An Exploration of Emotional Intelligence Scores among Students in Educational Administration Endorsement Programs.

• Main Author: Click, Holly Solomon
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2002
• Subjects: Eduational Administration Endorsement Program; Emotional Intelligence; Education; Educational Psychology
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/644; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1801&context=etd

The purpose of this study was to explore the emotional intelligence scores of students in educational administration endorsement programs. The relationship between the length of time in an educational endorsement program and emotional intelligence scores was examined. Relationships with other factors were also examined. The respondents were students in educational administration endorsement at three east Tennessee universities. A total of 85 students participated in the study. Basic frequency based analyses were calculated to identify any relationships between variables. A literature review gave an explanation of emotional intelligence and examined the historical development of emotional intelligence. The existing literature concerning the evolvement of emotion as an intelligence and its connection to leadership was also reviewed. The study's investigation of the relationship between students' emotional intelligence scores and their amount of time in an administration endorsement program could assist instructors to design programs to address weaknesses evident at a certain level. Specifically, universities with administrative endorsement programs could measure their students' initial levels of emotional intelligence at the beginning of their studies, seek to address areas identified as low in relation to others, and measure again at the conclusion of the program. This would enable them to gauge the extent to which the students' emotional intelligence had been enhanced. Although there were no statistically significant findings, the following observations were made. The study found that the students who had been enrolled the longest in an administrative endorsement program had the majority of their scores in the "low" category of the emotional intelligence aggregate and several cluster scores. Older students had a greater percentage of scores in the medium and high categories for social skills and aggregate emotional intelligence when compared with younger students. A greater percentage of males scored in the "low" category for aggregate emotional intelligence than females. Finally, students with 1 or more years of administrative experience had a greater number of their scores in the "medium" category of self-awareness, while students with no years of administrative experience had a majority of scores in the "low" category.