The purpose of this study was to compare school level to schools’ reported perceptions of school leadership, instructional practice and support, and professional development, all
components of PLCs, among traditional public schools in North Carolina. The research questions and null hypotheses are provided followed by the data table of all values used in the analyses. The data section is followed by the results section, providing the results of all nine null hypotheses.
Research Questions Nine research questions below were studied.
RQ1: Is there a difference between traditional public elementary and middle school educators’ perception of school leadership, a component of professional learning communities?
RQ2: Is there a difference between traditional public elementary and high school
educators’ perception of school leadership, a component of a professional learning communities? RQ3: Is there a difference between traditional public middle and high school educators’ perception of school leadership, a component of professional learning communities?
RQ4: Is there a difference between traditional public elementary and middle school educators’ perception of professional development, a component of a professional learning communities?
RQ5: Is there a difference between traditional public elementary and high school educators’ perception of professional development, a component of a professional learning communities?
RQ6: Is there a difference between traditional public middle and high school educators’ perception of professional development, a component of professional learning communities?
RQ7: Is there a difference between traditional public elementary and middle school educators’ perception of instructional practices and support, a component of a professional learning communities?
RQ8: Is there a difference between traditional public elementary and high school educators’ perception of instructional practices and support, a component of a professional learning communities?
RQ9: Is there a difference between traditional public middle and high school educators’ perception of instructional practices and support, a component of professional learning
communities?
Null Hypotheses The nine null hypotheses for the study are listed below. The null hypotheses for this study are:
H01: There is no statistically significant difference between traditional public elementary and middle school educators’ perception of school leadership, as measured by the North
Carolina Teacher Working Conditions survey.
H02: There is no statistically significant difference between traditional public elementary and high school educators’ perception of school leadership, as measured by the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions survey.
H03: There is no statistically significant difference between traditional public elementary and high school educators’ perception of school leadership, as measured by the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions survey.
H04: There is no statistically significant difference between traditional public elementary and middle school educators’ perception of professional development, as measured by the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions survey.
H05: There is no statistically significant difference between traditional public elementary and high school educators’ perception of professional development, as measured by the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions survey.
H06: There is no statistically significant difference between traditional public elementary and high school educators’ perception of professional development, as measured by the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions survey.
H07: There is no statistically significant difference between traditional public elementary and middle school educators’ perception of instructional practices and support, as measured by the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions survey.
H08: There is no statistically significant difference between traditional public elementary and high school educators’ perception of instructional practices and support, as measured by the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions survey.
H09: There is no statistically significant difference between traditional public elementary and high school educators’ perception of instructional practices and support, as measured by the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions survey.
Data
Table 2 Data Table
School Level Percent Sample Size
RQ1 Elementary Middle 85 86 31 42 RQ2 Elementary High 85 83 31 65 RQ3 Middle High 86 83 42 65 RQ4 Elementary Middle 81 78 31 42 RQ5 Elementary High 81 74 31 65 RQ6 Middle High 78 74 42 65 RQ7 Elementary Middle 82 81 31 42 RQ8 Elementary High 82 78 31 65 RQ9 Middle High 81 78 42 65
The two-sample t-test between percents does not have assumption test requirements, as it is conducted using percentages. The data in Table 1 was entered into Statpac.com statistics calculator. The results are found in Table 3.
Table 3
Results of Each Two-Sample t-Test Between Percents
Null Hypothesis School Level t-value df
Two-tailed Probability 1 Elementary Middle 0.120 71 .905 2 Elementary High 0.248 94 .805 3 Middle High 0.415 105 .670 4 Elementary Middle 0.313 71 .756 5 Elementary High 0.754 94 .453 6 Middle High 0.470 105 .639 7 Elementary Middle 0.109 71 .914 8 Elementary High 0.452 94 .652 9 Middle High 0.373 105 .710 Results
Nine analyses of the two-sample t-test between percents were conducted to find if there was a difference in reported perceptions of components of PLCsbased on school level. To limit Type I error, a Bonferroni correction was used since there were nine tests of significance being conducted (Warner, 2013). The calculation for a Bonferroni correction typically uses an alpha level of .05 and then divides by the number of hypothesis tests run. Warner (2013) allows the Bonferroni correction to be calculated using p =.10 when many tests are run. For that reason, the alpha level for this study is calculated thus: .10/9 = .01. Therefore, alpha level was set at p < .01 for all nine two-sample t-tests for percents being conducted.
Null Hypothesis One
H01 states there is no statistically significant difference between traditional public
elementary and middle school educators’ perception of the PLC component school leadership, as measured by the NCTWCS. The independent variable was school level and the dependent variable was school leadership. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis at the 95% confidence level where t(71) = 0.120, p = .905. Eta square (η2) equaled 0.0002. The effect size
was small. Eta square was calculated using the following formula: η 2 = t2/(t2 + df). There was not a statistical difference between the percents of elementary school (85%) and middle school (86%) teachers’ perceptions of school leadership. See Table 3 for results of the two-sample t-test between percents.
