As teacher turnover and the demands for accountability and student achievement persist, the need to hire and retain quality teachers becomes increasingly vital. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between participation in Cross Career Learning Communities (CCLC), a type of Professional Learning Community (PLC), and teacher retention in participating Network for Enhancing Teacher-Quality (NET-Q) schools in a southeastern state. One-to-one exact matching was used to match 251 teachers in CCLC groups to 251 control teachers on eight variables including both system and individual level variables. Results showed a ten percent significant difference between the retention percentages within the state public school systems favoring CCLC teachers, χ2(1) = 21.17, N = 502, p < .05, with a medium effect size of h = .4. For teachers participating in CCLCs, a secondary research question asked if there were any differences in teacher retention in schools that had mandatory participation versus those that had voluntary participation. No significant difference was found between participation types and teacher retention. Furthermore, no significant difference was found in the attrition rates between the novice and the veteran teachers participating in the CCLCs. Based on a question from the NET-Q survey, the percentage of teachers indicating that their participation in CCLCs positively influenced their decision to continue in teaching, estimated at 31%, was statistically significant. This study extends the research on one particular type of PLC to teacher retention. The findings of this study may aid school leaders in better understanding how they can address and impact teacher retention in teaching and in their school buildings. Suggestions for future research and implications for policies addressing teacher support and retention are discussed.

abstract: This action research study focused on the beginning teacher attrition issues plaguing schools today. Specifically, this project explored a way to support out-of-state beginning teachers, who are traditionally difficult to retain. While there is literature on teacher retention, the retention of out-of-state teachers has not been well examined. Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and Bandura's self-efficacy theories provided a foundational understanding of this group's needs. This study utilized interactive support sessions for six out-of-state beginning teachers that had five face-to-face sessions and required the teachers to submit weekly reflections between sessions using an iPad and app that allowed teachers to design their reflections using digital images, words, and/or narration. These weekly digital reflections, mapping activities collected during the support sessions, a pre- and post-innovation questionnaire, and interviews provided insights on the impact of these supports, as well as changes that occurred in self-perceptions. The results of this study indicate the challenge and complexities of being an out-of-state beginning teacher. The data showed that the teachers must first have had their basic needs met before they could fully explore and settle into their new identities and role as the classroom teacher. The data also indicated that intentionally teaching these teachers strategies around resiliency, stress management, and self-advocacy was useful for navigating their first semester. The supportive community that developed within the group emerged as a significant finding, and showed the importance of support structures for new teachers, especially for those who are struggling with both a new job and new community. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2015

<p>The education field is experiencing a shortage of qualified teachers, especially in high-poverty schools. All school districts struggle to find ways to prevent the increasing turnover rates in their schools; however, school districts serving impoverished populations have to deal with the impact of teacher turnover more frequently. This qualitative study focused on the lived experiences of four elementary school teachers with ten or more years of experience in Steele Community Schools, a high-poverty school district. This study focused on factors that have led participants to remain in their teaching positions. Using the framework of Fredrick Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the researcher examined motivation and hygiene factors to determine which factors had the greatest impact in increasing a teacher’s likelihood to remain in the profession; more specifically in high-poverty schools. The results of this study provides an understanding of the factors that impact a teacher’s decision to remain in their position and may serve as a reference for school districts that continue to experience high teacher turnover. Through semi-structured interviews, data were collected from four veteran teachers with ten or more years of experience in their district. This study found that, of Herzberg’s motivation and hygiene factors, coworker relations, salary/benefits, and the work itself had the greatest impact on a teacher’s decision to remain in their teaching position in a high-poverty school. The study also brought to light a element outside of Herzberg’s theory which has had just as great of an impact on teacher retention; the outside community. Based on the findings of this of the qualitative study school district leaders could potentially take a deeper look at factors that have been referenced in this study as having had a positive impact on teachers’ decisions to remain in their positions in a high-poverty school and increase teacher retention.</p>

This project study addressed the problem of induction teacher attrition at a rural middle school in the Southeastern United States. The study consisted of a program evaluation of a new induction program to ascertain the program's effectiveness in reducing induction teacher attrition. The theoretical framework for this study was Social constructivism. The goals of the evaluation were to (a) examine evidence supporting the effectiveness of the program, (b) identify whether the program helped the school to meet its new-teacher retention goals, and (c) evaluate induction program processes for their possible revision and improvement at other rural middle schools. A qualitative summative program evaluation using an anonymous online survey was used to gather qualitative data from 19 induction contract teachers at the school. Text analysis was used to search and categorize responses and identify frequently used words and phrases. The results showed that the revised induction program did not influence attrition positively or negatively. However, participation in the induction program provided a positive social outlet for new teachers at the school. The evaluation report included recommendations for program improvement, including the hiring of additional staff to improve induction teacher attrition rates. Implementation of these recommendations may affect positive social change by improving rural induction programs and induction teacher retention.

