This study examined teacher job satisfaction as influenced by school factors. One hundred and twenty-four elementary teachers, from one large urban school district in North Carolina, rated their level of job satisfaction. The independent variables were schools factors of (a) academic achievement, (b) student racial composition, and (c) social economic status; and teacher variables of, (d) age, and (e) years of experience. The dependent variable was job satisfaction as measured by the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, a modified version of the Job Descriptive Index (Balzer et al. 2000). The questionnaire measured overall job satisfaction as well as satisfaction with (a) pay, (b) supervision, (c) work itself, (d), promotion, and (e) co-workers. A two-way ANOVA was used to compare the means, holding school achievement constant across all analyses. The theoretical framework used in this study was Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs (1943). This theory proposes a hierarchy of human needs where five basic needs or goals are organized in an order according to relative prepotency (a) physiological, (b) safety, (c) love, (d) esteem, and (e) self-actualization. As the lower order needs are met, higher order needs emerge and motivate behavior. The first four basic needs are described as deficiency needs. Self-actualization is considered a higher or growth need that continues to motivate behavior after it is satisfied. This study proposed teachers experience job dissatisfaction due to unmet needs.

All elementary school teachers in the researched district (Kindergarten through fifth grades) were sent the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (Balzer et al., 2000) survey via e-mail that contained a link to the survey created through a web-based survey, Zoomerang (1999). The survey was active for three weeks with one reminder e-mail sent each week. Out of the 1300 certified teachers in the researched district; K-5 classroom teachers of who received the survey were 715.

Findings showed elementary teachers were generally satisfied with their job. There were no significant findings for variables specific to the schools; however, significant results revealed teachers with 0-4 years of teaching experience were generally less satisfied with their job than teachers with 5 or more years of experience.