The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the perceptions of public school administrators, namely district superintendents and school principals in the State of Illinois, regarding teacher tenure (contractual continued service) and its impact on teacher productivity. Illinois District Superintendents and Illinois School Principals were the focus of this study. The research questions were measured by a survey instrument containing 8 demographic and probative questions, 20 probative questions, and 1 checklist.

A sample of 150 principals and 150 superintendents were used in this study. In order to best represent the state, a stratified sample of 50 participants from each super-region, as defined by the Illinois Association of School Administrators as the Northern, Central and Southern regions, was used. A total of 133 principals and 142 superintendents responded for an overall return of 275.

Both principals and superintendents believe that tenure affects the ability of schools to change and of administrators to make decisions based on the best interests of students. Both groups also strongly agreed that tenure should be a renewable contract rather than a lifetime of security and that tenure was not an important factor in the performance of students. However, both administrator groups also agreed that tenure did provide protection from politically, religiously, or personally motivated dismissal, as well as dismissal due to the educational performance of their students. The results also indicate that the methods most used to remedy post-tenure decline are inservices and/or workshops (27%), increased administrative monitoring (26%), and letters of reprimand (17%).

Several t-Tests, ANOVAs, and Pearson Correlation Coefficients were used to examine relationships. The analysis of correlations provided few significant findings. However, district size and perceptions of Illinois public school administrators regarding Contractual Continued Service did provide some significant results. In addition, the number of years experience as an administrator in their current position and perceptions regarding Contractual Continued Service provide an indicator that there is a correlation in the variables. The data also presented information that linked involvement in the dismissal of tenured teachers and administrators' perceptions of decline in post-tenure productivity.