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A Case Study Of Teacher Turnover And Retention In An Urban Elementary School, Barry Kamrath, Kim Bradford

Educational Considerations

This mixed methods study examined the phenomenon of teacher turnover in one high poverty urban elementary school to determine common characteristics of teachers who remained long-term (> 5 years), as well as factors that contributed to teachers’ decisions to leave before reaching their sixth year. The study included structured interviews with long-term teachers and surveys of short-term teachers. Qualitative data were analyzed through constant-comparative analysis to determine emergent themes; whereas, quantitative data provided triangulation of interview data as well as the formalizing of comparisons. Long-term teachers had built deep connections to the school, its students, and the community, despite the …