Abstract
This study investigated professionalism in the elementary schools to determine if a significant difference existed between the beliefs of elementary school principals and elementary teachers toward certain dimensions of professionalism. Those dimensions of professionalism were: sense of calling or dedication to the field; sense of service to the public; sense of self-regulation; sense of job autonomy; use of the professional organization as a major referent; and the value of professional dress. The researcher used descriptive and ex post facto research designs. Data were collected from elementary principals and one teacher from each of the 185 elementary schools in the thirty-one elementary school districts in Los Angeles County, California. Los Angeles County elementary districts were selected because they were a representative rural/suburban/urban sample and the district populations ranged from an enrollment low of 55 to a high of nearly 17,000. Each elementary principal selected, from an alphabetical roster of teachers, the eighth regular education classroom teacher. If fewer than eight teachers were at the site, the principal selected the last teacher on the alphabetical roster. A response rate of 71 percent from the principals and 62 percent from the teachers was achieved. The responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the t-Test of Independent Samples. Participants responded to thirty statements about the six dimensions of professionalism using a Likert rating scale of strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (4). Teachers responded to the survey in their own role as an elementary teacher and principals responded according to their beliefs about the teachers with whom they work. Teachers were in agreement with thirteen of thirty statements with a mean response of 3.0 or higher on a four-point scale. When comparing the results between the principal and teacher responses, there was a significant difference at the.05 level for three of the six dimensions of professionalism. The beliefs about the sense of calling and service to the public were significant at the.001 level. The beliefs about the use of the professional organization was significant at the.012 level. There was no significant difference for the belief about the sense of self-regulation, sense of job autonomy, or value of professional dress.