Education Commons^™

Do Bad Apples Make Teachers Quit?, Kyuhan Choi

Center for Policy Research

Teacher turnover is a significant factor in the teacher shortage problem, and a growing body of research suggests that classroom management plays a critical role in teacher turnover. This paper examines the effect of exposure to misbehaving students on the likelihood of novice teachers leaving their positions within the first five years. I use quasi-random variation in the presence of misbehaving students, using rich data on teachers’ classroom assignments and retention decisions in North Carolina from 2007 to 2015. To address potential sorting issues by school administrators, I instrument the grade-by-school level share of misbehaving students for the classroom-level misbehavior …

An Evaluation Of Rural Access To Education, Caroline Ackerman, Kera B. Ackerman

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

In Kentucky, educators serve over 100,000 students who qualify for special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Given Kentucky's topography, and the designation of 86 of the Commonwealth's 120 counties as rural, it's essential to understand how the socioeconomic and geographic qualities of the state impact the students being served. Previous research has indicated that nearly a quarter of children in Kentucky live in poverty, with the highest rates existing in rural Eastern Kentucky counties. This statistic, compacted with the knowledge that high-need children in poverty are more likely than their peers to have a disability …

Teacher Retention In Independent Schools, Charles Maddox Jr.

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

Teachers in public and independent schools have left the field of education at a staggering rate. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand what factors kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers describe as influencing their decisions to remain in independent day schools in Florida. For the purpose of this study, independent education is defined as private schools. Five participants were interviewed for the study. The two themes developed in the study were differences from public schools and school leadership. The subthemes for differences from public schools were flexibility, teacher autonomy, and freedom from government control while subthemes for school …

A Qualitative Descriptive Study Exploring The Perceptions Of New Teacher Induction Supports, Tonya Dixon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem of novice teachers leaving the profession in the first few years of their career represented a global issue and an increased attrition rate. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the perceptions of novice U.S. teachers and effective systemic supports provided to new teachers through the lens of social capital. For this study, the intangible components of social capital emerged through the development and fostering of mentoring relationships in an induction program. The methodology used was a qualitative descriptive study using a survey, interviews, and thematic analysis of the survey and interview data collected. The …

Exploring Workplace Relationships And Retention Among Generation Z Teachers: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Kimberly Lawhorn

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe Generation Z (Gen Z) teachers’ experiences with workplace relationships within K-12 schools in the United States and how they affect retention. The theory guiding this study was Donaldson and Dunfee’s theory on integrative social contracts as it relates to relationships in the workplace and retention of teachers born between 1997 and 2012. Moustakas’ transcendental phenomenological approach was used to examine 12 Gen Z teachers’ shared experiences with workplace relationships. Data were collected through individual interviews, journal entries, and a focus group. Data analysis was conducted to answer the question: “What …

Teaching The Teachers: A Qualitative Case Study Of First Year Schoolteachers, Matthew Thomas Stone

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this multiple case study was to understand the challenging experience of first-year teachers at existing classical charter schools in the United States of America. Maslow's theory of human motivation provided the guiding framework into how early year teachers can be effectively supported in schools to prevent attrition, which can have a negative effect on student achievement. This qualitative design utilized a case study approach from two different classical charter schools in the United States of America and featured interviews, journal entries, and the review of first year physical artifacts from ten teachers who are no further than …

Ineffective School Leadership: Teachers Weigh-In, Jerry Burkett, Sonya D. Hayes

School Leadership Review

Effective school leaders are essential to the success of the school environment. Teachers have left schools due to poor and ineffective campus leadership, but often do not report the reasons why they left or do not have a safe mechanism in place to support their claims and drive campus change. The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the perceptions of teachers who work in elementary, middle, and high schools in Texas on the qualities of ineffective principals and how these qualities affect teacher retention. Respondents in an open-ended survey reported that ineffective principals lacked character, professionalism, and ethics; …

“Teaching…Will It Ever Be All That We Want It To Be?”: An Exploration Of Preservice Teachers’ Views Of Retention, Dana Evans

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

The following paper sheds a qualitative lens on beginning teacher’s realities surrounding internship and the future of their careers in education. This action research study explores ten preservice teachers during their elementary and early childhood internship semester. Each participant wrote a reflective journal entry detailing their current and emerging ideas about their own future longevity in the field of teaching. Trends in the decision to teach despite hardship, realities of work/life balance, expectations for longevity, and desire for authentic encouragement ae discussed, as well as implications for policy makers, superintendents, principals, and higher education faculty.

