Date of Award

8-1980

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Richard E. Munsterman

Second Advisor

Dr. Uldis Smidchens

Third Advisor

Dr. James Blanzy

Abstract

The study has three major purposes: (a) to focus on the issue of parity of coaches' salaries for male and female athletic teams, (b) to clarify the existence of supplemental salary schedule differences, and (c) to determine the criteria that are most important in describing differences in coaching salaries.

The study was conducted to seek: (a) information on salary schedule compensation for selected comparable male and female athletic teams during the 1974-1975 and 1979-1980 school years in Macomb County, Michigan public school districts, (b) information about differences in salaries between coaches of boys' and girls' athletic teams between those same two school years, (c) information about actual salary differences for male and female coaches during the 1979-1980 school year, and (d) judgments of the coaches concerning compensation-determining variables which were categorized in the Equal Pay Act of 1963 under Skill, Effort, Responsibility, and Working Conditions that were different for coaches of comparable sports.

Salary schedules were gathered and analyzed from each school district for both the 1974-1975 and the 1979-1980 school years. The data were analyzed using the non-independent sample t test. The tests were conducted at the .05 level of significance.

A questionnaire was developed and mailed to coaches during the 1979-1980 school year. A total of 310 questionnaires were sent and 249 (81%) returned. Responses were analyzed using the independent sample t test of means and the chi-square test for two independent samples. The tests were also conducted at the .05 level of significance.

Descriptive analysis of the data produced the following findings: (a) salary schedule differences existed for boys' and girls' athletic teams for all sports during the 1974-1975 school year and almost all sports during the 1979-1980 school year, (b) significantly more salary schedule increases occurred for girls' athletic teams than for boys' athletic teams between the 1974-1975 and the 1979-1980 school years, (c) the actual salaries of male and female coaches during the 1979-1980 school year were not significantly different for almost all sport teams compared, and (d) individual variables that affect the work of boys' and girls' team coaches were found to be significantly different for all of the comparable sports.

Conclusions that were made based on the findings of this study are as follows: (a) There is disparity between salary schedule compensation for boys' teams compared to girls' teams for almost all of the selected comparable sports during the 1974-1975 and 1979-1980 school years; (b) for all selected comparable sports, girls' team salary schedule compensation has risen at a faster rate than boys' team salary schedule compensation; (c) almost all female coaches were paid equally with male coaches for the selected sports; (d) specific variables categorized under Skill, Effort, Responsibility, and Working Conditions for selected comparable sports are identifiable as being different for boys' and girls' athletic teams with most differences occurring under the Working Conditions variable; (e) the sports of wrestling and volleyball cannot be considered comparable sports for compensation purposes due to the many differences in the compensation determining variables of each sport.

Based on observations made in the present study, the following recommendations are made: (a) a study similar to the present one should be made at the state or national level, (b) the development of a more sophisticated instrument to analyze variables that determine compensation should be made, (c) a study of the boys' and girls' athletic programs in Macomb County, Michigan should be made to determine whether equal athletic opportunities for both sexes are provided, and (d) a study comparing the increase in the girls' team coaching salaries with the regular teaching salary increase during that time should be conducted.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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