After today, you will be able to answer:

• What are dispositions?• Why are they important to me?

To students?• How do I measure dispositions

while interviewing?

Assessing Applicant Dispositions

2

What is the first thing that comes to mind?

Your Favorite Teacher

3

Your Favorite TeacherCaring Warm Helpful

Fun Genuine Enthusiastic

Knowledgeable Responsible Sharing

Committed Energetic Positive

Friendly Enjoyable Lively

Humorous Interesting Interactive

Kind Good Moral

Enhancing Protective Accepting

Stable Effective Efficient

Understanding Embracing Well-Informed

4

He really enjoyed teaching and cared about students.

She looked for the good in each of us.He could teach something and make it fun.She held our interest with her lively, humorous

manner and her thorough knowledge of the subject.

He believed in me.She challenged us.He saw us as unique and treated us with respect.She really knew her subject and had a passion

for it.

Your Favorite Teacher

5

What is the first thing that comes to mind?

Your Worst Teacher

6

Your Worst TeacherRude Humorless Monotone Uncaring

Cold Hearted

Ridicule Lectures Intimidating

Impersonal Ill-informed Unimaginative Uninspiring

Unfriendly Sarcasm Boring Mean

Which would I prefer to hire: A teacher that is good or a teacher that is getting better? Why?

Thought of the Day

“Good is the enemy of great”“In a good-to-great transformation, people

are not your most important asset. The right people are.

Why try for greatness?Doing something you love and care aboutDoing something related to your interests

and beliefsMaking a positive impact on othersImpossible to imagine not trying to make

it great

Good to Great by Jim Collins

9

Knowledge Teaching

Skills Dispositio

ns

Favorite Teacher Characteristics?

75%

19%

6%

Findings from “Great Teachers, Great Memories” National Survey on Favorite Teachers

10

Dispositions are often defined as one’s natural mental and emotional outlook or mood, including:attitudes, beliefs, interests, appreciations, values, and modes of adjustment.

 Dispositions: Just What Are We

Talking About?

People behave in terms of how the world appears to them

Behavior is the “symptom” of perceptions

Perceptions are cumulative and change slowly

Research-based Assessment Rubrics Reading Behavior Backwards

(perceptual inference) 11

Perceptual Theory of Arthur W. Combs

Dispositions toward one self: upbeat, non self-centered, identified

Dispositions toward others: people are able, worthy and dependable

Dispositions about purpose: see the big picture, keeps perspective, priorities

General frame of reference: put people first, builds relationships

Understanding Dispositions

PERCEPTUAL RATING RUBRICS PERCEPTIONS OF SELF:

IDENTIFIEDThe educator feels a oneness with all people. S/He perceives him/herself as deeply and meaningfully related to persons of every description.

UNIDENTIFIEDThe educator feels generally apart from others.His/her feelings of oneness are restricted to those of similar beliefs.

7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ABLEThe educator sees others as having capacities todeal with their problems. S/He believes others arebasically able to find adequate solutions to events intheir own lives.

UNABLEThe educator sees others as lacking the necessarycapacities to deal effectively with their problems.S/He doubts their ability to make their owndecisions and run their own lives.

LARGERThe educator views events in a broad perspective.His/her goals extend beyond the immediate tolarger implications and contexts.

SMALLERThe educator views events in a narrow perspective.His/her purposes focus on immediate and specificgoals.

PEOPLEThe educator is concerned with the human aspectsof affairs. The attitudes, feelings, beliefs, andwelfare of persons are prime considerations inhis/her thinking.

THINGSThe educator is concerned with the impersonalaspects of affairs. Questions of order, management,mechanics, and details of things and events areprime considerations in his/her thinking.

7 6 5 4 3 2 1

PERCEPTIONS OF OTHERS:

PERCEPTIONS OF PURPOSE:

7 6 5 4 3 2 1FRAME OF REFERENCE:

7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Human Relations Incident (HRI)Classroom ObservationInterviewSelf-Assessment

14

Using Perceptual Rubrics

Begin the interview with usual questionsTreat answers as self-reported informationGet beyond rehearsed remarks and engage in

conversation on topics that interest themUse reflective listeningAllow candidates to ask questionsThere are no absolute right or wrong answers

The Dispositions Interview

Describe your “perfect day?”

What kind of problems do people bring you?

Dispositions About Self

How would your colleagues describe you?

Tell about a situation in which you helped a person or taught a significant lesson.

Dispositions Toward Others

If your life works out the best you can imagine, what will you be doing in 5 years?

How do you maintain a balance in your life between work and play?

Dispositions Regarding Frame of Reference

I would like you to think of a significant past event, which involved yourself in a teaching role with one or more other persons. That is, from a human relations standpoint, this event had special meaning for you. In writing about this event, please use the following format:

FIRST: Describe the situation as it occurred at the time.