Attending To Pre-Service Teachers’ Professional Agency: Lessons From A Graduate Course On Inquiry And Advocacy, Leslie Duhaylongsod, Megin Charner-Laird, Francesca Pomerantz

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

Preparing pre-service teachers to enact professional agency is both critical and challenging, given how often school district mandates and assessment practices are in conflict with what these candidates have learned and come to believe about teaching and learning. Research also suggests that agency may lead to higher retention rates among teachers. Though the literature on pre-service teachers and the development of agency is growing, the number of studies looking specifically at coursework and agency is limited. This study is an exploration pre-service teachers’ perceptions of agency before and after completing a graduate course designed to support the enactment of agency …

Leveraging Leadership To Retain Early Career Teachers In Stafford County Public Schools, Christopher Gannon, Caroline Canning, Andrew Hoyt, Lauren Johnson, Thomas Mcauley

Doctor of Education Capstones

Stafford County Public Schools requested an evaluation of their current support of Early Career Teachers (ECTs) with one to three years experience, and its potential impact on retention efforts. They stamped this request with urgency, noting the COVID-19 pandemic and teacher pay as two driving factors, specifically, impacting retention of teachers within their first three years. Our Capstone team sought a deeper understanding of the following issues in three research questions: 1) types of support across their division and within their school buildings, 2) the impact of current practices of support, and 3) division-wide considerations for enhancing current systems of …

Examining The Influence Of Secondary Math And Science Teacher Preparation Programs On Graduates' Instructional Quality And Persistence In Teaching, Danielle M. Rhemer, Will Rogers, Sherry Ann Southerland

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This quantitative, non-experimental study explored the relationship between the features of math and science teachers’ preparation programs and their graduates’ instructional rigor and persistence in teaching. Five math and science teacher preparation programs from across the United States were examined. Six sets of instructional tasks were collected from forty-six recent graduates of these programs to provide insights into novices’ instructional rigor, and employment data were collected for thirty-seven of these graduates three to eight years after graduation. Regardless of the program’s features, all teachers could design and implement instruction with moderate to high rigor. However, this ability was not the …

Mentor Teacher And Administrator Attitudes And Beliefs Toward Mentoring Programs In K-12 Education In South Mississippi, Krystle Womack

Dissertations

The teaching profession relies heavily on mentor programs to promote teacher retention, to reduce attrition and to increase the quality of new teachers. Teachers grow professionally through gaining knowledge. Mentor teachers show professional growth through knowledge gained from mentoring programs and serving as mentor teachers.

There is a significant gap in mentoring research in that the mentoring literature is limited in perspective. Research focuses solely on the perspectives of the beginning teacher or the person being mentored, but the perspective of more than one stakeholder is needed to give the full picture of induction and mentoring. This study uses a …

Improving Teacher Retention Within Archdiocese Of Washington Schools, Denise M. Ball

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this applied study was to solve the problem of teacher retention for the Archdiocese of Washington Schools and to design training to address the problem. Specifically, this study solicited input from teachers to help define and or identify (1) the need for teacher retention, (2) what type of school environment they work in, and (3) how a school environment affects teacher retention. Individual teacher and focus group interviews were conducted, and a survey was utilized for data collection and analysis. The measurement instruments captured data on target teachers regarding school environment/climate and job retention, specifically, years in …

Exploring Leadership Support And Its Influence On Self-Efficacy: The Lived Experiences Of Novice Teachers, Lauryn Elizabeth Stripling

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study aimed to understand the retention influence of leadership support for novice teachers at a southern Georgia school district. At this stage in the research, the retention influence of leadership support was generally defined as the systems available to novice teachers that raise levels of morality and motivation, influencing new teachers to continue in the education field (Burns, 1978). Bandura’s social cognitive theory guided the exploration of novice teacher retention relating to leadership system support. The investigation was guided by sub-questions that delve into self-efficacy, novice teachers’ attitudes, and social norms. Participants were teachers with no more than …

Impact Of School Leaders’ Actions On Teachers And Their Practices, Dinara Metova

Dissertations

School leaders play a vital role in teachers' performance; while some leaders create an environment conducive to learning, collaboration, and achievement, others inadvertently contribute to teacher attrition and educational disparities. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of school leaders' actions on teachers and their practices. The context of this inquiry includes two stakeholder groups: 582 school leaders and 1,054 teachers from all 50 states who are members of Facebook Educator Groups. I implemented a mixed methods design by researching scholarly articles and using qualitative and quantitative survey data to find the most effective school leader practices …

The Other Fifty Percent: Expressions From Special Education Teachers About Why They Persist In The Profession, Laron A. Scott, Christine Powell, Lauren Bruno, Christopher J. Cormier, Kendra Hall, Old Dominion University, Joshua P. Taylor, Katherine Brendli

