A study of open and closed mindedness in the rating of teacher effectiveness
Date
1971
Authors
Lane, Leonard John
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Abstract
This study investigated the effect of open and closed mindedness in school principals with respect to the rating of teachers on their staffs. Subjects were 43 principals and 801 teachers in the Great er Victoria School District (District 61) of British Columbia, each of whom completed Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale (Form E). Hypotheses were formed to test Rokeach's ideas concerning the differences bet een the open mindedness and closed mindedness of individuals in their perception of others.
The dogmatism scores of principals and teachers were arranged along a continuum, the extremes of which indicated either open mindedness (low dogmatism) or closed mindedness (high dogmatism). The scores of the teachers selected as most effective or least effective and the scores of the principals making the selections were subjected to chi-square testing.
Other variables considered were the principals' ages and years of experience, the ages and sex of the teachers selected as most effective or least effective, and the number of years that the selected teachers had been under the supervision of the principal making the selection.
Results indicated that Rokeach's theories regarding open and closed mindedness could not be fully substantiated by this study.