Term of Award

Fall 2001

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Educational Administration

Document Type and Release Option

Dissertation (open access)

Department

Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development

Committee Chair

Cathy Jording

Committee Member 1

Fred Page

Committee Member 2

Michael D. Richardson

Committee Member 3

Catherine C. Wooddy

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to describe the role perceptions of long-term Georgia curriculum directors who had been in that position at least 15 years. A qualitative method was used to conduct the research.

Employing a research instrument composed of 15 questions designed to elicit responses relating to five research subquestions, the researcher interviewed eight long-term Georgia curriculum directors to ascertain their perceptions of how their roles had evolved over their tenures. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded for recurring patterns and themes by the researcher along with the use of QSR NUD.IST 5 software.

The most common features among the eight respondents were a sense of satisfaction and pride about their careers, a genuine interest in working with teachers and instruction, early recognition of their potential leadership, and strong interpersonal skills. Although the respondents felt that their positions had become terribly complex and that they were overburdened with various duties, they did not feel that the core of their jobs, which was overseeing curriculum and instruction for their school systems, had changed. The respondents did not feel threatened by school-based management and were very comfortable with more decisions being made at the school level.

Most of the respondents agreed that the complexity of the job kept them away from the classrooms. They were very concerned about low teacher morale, which they attributed to pressures brought on by accountability and negative portrayal in the media. The consensus among the respondents was that the curriculum director's position was not one of power, but one of support. The respondents were adamant that more school-level decision making had made the curriculum director more of a partner in school improvement and promoted the need for the curriculum director to be the link for the various grade configurations from pre-kindergarten through grade twelve. They stressed the need to utilize technology for communication and organization, but did not foresee the possibility of the position being replaced with technology.

Copyright

This work is archived and distributed under the repository's standard copyright and reuse license for Theses and Dissertations authored 2005 and prior, available here. Under this license, end-users may copy, store, and distribute this work without restriction. For questions related to additional reuse of this work, please contact the copyright owner. Copyright owners who wish to review or revise the terms of this license, please contact digitalcommons@georgiasouthern.edu.

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