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

We examined reasons special educators are motivated to persist in the profession despite challenges that often lead to attrition for this group. Participants were 21 special education teachers with six or more years of teaching experience across multiple grade levels. Data were collected via the Zoom virtual meeting platform with four focus groups. Semi-structured interview techniques were used, and data were analyzed using deductive coding procedures. Participants shared external, employment, and personal factors associated with Billingsley’s (1993) career decision framework that influenced their persistence, such as supports from school administrators with expertise in special education law, passion for students and …

A Case Study Of Shifting To A Four-Day Student School Week As A Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic And Its Impact On Teacher Job Satisfaction And Retention, Melanie Hyde

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Dissertations

This study examines the lived experiences of elementary teachers in a rural school district in Northwest Georgia that shifted to a four-day student week, Tuesday-Friday, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. When schools shut down due to COVID-19 in March 2020, it launched a new wave of educators walking out the door nationwide, further impacting an already existing problem of teacher shortages. Situated literature has traditionally pointed to a four-day student schedule due to budget cuts and financial gain. This study provides insight from teacher and school leader perceptions through interviews on how shifting to a modified calendar impacted …

The Unique Challenges And Best Practices For Rural School Principals: Attracting And Retaining Skilled Teachers In Small Communities, Ray Barbosa Jr., Betty Coneway

School Leadership Review

The study aimed to address rural school principals with unique challenges and responsibilities who have the critical task of attracting and retaining skilled teachers. These schools often face challenges in hiring and keeping quality teachers due to their remote locations, low salaries, and additional workloads. The research focused on identifying effective leadership practice strategies that can significantly impact teacher recruitment, hiring, and retention in such schools. Given the growing shortage of teachers across the state and country, there is an urgent need to find systemic solutions for rural school leaders. The study's objective was to identify innovative practices in attracting …

The Lived Experiences Of Teachers Of Color And Racial Microaggressions, Torine Champion, Linda Wilson-Jones

Journal of Research Initiatives

This qualitative study describes the lived experiences of teachers of color and identify commonalities within the lived experiences of teachers of color employed in predominately White K–12 schools. This study utilized interpretive phenomenological analysis, viewed through the White racial frame lens. There were 15 participants who were included in this research study. Participants were teachers of color with at least five years of teaching experience in predominately White K–12 environments. Data collection procedures included confidential virtual, semi-structured interviews with specific information the researcher wanted to explore. A lack of professional connectivity and microaggression was revealed as a theme. While teachers …

Cultivating Teachers For High-Poverty Schools, Kit Z Mcguire

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This quantitative study examines the connections between teacher preparation programs (TPPs) and later retention. According to the Theory of Transformative Multicultural Education (Vavrus, 2002), to prepare future teachers for the needs of urban, high-poverty schools, candidates need to be in a culturally responsive environment and receive dedicated instruction in multicultural education. These characteristics were measured three ways: inclusion of diversity in the TPP mission/vision statement, required multicultural coursework course levels, required multicultural coursework credit hours. These variables were included in a path analysis model along with teacher characteristics and school characteristics known to affect teacher retention rates. The intervention variables …

Classroom Teachers: Why The Mass Exodus?, Marybeth Sanders

Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership Dissertations

Abstract

This research study is a qualitative case study that sought to explore the perceptions of first-year teachers on the effectiveness of instructional support and the impact those supports had on their decision to remain in the classroom the following year. The study compared the various kinds of instructional support to the eight school organization characteristics that were the determinants for improving new teacher retention according to the review of the literature as well as aligning with the five levels of needs as presented in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The study included eight novice teachers in their first year of …

Factors Of Teacher Retention, Toni Lopez

Education Theses and Dissertations

The steady decline in teacher retention within the teaching profession remains a pressing issue for our education system, as it significantly impacts student success. This study investigated the crucial factors influencing teacher retention through a design-based implementation mixed-method research methodology. The research includes gathering current teacher retention data from a large suburban school district, analyzing human resource department field notes, conducting teacher interviews, and administering exit and stay surveys. The findings from the literature review and collected data highlight campus culture, sense of belonging, and teacher participation in shared decision-making as influential factors affecting teacher retention. By examining these factors, …

Using The Lens Of Flourishing To Understand The Professional Well-Being Of K-12 Teachers Who Have Worked In Urban Schools For Over A Decade, Candis M. Thomas

