Volume 4 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal of K-12 Educational Research - Page 23

Journal of K-12 Educational Research 21 their current public charter schools during the 2017-2018 school year, the last year for which the Texas STAAR academic student accountability data were available. The final sample excluded the five public charter school superintendents who were enrolled in the Dallas Baptist University (DBU) EdD in the Educational Leadership K-12 program who served as a peer review panel for the current study. Instrumentation and Measures The data collection instrument was a 10-item questionnaire developed by the researcher. The questionnaire was presented to the peer review panel to determine which questions were essential, useful, or not necessary according the Lawshe’s method (Ayre & Scally, 2014, p. 79). The researcher sent the electronic SurveyMonkey questionnaire link pertaining to the superintendent preparation paths to each current public charter school superintendent in the state of Texas and asked them to enter their preparation path data. Research Questions The research questions used in the current study were: Research Question 1 (RQ1) Can public charter school superintendent preparation paths predict State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness Domain 1: Performance component scores? Research Question 2 (RQ2) Can public charter school superintendent preparation paths predict State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness Domain 2: Academic Growth component scores? Research Question 3 (RQ3) Can public charter school superintendent preparation paths predict State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness Domain 3: Closing the Gaps component scores? Research Question 4 (RQ4) Is there a difference in State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness Domain 1: Performance component scores between the public charter schools led by superintendents with prior teaching and administrative experience in K-12 education and those led by superintendents with no prior administrative K-12 experience? Research Question 5 (RQ5) Is there a difference in State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness Domain 2: School Progress, Part A: Academic Growth component scores between the public charter schools led by superintendents with prior teaching and administrative experience in K-12 education and those led by superintendents with limited or no administrative K-12 experience? Research Question 6 (RQ6) Is there a difference in State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness Domain 3: Closing the Gaps component scores between the public charter schools led by superintendents with prior teaching and administrative experience in K-12 education and those led by superintendents with limited or no administrative K-12 experience? Research Question 7 (RQ7) What superintendent trainings, certifications, or experiences will the public charter school superintendents report as having the biggest positive impact on their effectiveness as a superintendent? Summary of Findings and Interpretation of Results Of the seven research questions in the current study, there were significant findings in four. The four research questions that had significant findings were RQ1, RQ3, RQ4, and RQ6. Of the 48 hypotheses, the null hypothesis was rejected five times. The five rejected hypotheses were H8, H24, H31, H32, and H48 as seen in Table 1. Research Question 1 (RQ1) Hypothesis H8. Because p < .05, this indicated there was a significant link between SES and STAAR Domain 1: Performance component scores for Texas public charter schools. The null hypothesis was rejected because there was a significant correlation between SES and STAAR Domain 1: Performance component scores. Research Question 3 (RQ3) Hypothesis H24. Because p < .05, this indicated that there was a significant link between SES and STAAR Domain 3: Closing the Gaps component scores for Texas public charter schools. The null hypothesis was rejected because there was a significant correlation between SES and STAAR Domain 3: Closing the Gap component scores.