for all your love, support, and financial assistance in helping me make my dream become a reality. You instilled in me the notion of what education was all about by encouraging me to explore liberal arts education and pursue the “well-lived” life. To my brothers and sisters Tony, Laurie, Lisa, Lynne, Patrick, Sean, Regina, Adam, and Sarah: I could not have asked for better friends. You always told me I could do it and you were there for me in my darkest hours before the dawn of day arrived in the form of graduate school. Thanks for all the times you fed me, lent me money, did my laundry, and told me to finish my degree so that I could get a “real job.” To my advisor Dr. Annette Hemmings: Boss, thank you for being the perfect fit and allowing me to grow in my own time and on my own terms. Your light, guiding hand was the touch I needed to navigate this journey. To my committee members: Thank you for taking this journey with me. Your encouragement, guidance, support and sharing of yourselves has made the trip all that more enjoyable. Last, but not least, to the “Club” girls: Wow, ten years has flown by! It seemed like yesterday that we all met at Scott High School as teachers and now, we all meet as friends. Thanks for being there for me in my darkest hours, listening to me complain about classes and papers I had to write, and, most importantly, nurturing my soul as only friends can do. v Table of Contents Abstract iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents 1 Chapter I: Introduction 3 Reflexivity 3 Statement of the Problem 6 Research Question 7 Chapter II: Review of Related Literature 8 Job Satisfaction 8 National and State Legislation 12 The Teacher – Principal Relationship 21 The Teacher – Student Relationship 24 Chapter III: Methodology 30 Overview 30 Design of the Study 31 The Role of the Researcher 32 Participants 33 Data Collection 35 Data Analysis 36 Limitations of the Study 36 Chapter IV: Narrative of Findings 37 The Hands That Tie, Bind and Gag: The Realities of Accountability 37 Authentic Learning 37 Utopia and Lack of Student Accountability 42 They Walk the Line 46 Principals to the Rescue 48 Transformational Leaders 48 They Make It Personal 49 No One Puts My Teachers in the Corner 54 The Disrespect of a Nation 56 A Job Well Done 57 Students – The Good, the Bad and the Children They Never Had 58 The Risk-Reward Factor 58 Care and Concern in Many Forms 60 Is the Joke on Me or You? 64 High Maintenance 67 The Rainbow Connection 74 Chapter V: Conclusions 80 Teacher Satisfaction and Accountability 80 1 Principals Matter 82 Students and the Real World 84 Contributions to the Literature 86 References 89 Appendix A Individual Participant Consent Form 96 Appendix B Interview Question Guide 98 2 CHAPTER I Introduction Reflexivity I chose to research the question of teacher job satisfaction and the impact of government policy on teacher relations with principals and students because it has affected me personally as a teacher and a researcher. I have felt the power of state government educational policy directly as a teacher. Being a teacher in the state of Kentucky meant complying with the guidelines of the Kentucky Education Reform Act, commonly referred to as KERA. My first teaching position was a direct result of KERA. In order for students to pass the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, or CATS, in Social Studies, the students needed civics and geography information most schools would not teach until the senior year. Therefore, a Humanities class was created to teach the information on the test and I was hired to teach the class to sophomores. The only reason I had a job that year was because of the state assessment testing. Along with “teaching to the test,” I was also required to create at least one assignment per quarter that students could use for their writing portfolio, which was mandatory for every student to have in order to receive a diploma from the state. Another requirement in my job was to stay after school for two days in April and score the writing portfolios of seniors in our building. I was sent to a state training seminar in October where I was told the philosophy behind having students create portfolios (to show a progression of their work from freshman to senior year) and the basics of how to score portfolios properly. As I sat in the library in April with fifteen other faculty members and was handed the state assessment rubric for scoring, I became 3 disgusted. The basic philosophy I was presented in October did not match the scoring rubric I had in front of me. It did not make any sense to me. It did not take into account the progression of the student as a writer in voice, content, or mechanics. Every piece in the portfolio had to be perfect or close to it in order for the student to achieve the highest rating of “Distinguished.” I dutifully and responsibly scored each portfolio based on the state’s rubric while in my mind I was thinking, “I am going to lose my job because the state cannot make up its mind what it would like students to do.” For the rest of the year I became a more defensive teacher, making sure that students achieved the standards set on the state rubric, even if it meant having them rewrite it several times. It took the fun out of the assignment but it was one way to ensure I would keep my job. My time in Kentucky public schools was short-lived. I saw KERA as a system that punished good teachers by drowning them in senseless paperwork (lesson plans that were based on “learner outcomes” and objectives designated by the state as essential) and robbing them of important classroom time by testing students for two weeks, not to mention the “practice” time that was given before the test (our school actually bused the students to a different school where they could “concentrate” on the “practice” days). I came to see the state education system as “Big Brother,” bureaucrats who descended on teachers with clipboards and pages of lists with items to check off (Timar, 1997, p.251). They had no interest in my job satisfaction. For most of my career I taught in a parochial school in Kentucky, which was not required to participate in CATS testing and did not have to follow learner outcomes. I felt “free” to do my work as a teacher there. I was not forced to assign portfolio pieces to my 4 students, even though I did give them as an assignment. I called them what they were – defend a position essays, fact-finding stories, or material for debate. I was allowed to teach or explore any subject I wanted, within the guidelines of the particular course I was teaching. I could spend two weeks of class time having students create a newspaper that might have been published in the North or the South during the Civil War. The measurement of my success was not based on students passing a standardized test but rather on whether students were prepared to enter the AP classes and how well they did in my subject areas when they got to college. Sally Wassermann (2001) summed up my feelings best in an article from Phi Delta Kappan: “. for it is the professional teacher who really is in the best position to know, from multiple observations, in multiple contexts, how a student is actually performing and what kinds of assessment tools might be used to find out how better to help him or her” (p.36).