Date of Award

2010

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

School Psychology

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study is to determine if there is a relationship between teacher personality traits and teachers' reported attitudes and behaviors towards family-school partnerships. A secondary purpose of this study was to: 1) explore how various teacher demographic impacted attitudes and practices towards partnership, 2) examine if a cultural match between teachers' and students' backgrounds impacts teachers' reported attitudes and practices, and 3) to compare the personality profile of teachers as measured by the Five Factor Model (FFM) to that of the general population.

The participants were 243 practicing teachers in the state of Illinois who completed an on-line survey that contained two partnership measures based on Epstein and Salina's School and Family Partnerships: Survey of Teachers of Elementary and Middle Grades (1993), a FFM personality inventory (Costa & McCrae's (1992) NEO-Five Factor Inventory), and demographic information. Results of the study indicate several significant findings: First, the trait of Agreeableness was found to significantly predict teachers' attitudes and practices towards family-school partnerships. In addition, the traits of Conscientiousness and Extraversion also interact with Agreeableness to predict teachers' partnership practices. Second, certain teacher demographic variables were found significantly impact teachers' attitudes and practices. Third, a cultural match between a teacher and student was not found to impact a teacher's attitudes or practices towards partnerships. Finally, the FFM personality profile of teachers differs significantly from the general population.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Download

Share

COinS