Jalene P. Potter

The purpose of this study was to assess teachers’ working conditions within schools to help identify potential problems and develop strategies and policies to effectively address them. The setting for this study is 50 Texas high schools where 385 Texas high school science teachers participated in this study. Schools were identified using a two-stage stratified random sampling plan. Two explicit stratification variables were used (school size and minority student enrollment proportion) along with an additional implicit stratification method to account for the schools’ location. All principals (n=50; 100% return rate) completed a field-based semi-structured interview. Science teachers within the schools completed a 22-question survey (n=385; 89.6% return rate). In addition, master schedules and Academic Excellence Indicator System reports were collected. In addition, a working conditions rubric was developed and then analyzed using factor analysis. The rubric was applied to all 385 science teachers to obtain a working conditions score. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the frequency and percentages of working conditions components. This study suggests that science teachers experience significantly more difficult working conditions that depend on the size of their school, the teacher’s experience level, and minority student enrollment proportion of the school. In short, working conditions are a significant component within the teacher professional continuum. Educational institutions should examine the working conditions of all teachers more closely, particularly in the light of establishing professional cultures that promote collegiality and interactions among teachers and providing materials for teaching and learning.