Null Hypothesis Two
H02 states there is no statistically significant difference between traditional public
elementary and high school educators’ perception of the PLC component school leadership, as measured by the NCTWCS. The independent variable was school level and the dependent variable was school leadership. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis at the 95% confidence level where t(94) = 0.248, p = .805. Eta square (η2) equaled 0.0007. The effect size
was small. Eta square was calculated using the following formula: η 2 = t2/(t2 + df). There was not a statistical difference between the percents of elementary school (85%) and high school (83%) teachers’ perceptions of school leadership. See Table 3 for results of the two-sample t-test between percents.
Null Hypothesis Three
H03 states there is no statistically significant difference between traditional public middle
the NCTWCS. The independent variable was school level and the dependent variable was school leadership. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis at the 95% confidence level where t(105) = 0.415, p = .670. Eta square (η2) equaled 0.002. The effect size was small. Eta square was calculated using the following formula: η 2 = t2/(t2 + df). There was not a statistical difference between the percents of middle school (86%) and high school (83%) teachers’ perceptions of school leadership. See Table 3 for results of the two-sample t-test between percents.
Null Hypothesis Four
H04 states there is no statistically significant difference between traditional public
elementary and middle school educators’ perception of the PLC component professional
development, as measured by the NCTWCS. The independent variable was school level and the dependent variable was professional development. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis at the 95% confidence level where t(71) = 0.313, p = .756. Eta square (η2) equaled 0.001. The effect size was small. Eta square was calculated using the following formula: η 2 = t2/(t2 + df). There was not a statistical difference between the percents of elementary school (81%) and middle school (78%) teachers’ perceptions of professional development. See Table 3 for results of the two-sample t-test between percents.
Null Hypothesis Five
H05 states there is no statistically significant difference between traditional public
elementary and high school educators’ perception of the PLC component professional
development, as measured by the NCTWCS. The independent variable was school level and the dependent variable was professional development. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis at the 95% confidence level where t(94) = 0.754, p = .453. Eta square (η2) equaled
0.006. The effect size was small. Eta square was calculated using the following formula: η 2 =
t2/(t2 + df). There was not a statistical difference between the percents of elementary school (81%) and high school (74%) teachers’ perceptions of professional development. See Table 3 for results of the two-sample t-test between percents.
Null Hypothesis Six
H06 states there is no statistically significant difference between traditional public middle
and high school educators’ perception of the PLC component professional development, as measured by the NCTWCS. The independent variable was school level and the dependent variable was professional development. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis at the 95% confidence level where t(105) = 0.470, p = .6392. Eta square (η2) equaled 0.002. The effect size was small. Eta square was calculated using the following formula: η 2 = t2/(t2 + df). There
was not a statistical difference between the percents of middle school (78%) and high school (74%) teachers’ perceptions of professional development. See Table 3 for results of the two- sample t-test between percents.
Null Hypothesis Seven
H07 states there is no statistically significant difference between traditional public
elementary and middle school educators’ perception of the PLC component instructional
practices and support, as measured by the NCTWCS. The independent variable was school level and the dependent variable was the component of instructional practices and support. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis at the 95% confidence level where t(71) = 0.109, p = .914. Eta square (η2) equaled = 0.0002. The effect size was small. Eta square was
calculated using the following formula: η 2 = t2/(t2 + df). There was not a statistical difference between the percents of elementary school (82%) and middle school (81%) teachers’ perceptions
of professional development. See Table 3 for results of the two-sample t-test between percents. Null Hypothesis Eight
H08 states there is no statistically significant difference between traditional public
elementary and high school educators’ perception of the PLC component instructional practices and support, as measured by the NCTWCS. The independent variable was school level and the dependent variable was the component of instructional practices and support. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis at the 95% confidence level where t(94) = 0.452, p = .652. Eta square (η2) equaled 0.002. The effect size was small. Eta square was calculated using the
following formula: η 2 = t2/(t2 + df). There was not a statistical difference between the percents of elementary school (82%) and high school (78%) teachers’ perceptions of professional
development. See Table 3 for results of the two-sample t-test between percents. Null Hypothesis Nine
H09 states there is no statistically significant difference between traditional public middle
and high school educators’ perception of the PLC component instructional practices and support, as measured by the NCTWCS. The independent variable was school level and the dependent variable was the component of instructional practices and support. The researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis at the 95% confidence level where t(105) = 0.373, p = .710. Eta square (η2) equaled 0.001. The effect size was small. Eta square was calculated using the following formula: η 2 = t2/(t2 + df). There was not a statistical difference between the percents of middle school (81%) and high school (78%) teachers’ perceptions of professional development. See Table 3 for results of the two-sample t-test between percents.
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS