Education Commons^™

Why Do They Stay? Exploring The Factors That Contribute To New Jersey Tfa Alumni Remaining In The Classroom Beyond Their Two-Year Commitment, Shavon Chambers

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

In the United States, there are more than 600 alternate route programs, including Teach for America, providing school districts with hundreds of new teachers every year (Feitritzer, 2009). The shortage of highly qualified teachers, particularly in urban school districts, is an ongoing concern in education and one not easily solved by investment in recruitment and hiring given that in urban school districts half of the new teachers will leave within three years (Ingersoll & Smith, 2003) Despite evidence of the challenges of teacher retention and attrition, many teachers, including those in alternative certification programs like TFA, decide to remain in …