The Relationship Between Teachers' Stages of Concern about an Educational Innovation and Their Principals' Administrative Styles

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between administrative styles and teachers' Stages of Concern (SoC) about an educational innovation. This dissertation examined differences in mean scores on the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) for elementary teachers implementing an elementary art program. The independent variable in this study was the administrative style of the second change facilitator, the elementary principal. The data were analyzed using MANOVA, post hoc AN0VA and Scheffe Tests. Analysis of variance was used to identify differences in the mean scores of the seven stages of concern among the teachers under the different administrative styles. The study was conducted in 17 elementary schools in a suburban school district in a midwestern state. Two hundred and thirty-four elementary teachers completed the SoCQ, one of three diagnostic dimensions of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model. The SoCQ measures seven stages of concern about the implementation of an innovation. A second instrument, the Administrative Style Questionnaire (ASQ), was completed by the teachers. The results from the ASQ were used to divide the principals into three categories of administrative style: responder, manager, and initiator. These categories served as the three levels of the independent variable. Analyses were performed on the SoCQ and ASQ. Analysis of the simple effects for this grouping showed a statistically significant difference on one (refocusing) teacher stage of concern. Subsequent post hoc analysis by a Scheffe Test did not identify a statistically significant difference between any of the administrative styles. The descriptive data resembled the profile of non-user for all three administrative styles.