the reported importance of 20 specific external teacher
recruitment practices. The null hypothesis was rejected for seven of these items as significant differences were found.
The null hypothesis was retained for 13 of the 20 specific external teacher recruitment practices. These 13 were:
instate metropolitan newspaper advertising; out of state metropolitan newspaper advertising; television and video advertising; radio advertising; other district contacts;
State Department of Education contacts; posting vacancies in the community; use of multidistrict coalitions; soliciting applications from nonpracticing prospects; use of
consultants; recruiting internationally; use of recruitment poster with attached postal reply inquiry card; and general reliance upon out of state contacts. Data are presented in Table 12.
Hq12 There will be no significant difference between rural and urban school districts in the per pupil
expenditure for teacher recruitment.
The per pupil expenditure for teacher recruitment was calculated by dividing the teacher recruitment budget by district enrollment. The statistic was calculated for 169 of the 182 responding school districts. School districts were regrouped as either urban, meaning located within a Metropolitan Statistical Area, or rural, meaning not located within a Metropolitan Statistical Area. Mean per pupil
teacher recruitment budget was .5455 for urban districts and 1.8225 for rural districts, with a standard deviation of .775 for urban districts and 9.450 for rural districts, suggesting a much greater variance among rural districts.
The F value was 148.57 with a 2-tailed probability of .0001, indicating that the variances for the 2 groups were
significantly dissimilar, thus the separate variance
estimate was used. The t-value was -1.47 and the 2-tailed probability was .145. The null hypothesis was retained.
Data are presented in Table 13.
Hq13 There will be no significant difference between rural and urban school districts in the total number of financial incentive teacher recruitment practices used.
The total number of financial incentive teacher
recruitment practices used was determined by counting the number of yes responses to financial incentive questions
119 Table 13
Per Pupil Teacher Recruitment Budget In Rural and Urban School Districts
Group
Number of
of Cases Mean
2-tailed t-Value Probability
Urban 49 .5455
-1.47 .145
Rural 120 1.8225
d.f. = 122.87
61-86, odd-numbered items only. School districts were grouped into urban, meaning located within a Metropolitan Statistical Area, or rural, meaning located outside a Metropolitan Statistical Area. The total number of urban
school districts was 54 and of rural was 128. The mean number of financial incentive teacher recruitment practices used in urban districts was 3.6296, with a standard
deviation of 2.251. The mean for rural school districts was 2.4688, with a standard deviation of 1.836. The F value was 1.50, with a 2-tailed probability of .066. Because the
probability of the F value was not significant at the .05 level, the pooled variance estimate was used. The t-value
was 3.64 and the 2-tailed probability was .0001. The null hypothesis was rejected. Data are presented in Table 14.
H 014 There will be no significant difference between rural and urban school districts in the use of specific financial incentive teacher recruitment practices.
The use of specific financial incentive teacher
recruitment practices in rural and urban school districts was compared using the chi-square. Significance was
measured at the .05 level.
Of the 13 financial incentive teacher recruitment
practices, significant differences were found between rural and urban school districts for seven items. The use of a bonus for new recruits was rare, occurring in only two urban
Table 14
Total Number of Financial Incentive Teacher Recruitment Practices Used in Rural and Urban School Districts
Group
Number of
of Cases Mean
2-tailed t-Value Probability
Urban 54 3.6296
3.64 .0001
Rural 128 2.4688
d.f. « 180
121
districts, but its use in those two yielded a phi value of .16629 and an approximate significance of .02857. Rent subsidies for new teachers were provided only by 4 urban districts, yielding a phi value of .23080 and an approximate significance of .00185. Reimbursement of moving costs for new teachers was offered by 1.6% of rural districts and by 9.3% of urban districts, yielding a phi value of .18234 and an approximate significance of .01416. Accelerated
sabbatical leave was provided by 18.0% of rural districts and by 43.4% of urban districts, yielding a phi value of
.26577 and an approximate significance of .00035.
Increasing transferrable experience was a recruitment
technique used by 16.5% of rural districts and by 35.2% of urban districts, yielding a phi value of .20565 and an
approximate significance of .00566. Increased salary for new teachers was reported by 29.9% of rural districts and by 50.0% of urban districts, yielding a phi value of .19149 and an approximate significance of .00999. Increased salary for all teachers as a recruitment technique was reported by
51.6% of rural districts and by 77.8% of urban districts, yielding a phi value of .24380 and an approximate
significance of .00101.
A total of 13 financial incentive teacher recruitment techniques were included in the survey. A significant difference between rural and urban districts was found and the null hypothesis was rejected for just seven of these, as
described above. For the remaining six financial incentive teacher recruitment techniques, the null hypothesis was retained. These six items were: interest rate breaks for new teachers; providing other relocation assistance to new teachers; reimbursing graduate tuition; the use of merit pay schemes; the provision of internships and scholarships; and the payment of shortage area bonuses. Results are shown in Table 15.
Hq15 There will be no significant difference between