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Dissertation Information for Paul Van Bredeson

NAME:
- Paul Van Bredeson

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Education

SCHOOL:
- University of Wisconsin, Madison (USA) (1982)

ADVISORS:
- None

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: THE EFFECTS OF LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION ON THE TEACHER SELECTION INTERVIEW PROCESS

Abstract: "The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that the length, short or long, and the favorability of tone of information, favorable or neutral, of letters of recommendation had on the initial rating and screening of a hypothetical first-year teaching candidate by high school principals.

The major hypotheses, stated in null form, were: (1) The overall rating of a candidate with a long letter of recommendation will not differ from the overall rating of a candidate with a short letter of recommendation. (2) The overall rating of a candidate with a letter of recommendation favorable in tone will not differ from the overall rating of a candidate with a letter of recommendation neutral in tone. (3) There will be no difference in the overall rating of a candidate by the principal due to any specific combination of the length of a letter of recommendation, short or long, and the tone of a letter of recommendation, favorable or neutral.

Data were collected from 108 randomly selected high school principals in a large midwestern state. The instrumentation consisted of four constructed letters of recommendation, a two-page resume, a candidate rating sheet, and a demographic survey sheet.

A two-way analysis of variance was used to test the major hypotheses. Analysis of correlations between the dependent variable and demographic data also were performed. The probability level for all tests of significance was established at .05.

The major conclusions were: (1) There was no main effect of the length of a letter of recommendation, short or long, on the overall rating of a first-year teaching candidate. (2) There was a significant main effect of the favorability of tone on the overall rating of a candidate. (3) There was no significant interaction effect between the length and the favorability of tone of information on the overall rating of a candidate. Among the eight ancillary questions posited, only the rating which high school principals gave the personal interview was significantly related to the initial overall rating of a candidate. The fact that the age, degree level, experience factors, and principal's work setting were not significantly related to the principal's rating of a first-year teaching candidate suggested that variables which might have been potential sources of bias in selection decision-making did not appear to affect the initial overall rating of a candidate."

MPACT Scores for Paul Van Bredeson

A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:27:44

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