Factors influencing the recruitment and retention of educational diagnosticians as perceived by special education directord in Texas /
Hausman (1999) contends that continuing shortages of qualified personnel in the special education field have been declared a national emergency with diagnostic staff ranked as the fourth highest area of need. To address the shortages of which Hausman (1999) speaks, one must analytically examine the...
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| Format: | Thesis Book |
| Language: | English |
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[Place of publication not identified] :
[publisher not identified] ;
2002.
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| Online Access: | http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=765051491&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=2945&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
| Summary: | Hausman (1999) contends that continuing shortages of qualified personnel in the special education field have been declared a national emergency with diagnostic staff ranked as the fourth highest area of need. To address the shortages of which Hausman (1999) speaks, one must analytically examine the factors influencing the recruitment and retention of educational diagnosticians. The purposes of this study were to provide an inventory of factors that influence the recruitment and retention of educational diagnosticians as perceived by special education directors in Texas and to determine whether school districts were implementing those strategies that special education directors perceive as most important. Four hundred and seventy-five special education directors were mailed a survey instrument, containing three sections-demographic data, recruitment and retention factors-and two open-ended questions. Following receipt of the completed questionnaires, the researcher used descriptive statistics to identify factors currently utilized by school districts and those factors which are perceived by special education directors as most influential in recruiting and retaining educational diagnosticians. Data analysis indicated that school districts should offer higher salaries and/or signing bonuses to recruit candidates. In addition, they should make sure adequate administrative support is in place to retain them. The data revealed that while salary may be the most important factor in recruitment, it is but one of many important factors in retention. Therefore, even if a district offers higher salaries to attract candidates, it will not be able to retain them if it does not offer appropriate investments in administrative support and clerical assistance. Districts lacking in these areas will likely have high turnover rates in their educational diagnostician positions. Since signing bonuses ranked second only to salary as recruiting mechanisms, districts lacking funding to provide competitive salaries on a long-term basis should consider the use of signing bonuses. These bonuses would likely be effective, as only 10% of districts utilize them. Therefore, districts utilizing this mechanism would gain an edge over the 90% of districts not currently implementing this practice. Once the candidate has been secured, the district can utilize non-monetary methods such as administrative support and job satisfaction to retain them. |
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| Item Description: | Vita. "Major Subject: Educational Human Resource Development". |
| Physical Description: | xiv, 140 leaves : illustrations ; 28 cm. Issued also on microfiche from University Microfilm Inc. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-125). |