| The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of a sample of New Jersey public school Superintendents toward visual arts education and which variables, if any, most affected the participants' attitudes toward visual arts education. The methodology employed a non-experimental, survey approach. Guided by this thesis the researcher utilized a deductive approach toward analyzing the data. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographic and key study variables, accompanied by Pearson Product-Moment correlation coefficients and multiple regression statistical analyses to answer the major research question and 6 subsidiary questions. The design of this cross-sectional study utilized nomothetic, quantitative, survey research. Data were collected using the Stuckhardt Art Attitude Scale (SAAS) a Likert-type questionnaire consisting of 30 discriminating items, along with a Personal History Statement. The Personal History Statement solicited information on age, gender, ethnicity, total school budget, visual art budget allocation, college major and years (K--12) of formal visual art training. The data were analyzed using SPSS software to determine the relationships, if any, between the visual art attitudes of the sample, their background experiences in visual art, and other selected variables and the funds allocated for the visual art budget. The researcher was also interested in what selected variables, if any, may exert an influence on the Superintendent toward support or lack of support of the visual art program within their school district. |
