Teacher morale as a criterion of the predictive validity of the National Association of Secondary School Principals Assessment Center

The purpose of this study was to further examine the validity of the NASSP Assessment Center process by measuring the relationship between performance by Nebraska school administrators who have participated in the NASSP Assessment Center and the morale of teachers they supervised as measured by the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire (PTO). Correlations between each of the NASSP Assessment Center skill dimensions for 40 Nebraska school administrators and ten PTO factor scores from 112 teachers they supervised were calculated. A slight negative relationship (r = $-$.208) was found between the NASSP skill dimension of Leadership and the PTO factor of Teacher Load. Also, a slight relationship was noted between the NASSP skill dimensions of Sensitivity, Range of Interests, and Written Communication and the PTO Factor 6 of Curriculum Issues (r =.244, r =.213, r =.232 respectively). Nine of the NASSP skill dimension data were clustered into three groups of Administrative Skills, Interpersonal Skills, and Communication Skills and a stepwise regression technique was used to search for predictive relationships between combinations of these clusters and individual PTO factors. The NASSP Cluster III (Communication Skills) was found to have a slight relationship with PTO Factor 6 (Curriculum) issues but the addition of any other cluster to the prediction equation did not improve it. Other combinations of NASSP cluster scores were not found to significantly predict PTO factor scores.