Abstract
This study described elementary school teachers' attitudes toward teaching the four nonacademic areas of drugs and alcohol, gang awareness, family life, and self-esteem. The study described the relationship between teachers' ages, years of experience, and educational levels, and their attitudes toward teaching the four nonacademic curricula. A questionnaire, developed by the researcher, was used to collect the data for the study. The response rate of surveys returned was 57 percent and consisted of 170 fourth and fifth-grade female teachers from San Diego County. The questionnaire included six items asking teachers to describe their perceptions of the public school's role and their experience and degree of satisfaction in teaching the nonacademic areas. An ANOVA and t-test were used to analyze data as they pertained to teachers' attitudes. A chi-square test was used to analyze data as they pertained to teacher's experience. A Repeated Measures Test was used to examine the total group's attitude toward the four areas. This study indicated no significant difference in teachers' perceptions of public school's role in teaching these areas between the teachers' age or years of experience groups. Examining the total group, there was a significant difference between the four nonacademic areas, with self-esteem the most important. There was a significant difference between the educational levels in their perceptions. There were no significant differences between the comparison groups on their degree of satisfaction in teaching these areas. The total group showed a significant difference between the four areas, with self-esteem being the most satisfying. There were no significant differences between the comparison groups and their experience in teaching the four areas. A significant finding of this study was the overall high degree of public school involvement in these nonacademic areas. In addition, self-esteem emerged as the most important noncurricular area. Time emerged as the number one obstacle in teaching these areas. It was recommended that replication of this study be conducted with a larger or different population, studying variables such as ethnic, geographic, parent or student groupings. A comparative study of nonacademic curricula would be helpful to districts. One could examine nonacademic decisions made by controversial school boards. Lastly, charter schools' decisions concerning nonacademic curriculum could be studied.