Closing the gap: An analysis of teacher and administrator perceptions of organizational climate in the early childhood setting

This paper provides an overview of the dimensions of organizational climate as they relate to early childhood work environments. It reports the results of a study involving 629 early childhood workers representing 65 nonprofit and for-profit, center-based programs. The focus of the inquiry was to determine in what ways the administrators (N = 94) and teachers (N = 535) differed in their perceptions of organizational practices. Results of the data anlaysis show statistically significant differences with respect to how administrators and teachers view all 10 dimensions of organizational climate. In eight of the 10 dimensions, the differences were significant at p < .01. Program administrators consistently rated organizational climate more favorably than teachers. Research on differential climate perceptions in other work settings is summarized along with a review of studies supporting the importance of implementing practices that promote perceptual congruence.