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The body of research related to teacher retention continues to grow but is limited concerning middle school teachers. The focus of this study was to examine the factors of job satisfaction for middle school teachers. A portion of the study compares teacher responses with Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman's 1959 study of motivation. Additional components of the study provide middle school teachers' feedback on their dispositions and recommendations to administrators and others for attracting and retaining quality middle school teachers. This qualitative study includes a review of related literature and includes a historical perspective of job satisfaction and a discussion of Herzberg's Two-Factor Motivation Theory. Teacher job satisfaction and dissatisfaction, along with current trends in teacher retention efforts, complete the review of literature. Data for the findings were obtained from a demographic survey and semi-structured interviews of current and former middle school teachers. The data were then analyzed to learn what factors encourage middle school teachers to remain in the classroom or to leave. Responses related to teacher dispositions were also analyzed. Findings of this study validate the research of Gawel (1997) based on Bellot and Tutor; salary was not found to be the highest motivator as in the Herzberg study. Instead, participants identified the work itself, their enjoyment of the early adolescent student, and their relationships with co-workers to be important areas of job satisfaction and what keeps them returning to their middle school classrooms. The personal dispositions identified by participants as necessary to being successful as a middle school teacher were a good sense of humor, a love of the age group, and being energetic, flexible, organized, enthusiastic, consistent, and firm. This study will be of interest to universities and colleges with teacher preparatory programs. It will be of interest, also, to school administrators, principals, and staff development directors in their attempts to attract and retain quality middle school teachers in their schools. In addition, the study should be of interest of boards of education, state legislators who fund education, and State Departments of Education.

Over two million new K–12 teachers will be employed in the United States over this decade. Current conservative estimates state that close to thirty percent of new teachers hired to fill these positions will leave the teaching profession within the first three years. This study was designed to obtain current information about accredited teacher credentialing institutions with regards to how they affect teacher longevity in the teaching profession. Utilizing current research as a guide for determining what is needed to bolster the new teacher's ability to cope with the demands of the classroom, this research polled credentialing institutions in the state of California to determine if the elements existed within their programs. This study then presented the findings from the researcher created survey, the review of course catalogues, and follow-up interviews conducted for clarification. This research found that while ninety percent of the responses from the returned surveys agreed that teacher preparation programs do have a responsibility to affect teacher retention there are elements within all current programs surveyed that are missing.

Teacher turnover is a well-studied phenomenon, particularly in highly urbanized locales, but not well researched in a state as geographically and demographically diverse as Pennsylvania, which is a composition of two major metropolitan areas combined with smaller urban centers and expansive rural regions. Those retention studies that do exist have been mainly exclusive to the Philadelphia region, with limited research devoted to the remainder of the state. This lack of a comprehensive empirical approach that compares turnover in three distinct settings limits a nuanced understanding of the issue and, in turn, can lead to incomplete policy considerations. This study utilizes Pennsylvania Department of Education data from 2012-2017, which describes the entire public-school workforce in all local education agencies (LEAs), to study how compensation and auxiliary spending (per student spending sans instructional costs) influence teacher turnover using multiple, parallel Cox Proportional Hazards survival models. Findings suggest that despite a “one size fits all” approach to public school funding policy popular amongst politicians on both sides of the political aisle, the effects of a monetary increase in reducing the likelihood of turnover varies considerably when accounting for the region, Title I status, experience and subject matter. The study highlights how the lack of monetary investment can lead teachers to seek employment elsewhere since low pay functions as a strong demotivator. Additionally, the results suggest that while a pay raise may arrest turnover risk, it is a poor long-term motivator or cause of job satisfaction. The study concludes by offering state and LEA leaders with policy recommendations that may improve both retention and job satisfaction. To date, this is the only study in the current literature that explores teacher turnover extensively in the nation’s fifth most populous state. / Urban Education