Dissertations

Historically, urban public schools with high concentrations of high-poverty, low-achieving students, report having difficulty attracting, developing, and retaining qualified and effective teachers (Ansley et al, 2019; Petty et.al, 2012; Simon & Johnson, 2015; Wilder, 2012). A common explanation to the attrition crisis in urban schools is that teachers are suffering from stressors (e.g., student characteristics, school climate, concerns for safety, lack of parental support, accountability measures), that leaves them burnt out. Yet, there are experienced and qualified K-12 teachers who are committed to working in these schools. Advances in the field of positive psychology, has spilled over into the educational …

Teacher Migration And Retention In Title I High Schools: A Phenomenological Study, Kenethia Lasundra Zachary

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Teacher migration is a fundamental challenge facing many school districts in the United States (Djonko-Moore, 2016). School leaders in Title I schools, which predominately serve minority and low-income students, expressed difficulties retaining teachers who were opting to transfer to lateral positions in non-Title I schools (Whipp & Geronime, 2017). The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological research study was to identify intrinsic and extrinsic factors that led to teachers’ lateral migration from a Title I to a non-title I school. In order to highlight participants’ rationales, the principal researcher posed the following research questions: What were teachers’ perceptions of the organizational …

Novice Teacher Perceptions Of Induction Supports Provided During The First Year, Keri James Tawater

Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive case study examined the perceptions of 6 beginning teachers regarding the supports offered to them during their 1st year of teaching. Based on purposeful and convenience sampling through administrative recommendations, the participants included 4 middle school 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teachers in their 2nd year of teaching. I collected data from documents and multiple interviews to understand the needs of beginning teachers and how to best support them. Utilizing the social cognitive learning framework, I analyzed the results in terms of which supports provided vicarious reinforcements, self-reinforcements, and ultimately self-efficacy. These perceptions and understandings were then compared …

Investigating The Impact Of Student-Teacher Relationships On Teacher Retention And Recruitment, Kylie Scott

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the impact of positive student teacher relationships on teacher retention and recruitment. The overarching research question this thesis project aims to address is how do teachers describe the impact of student-teacher relationships on their decisions to become a teacher and stay in teaching? Verbal data collected through semi-structured interviews with my former teachers have been analyzed and reviewed for common or emergent themes. These themes will be discussed along with other commentary from a literature review, results, and a conclusion.

Adaptability: Its Professional Capital And Influence On Secondary Science Teacher Job Satisfaction, Kristy A. Floyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following a 15-year decline, the United States is experiencing the lowest educator job satisfaction ever recorded amidst a critical teacher shortage. Discussions of how to retain teachers are part of everyday conversations in education. Although much research has been conducted on the many factors influencing job satisfaction, one factor that has yet to be thoroughly studied is teacher adaptability. Everyday challenges such as new curricula, policy changes, and the COVID-19 pandemic require teachers to be adaptable. This study analyzed the results of a teacher survey that examined the elements of professional capital to determine how they affected teacher adaptability and …

The Currency Of Teacher Trust In Working Conditions For Teacher Retention, Jeanette White

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Virginia Public schools continue to face teacher shortages, and policymakers and school leaders are desperately seeking ways to influence teachers' decisions to stay at school. This multi-site case study of seven elementary schools offers a conceptual framework to examine how teachers' trusting relationships with students and parents relate to working conditions and retention. Teacher interview excerpts, an overall measure of teacher working conditions using the Virginia Climate and Working Conditions Survey (Virginia Department of Education, 2021), and school-level descriptive statistics were analyzed to examine the relationship between teachers' perceptions of trust and other working conditions within their schools. In this …

Teacher Turnover During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Andrew Camp, Gema Zamarro, Josh B. Mcgee

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Teachers' levels of stress and burnout have been high throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, raising concerns about a potential increase in teacher turnover and future teacher shortages. We examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected teacher turnover in Arkansas from 2018-19 to 2022-23 using administrative data. We find no major changes in turnover entering the first two pandemic years, but a large increase of 5.3 percentage points (26%) entering the third year, with variation by teacher and student characteristics. We also find that increases in teacher turnover are related to instructional mode and that this turnover may partially be explained by the …

An Examination Of The Relationships Between Campus Administrators And Special Education Teachers And Its Influence On Teacher Retention, Tai Lea Peacock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher shortages have plagued U.S. school districts for many years now as special education and other high-need fields struggle to retain highly qualified teachers. School leaders must gain a better understanding of why special education teachers are leaving at such alarming rates in order to formulate a plan for improving retention. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to examine how campus administrators’ relationships influence the retention of special education teachers. Leader-member exchange theory, which contends that the relationships between leaders and followers impact our work environment and job satisfaction, served as the theoretical framework of this study. A …