Excessive teacher turnover has considerable financial, logistical, and academic implications for public education. The purpose of this study was to develop a grounded theory (GT) that conceptualized the experiences of former Georgia public school teachers in order to better understand voluntary teacher attrition. Informed by Ryan and Deci's self-determination theory, this GT study provided insight into the process by which teachers arrive at the decision to leave public schools. Interviews with 12 former Georgia public school teachers were conducted. A constant comparative analysis was used to develop the theory of navigating the cycle of decline, which accounts for the general trend of declining motivation, well-being, and fulfillment among teachers who choose to leave the public school system. The cycle of decline consists of 4 stages: (a) embarking, in which new teachers initially experience concerns about authenticity and support in the public school context; (b) resolving, in which teachers attempt to resolve these concerns; (c) weathering, in which teachers attempt to endure or tolerate the conditions causing these concerns; and (d) opting out, in which teachers opt to leave the public school context entirely. The theory provides a useful framework for identifying and implementing strategies for retaining public school teachers. Stakeholders and policymakers in education may be able to minimize the impact of early attrition by ensuring opportunities for teachers to do authentic work in a supportive environment. The study supports positive social change by providing new insight into factors that lead to teacher turnover, and could thus help improve systemic and educational outcomes of public schools in Georgia and across the nation.

Teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have among the highest attrition rates of any teaching discipline in the United States. High attrition rates affect EBD teachers, school districts, and students with EBD. Through the theoretical lenses of Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory and Eisenberger's organizational support theory (OST), this study sought to determine if there was a difference in college preparation, job support, and job benefit/amenity factors identified by EBD teachers who intended to leave the discipline (n = 6) and those who intended to stay (n = 9). This quantitative, survey-based study yielded data from 15 EBD teachers. Results of independent-samples t-tests indicated there were no statistically significance differences in responses between the 2 groups. However, there were notable differences when the highest and lowest means scores of individual survey items were examined. The importance both groups placed on job supports when compared to college preparation and job benefit/amenities was evident. Additionally, the results indicated that EBD teachers planning on leaving the profession placed more importance on direct contact with school administrators when compared with those intending to stay. Results of this study should be taken with caution as they are drawn from a relatively small sample of EBD teachers. The results of the study may add to the field of research on EBD teacher attrition rates and possibly assist universities, educational leaders, and education policy makers in developing means to address this issue. Importantly, the results of the study could promote the professional success of EBD teachers as well as the academic, behavioral, and social growth of the students they teach.

Retention of teachers in correctional organizations is an ongoing challenge. A correctional education setting is a nontraditional unstable academic setting where teacher turnover is one third within the first 5 years. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of leaders in correctional organizations who are challenged with finding ways to reduce teacher turnover in a juvenile correctional facility. The conceptual framework that guided this study was Bandura's self-efficacy theory. Using purposive sampling, 6 former juvenile correctional principals participated in the study. Data were collected through systematic open-ended semistructured interviews with 4 occurring via email correspondence, a reflective journal, and member checking. Participants provided their perceptions of factors or events that impacted a teacher's decision to remain in or leave the field. Data were analyzed with an intention to discover emerging themes through the process of thematic coding via a modified Van Manen method. The themes that emerged from the data included participatory leadership/principal support, administration expectations versus teacher expectations, correctional setting barriers, and teacher flexibility. Leadership employing and retaining quality teachers increases the probability of incarcerated youth receiving continuous educational services that are necessary to reenter society as a productive student. The increase chance of success provides a boost to the economy for society, a positive social change, because of the youth's academic and job readiness to operate as a productive citizen.

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.

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.

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.

Due to a high rate of teacher attrition currently being experienced in public schools, a teacher shortage may be looming in the near future. Research shows that attrition rates are highest among novice teachers. In part, teacher attrition has also made it increasingly difficult for schools to meet the "highly qualified" requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Past efforts to reverse this trend have concentrated on increasing the supply of qualified teachers; however, more recent studies have shown that the solution lies partially in raising retention rates. Research has identified several reasons teachers have left the profession, such as, low salary, student misbehavior and working conditions, including administrative support. Another common thread among teachers who leave the profession has been dissatisfaction with working conditions in their school. This study examined the relationship between teachers' intent to stay in teaching, teachers' job satisfaction, perceived administrative support, teaching experience, perceived student behavior, and teachers' satisfaction with their salaries. After the conduct of a preliminary descriptive analysis, a hypothesized path model was employed through the use of four different samples derived from the 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey, Public School Teacher Questionnaire (Form SASS-4A). The first sample was the combined environmental setting. The second, third, and fourth sub-samples were urban, urban fringe, and rural samples, respectively, as identified by the respondent. Based on the path analysis, perceived administrative support, teaching experience, perceived student behavior, and teachers' satisfaction with their salary were identified as significant predictors of teachers' job satisfaction and intent to stay in teaching. Administrative support was the most significant predictor of teachers' job satisfaction, while teachers' job satisfaction was the most significant predictor of teachers' intent to stay in teaching. The path analysis also confirmed that perceived administrative support mediates the effect of teaching experience, perceived student behavior, and teachers' satisfaction with their salary relative to both teachers' job satisfaction and intent to stay in teaching. No significant differences were found among the sample and their sub-samples based on the environmental setting of the school. / Ph. D.

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.

Teacher retention is a growing issue that plagues schools across America (Grissom, 2011). Consequently, urban high poverty, high minority schools face even greater challenges as they expect to lose approximately 50% of their teachers within their first five years on the job. According to Grissom (2011), school working conditions explain both teacher turnover and teacher satisfaction, and principal effectiveness has a significant positive impact on teacher retention, especially in disadvantaged schools. The purpose of this study was to examine leadership practices teachers and principals perceive to influence teacher retention in urban, high- poverty, high- minority schools. A basic qualitative research design was employed to gain an in-depth understanding of teachers' and principals' perceptions of how school climate and culture, instructional leadership, school mission and vision, and teacher development impact teacher retention in urban, hard- to- staff schools. Data collection included individual and focus group interview data from five principals and 17 teachers with longevity in urban, high-poverty, high-minority schools in Southeastern Virginia. An analysis of the data indicated that administrative support, principal-teacher relationships, shared leadership, clear expectations and instructional leadership are essential to teacher retention in urban, hard-to-staff schools. The results of this study may impact the recruitment and development of school leaders by both districts and school leadership programs. / Ed. D.