Teacher attrition is a state and local concern. Teachers leaving the profession before they reach the age of retirement is costly to school divisions, hinders school achievement, and negatively affects student success. Studies of teacher attrition and retention state teachers are leaving the workforce and pointing to adverse working conditions of teaching in the schools as the main stressor. Increasing teacher resilience may be a pathway to increasing teacher retention in schools. The negative factors associated with teaching in high poverty elementary public schools present challenges that are driving away teachers in their beginning years as well as those with the most experience. Currently, resilience studies have taken on a profession oriented lens. Teacher resilience is how teachers overcome personal and job related challenges to become more resilient and therefore more equipped to manage stress associated with teaching in today's schools. This study uses a survey and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-25 to measure and compare the resilience of two groups of elementary teachers in Southwest Virginia. Teachers from high poverty (≥90%) and lower poverty (≤50%) elementary public schools were identified by their levels of Free and Reduced Price Lunch and qualification for the Community Eligibility Provision. The CD-RISC-25 resulted in statistically insignificant differences between the mean resilience scores between the two groups of teachers, however, the interviews with ten elementary school principals described and delineated the differences between the challenges faced by teachers in high poverty schools compared to teachers in lower poverty schools. / Doctor of Education / The number of teachers leaving the profession before reaching the age of retirement is a state and national concern. The cycle of replacing teachers who leave the classroom is costly to school divisions, negatively influences teachers' working conditions, functions as a barrier to consistent student achievement, and hinders the overall success of the school. Studies of the conditions influencing teachers who leave the profession indicate adverse working conditions as the primary concern. The negative factors associated with teaching in high poverty elementary public schools places additional stress and a litany of challenges for teachers to overcome before they are able to start the instructional day as well as maintain a status quo in the classroom. Currently resilience studies are taking on a profession oriented lens. Teacher resilience results from their capacity to overcome personal and job related challenges to become more resilient and therefore more equipped to manage stress associated with teaching in today's schools. Teachers have a complex set of internal systems (parent, spouse, daughter/son, sibling) interacting within a highly stressful professional environment ( high poverty elementary schools) using multiple skill sets (instruction, behavior management, record keeping, and counseling) at varying degrees of expertise (beginning teacher, experienced teacher, and master teacher). This study investigates the resilience of two groups of teachers working in Southwest Virginia public elementary schools. The first group of teachers were from high poverty elementary schools while the second group of teachers were from lower poverty elementary schools. A survey and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-25 (CD-RISC-25) measured individual teachers' resilience for comparisons between the two groups of teachers. Findings showed there were no statistically significant differences between the resilience of teachers in high poverty elementary schools and lower poverty elementary schools. In addition, there were no statistically significant relationships between teacher resilience, teachers choosing to remain in the profession, and teachers deciding to leave the profession. In contrast to the survey and CD-RISC- the differences between these two groups of teachers derived from the interviews with ten elementary school principals. The comments provided an in-depth perspective to the challenges of working in a high poverty elementary school as compared to a lower poverty elementary school. Understanding the role of resilience in Southwest Virginia teachers in both the high poverty and lower elementary schools may add to plausible policies, workable practices, and engaging professional development dedicated to increasing teachers' abilities to withstand the stressors associated with teaching in a public or private school.

Teacher shortages throughout the country have been an issue for school divisions and leaders. The demand for teachers has increased, while the number of teachers entering and graduating from teacher preparation programs is decreasing (Sutcher et al., 2016). Increased teacher demands by school divisions, schools, families, and testing requirements have contributed to declining teacher job satisfaction and teacher retention. Teachers are leaving high poverty, high minority schools for more affluent schools (Hanushek et al., 2004). The challenge of retaining quality teachers affects schools with diverse populations and high poverty, thus contributing to achievement gaps between minority and non-minority groups (Garcia and Weiss, 2019). Teachers in high poverty or high minority schools, mostly categorized as Title I schools, report low teacher job satisfaction levels, translating into high teacher turnover. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify principal practices that impact teacher job satisfaction and retention in Title I elementary schools in a large suburban Central Virginia school division. The researcher sought to gain insight from Title I elementary teachers on the factors that they identified as impacting their job satisfaction and retention in their Title I elementary school. Title I elementary principals were interviewed and asked to identify their practices that they perceived to impact teacher job satisfaction and retention. The researcher sought to identify common factors identified by both Title I elementary principals and teachers in impacting teacher job satisfaction and retention. The intended outcome of this study was to provide Title I elementary principals and school division leaders with qualitative data to improve teacher job satisfaction and retention in Title I elementary schools. Data collection included five principal interviews and five teacher focus groups with 16 teachers in Title I elementary schools. An analysis of the data indicated that both teachers and principals perceived support, professional respect, relationships, climate, community, and collaboration to impact teacher job satisfaction and retention in Title I elementary schools. It is anticipated that this study's results could help Title I elementary principals and school divisions with high teacher turnover implement practices to impact teacher job satisfaction and teacher retention in Title I elementary schools; thereby improving consistent, quality instruction and student achievement. / Doctor of Education / Teacher shortages throughout the country have been an issue for school divisions and leaders. The demand for teachers has increased, while the number of teachers entering and graduating from teacher preparation programs, and remaining in the profession is decreasing. High poverty, high minority schools, and/or Title I schools are impacted more severely by the teacher retention challenges (Garcia and Weiss, 2019; Sutcher et al., 2016). The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify principal practices that impact teacher job satisfaction and retention in Title I elementary schools in a large suburban Central Virginia school division. The researcher sought to gain insight from Title I elementary teachers on the factors that they identified as impacting their job satisfaction and retention in their Title I elementary school. Title I elementary principals were interviewed and asked to identify their practices that they perceived to impact teacher job satisfaction and retention. The researcher sought to identify common factors identified by both Title I elementary principals and teachers in impacting teacher job satisfaction and retention. The intended outcome of this study was to provide Title I elementary principals and school division leaders with qualitative data to improve teacher job satisfaction and retention in Title I elementary schools. Data were collected from five principal interviews and five teacher focus groups with 16 teachers in Title I elementary schools. An analysis of the data indicated that both teachers and principals perceived support, professional respect, relationships, climate, community, and collaboration to impact teacher job satisfaction and retention in Title I elementary schools. It is anticipated that this study's results could help Title I elementary principals and school divisions with high teacher turnover implement practices to impact teacher job satisfaction and teacher retention in Title I elementary schools; thereby improving consistent, quality instruction and student achievement.