Educators in Tennessee: Certified but not employed in an administrative capacity

Purpose of the study. The purposes of this study were to: (a) generate descriptive data on educators in Tennessee who held their administrator certification during the 1999--2000 school year but were not employed in an administrative capacity and (b) to identify their self-reported reasons for not holding administrative positions.;Procedure. The population of this study consisted of 140 educators in Tennessee who held administrative certificates but who were not employed in an administrative capacity during the 1999--2000 school year. Ninety-three participants were female and forty-seven were male. The respondents completed the Educators with Administrative Credentials questionnaire which sought to determine the subject's self-reported reasons for not holding administrative positions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data in order to provide a composite of the respondents and to report variables thought to be associated with the low incidence of educators pursuing administrative positions.;Results. Based on the responses to the demographic data collected from the survey, most respondents were between 35--58 years of age, held a master's degree, served as a classroom teacher, were married, white, and still had children living at home. The top three reasons cited for not applying for an administrative position were: they liked their current position, they did not want the added responsibility, and they were not currently interested in being an administrator. Seventy-six percent of the respondents indicated they were not willing to relocate in order to obtain an administrative position. Forty-two percent of the respondents felt they had been encouraged to enter administration.;Conclusions. The respondents with their administrative credentials are not applying for administrative positions due to liking their current positions and not being interested in pursuing an administrative position. Most educators in Tennessee who receive their administrative certification but do not move into an administrative position fail to do so because they are satisfied with remaining in other positions within the field of education.