Toby J. Tetenbaum

The Role of Student Needs and Teacher Orientations in Student Ratings of Teachers

This research addressed itself to the issue of the validity of student ratings of teachers, viewing the act of rating as an instance of person perception in which students’ needs were held to affect their perception of teachers. It was hypothesized that specified student needs would be related to ratings of specific teacher orientations congruent with those needs. Four hundred five graduate students completed the Personality Research Form and rated 12 teachers as portrayed in vignettes. The hypothesis was tested using canonical correlation analysis. Results indicated that the first three canonical sets were significant (p < .01) and that, in spite of some overlap within these sets, congruence between needs and ratings was obtained.

Problem Solving and Personality Characteristics Related to Differing Levels of Intelligence and Ideational Fluency.

Abstract Eighty intellectually gifted fourth, fifth, and sixth graders were given divergent thinking and problem solving tasks and measures of tolerance for ambiguity, locus of control, and self-esteem. Four comparison groups included: (1) higher fluency and higher IQ; (2) higher fluency but lower IQ; (3) lower fluency but higher IQ; and (4) lower fluency and lower IQ. Higher-fluency children were more tolerant of ambiguity, internally oriented, positive in self-esteem, and better problem solvers and school achievers. In agreement with several writers, these results emphasize the consistency which can be found among the cognitive and affective dimensions associated with divergent or creative thinking.

The Role of Affective Traits in the Creative and Problem-Solving Performance of Gifted Urban Children.

Problem-solving and creativity measures were administered to 127 gifted New York City school children from grades 4–6, in an attempt to relate these cognitive variables to the affective traits of locus of control, self-esteem, and tolerance of ambiguity. A canonical correlation analysis indicated one significant canonical set (p <.05) in which 46% of the variability in a set of cognitive measures was explained by a set of affective measures. A factor analysis was performed on the creativity and problem-solving tasks, with two factors emerging: Fluency and Rearrangement. Factor scores were used to analyze sex and grade differences. Sex differences on the cognitive tasks were consistent with those reported in the literature. No sex differences were obtained on the affective tasks. Grade 4 students differed significantly from grade 6 students on the Rearrangement factor only. On the affective tasks, grade 4 students differed from both grade 5 and grade 6 students only on tolerance of ambiguity. Results were discussed in terms of the importance of affective personality traits in the creative and problem-solving process.

Teaching and Learning in Knowledge Organisations: Implications for the Preparation of School Administrators

A model is presented for the preparation of educational administrators that is in keeping with the needs and demands of a changing society. Beginning with a discussion of recruitment and selection, the structures, curriculum and instructional modes desirable in a programme that is compatible with the needs of the twenty‐first century are described. The model emphasises a field‐based programme in which theory and practice are integrated through a hierarchically structured problem‐solving approach to learning. Paid internships and sabbaticals for professional renewal are recommended. Commitment by universities, schools and individuals entering into and practising the profession of educational administration is called for.

The Construct Validation of an Attitudes toward Working Mothers Scale.

The consistent growth in the number of women entering the labor force and the need for research pertaining specifically to attitudes toward women working led to the development and validation of the Attitude Toward Working Mothers Scale (AWM). A 45-item Likert-type measure was developed and administered to 526 graduate students. Factor analyses demonstrated the scale was unidimensional. The scale was reduced to 32 items having high internal consistency (coefficient alpha = .95). Known-groups, discriminant, and experimental approaches to validity, all provided support for the scales validity. Administration of the AWM Scale to educationally and vocationally disparate groups indicated the scale could be used with diverse populations.

Creative Thinking in Gifted Elementary School Children

A varietyof creatine thinking and problem solving tasks were administered to 233 intellectually gifted second through sixth graders at a special school for the gifted in New York City. The tasks were selected to represent conceptual stages of a total creative problem sloving model Intelligence. achievement, and personality data were also gathered. Findings indicated interesting patterns of growth in creative problem .solving abilities. On the creative thinking tasks a plateau in performance appeared from the fourth grade on, but on the problem solning tasks, growth continued through the sixth grade. Individual variation within the sets of creative thinking and prohlem solving tasks was great, suggesting the need for creativity and problem solving skills training for the gifted.

Affective Correlates in the Problem-Solving Process.

Summary Seventy-two Black and Hispanic fourth- through sixth-graders completed a variety of problem-solving tasks emphasizing skills of preparation, production, and judgment. With reading achievement controlled within the sample, it appeared that these three sets of skills within the problem-solving process involved evaluative activity and that the variables of locus of control and, to a lesser extent, self-esteem, were significantly related to problem-solving performance. Results were discussed in terms of the usefulness of designing instruction which will complement the development of cognitive skills with reinforcement of various affective characteristics.

The Factor Invariance of Student Ratings of Instruction Under Three Sets of Directions.

This research addressed itself to the issue of the validity of student ratings of instruction, describing and comparing the factor patterns obtained under three different sets of directions. Graduate education students (n=414) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: administrator use, instructor use, and student use. Subjects in each condition received a different cover letter which explained the purported use to which their ratings were to be put and which asked them to rate their course and instructor on a 33-item rating scale. Data were factor analyzed using principal-axes factor method followed by an oblique transformation. The factor patterns obtained were then compared using the coefficient of congruence. While two clusters (organization/structure and rapport/interaction) emerged across all three conditions, a third cluster appeared which was unique to each condition. The coefficients of congruence obtained generally indicated that the factors could not be considered invariant across the three conditions.

Assessment of educational personnel in the twenty-first century

It is increasingly apparent that the Western world is moving from an industrialized base to one which is knowledge-based. Smoke stack industries that called for precision, reliability, and efficiency are rapidly being replaced by new high technology industries that call for knowledge, service, information, and communication. The speed and intensity of the shift in the demands of the work world have already sent shock waves through the educational system. (Witness the spate of critical reports in 1983 followed by waves one and two of the reform movement.) It is clear that as schools grapple with the evolution of a new mission appropriate to the twenty-first century, managers will need to redefine their goals and the evaluation procedures they use to assess the accomplishment of these goals. Future expectations for teachers may be expected to vary dramatically from what we have traditionally known, with corresponding changes called for in our concepts of teacher effectiveness. To begin to reconceptualize assessment for the twenty-first century, we first need to understand the different demands of the two work worlds and their link to education.