SECOND: What did you do in the particular situation?

THIRD: How did you feel about the situation at the time you were experiencing it?

FOURTH: How do you feel about the situation now? Would you wish to change any part of it?

19

Human Relations Incident (HRI)

HRIs were written by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in college courses.

Open Assessing Educator Dispositions: A Perceptual Psychological Approach to page 22

20

PRACTICE MATERIALS

21

Using the Perceptual RubricsPractice Materials , pg. 22

PERCEPTIONS OF SELF AS “Identified”

IDENTIFIEDThe educator feels a oneness with all mankind. He/she perceives him/herself as deeply and meaningfully related to persons of every description.

UNIDENTIFIEDThe educator feels generally apart from others. His/her feelings of oneness are restricted to those of similar beliefs.

22

Using the Perceptual RubricsPractice Materials , pg. 27

PERCEPTIONS OF Others as “Able”

ABLEThe educator sees others as having capacities to deal with their problems. He/she believes others are basically able to find adequate solutions to events in their own lives.

UNABLEThe educator sees others as lacking the necessary capacities to deal effectively with their problems. He/she doubts their ability to make their own decisions and run their own lives.

23

Using the Perceptual RubricsPractice Materials, pg. 31

PERCEPTION OF PURPOSE AS “LARGER”

LARGERThe educator views events in a broad perspective. His/her goals extend beyond the immediate to larger implications and contexts.

SMALLER

The educator views events in a narrow perspective. His/her purposes focus on immediate and specific goals.

24

Using the Perceptual RubricsPractice Materials HRI, pg. 36

A “PEOPLE” FRAME OF REFERENCE

PEOPLEThe educator is concerned with the human aspects of affairs. The attitudes, feelings, beliefs, and welfare of persons are prime considerations in his/her thinking.

THINGSThe educator is concerned with the impersonal aspects of affairs. Questions of order, management, mechanics, and details of things and events are prime considerations in his/her thinking.

The scores on each factor are added together for a total score. In general:

• Maximum possible total is 28• Scores between 18 and 28 indicates perceptions

that have been demonstrated to be characteristic of effective teachers.

• Minimum possible is 4. • A score between 4 and 14 indicates perceptions

which have been demonstrated to be characteristic of ineffective teachers.

Scoring for all four dispositions

The scores on each factor are added together for a total score. In general:

• A total score between 14 and 18 could indicate one of several things:

A) The person’s perceptions are between the two definitions.B) Neither of the definitions would fit the available information.C) The incident may not have supplied you with enough information on which to infer.

Scoring for all four dispositions

Rate the HRI on a scale of 1 (perceptions associated with ineffective educators) to 7 (perceptions of effective educators) on each of the four rubrics using the PERCEPTUAL RATING RUBRICS at the end of the Practice Materials.

Compare your score with the professional raters.

27

Using the Perceptual Rubrics

Small Group Practice:• Score the eight HRIs from pages 43-66

• Score all four questions per HRI• Six - Seven minutes per HRI

More Practice

28

Next Steps?

Earn Professional Perceptual Rater StatusEarn Professional Perceptual Rater Status• Complete the post-test• Dr. Mark Wasicsko from NKU will

e-mail you your results/certificate• Make dispositional inferences

with confidence to hire great candidates!

After today, you will be able to answer:

• What are dispositions?• Why are they important to me?

To students?• How do I measure dispositions

while interviewing?

Assessing Applicant Dispositions

Collins. J. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap and others don’t. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Combs, A.W., Soper, D.W., Gooding, C.T., Benton, J.A., Dickman, J.F., & Usher, R.H. (1969). Florida Studies in the Helping Professions. (University of Florida Social Sciences Monograph #37). Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press.

Disposition. (n.d.). In Dictionary.com online. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/disposition?s=t.

Snygg, D., & Combs, A. (1949). Individual Behavior. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.

Wasicsko, M. (n.d.). Assessing Educator Dispositions: A Perceptual Psychology Approach. Highland Heights, KY: Northern Kentucky University.

Wasicsko, M.M. (1977a). A research‑based teacher selection instrument. Columbus College. (Eric Document No. ED 193 193). Retrieved from http://coehs.nku.edu/content/dam/coehs/docs/dispositions/resources/Manual103.pdf.

Wasicsko, M. (1977b). The effect of training and perceptual orientation on the reliability of perceptual inferences for selecting effective teachers (Doctoral Dissertation). Available from Dissertations & Theses database. (UMI No. AAT 7729293)

References

ResourceNational Network for the Study of Educator Dispositions

http://coehs.nku.edu/educatordispositions/