The purpose of this research study was to identify practices that principals utilize that are believed to influence teacher retention. Teacher turnover is a major problem facing principals and school systems today. Much of the present research focuses on why teachers leave the field, but there is little research on the principals' perceptions of what they do to stem the flow of educators leaving the classroom. To accomplish this purpose, a case study was conducted, focused on identifying the principals' role in teacher retention and their perceptions of the most important strategies utilized to stimulate high teacher retention. Qualitative research methods including individual interviews, open-ended questionnaires, and focus groups enabled the researcher to identify, compare, and contrast the perceptions, beliefs, and practices used by the nine study participants. The research design produced interviews filled with rich narratives describing the practices used by principals at schools with high teacher retention. The focus group discussion elucidated the common behaviors that were perceived to support teacher retention. The study yielded evidence that high-performing principals with high teacher retention rates clearly and consistently identified specific practices they believe support teacher retention; that principals play a vital role in teacher retention and that their leadership, support, and daily practices influence a teacher's decision to remain in teaching. The data collected indicates the centrality of creating a positive school culture and a sense of belonging. All the other identified principal practices are intertwined with and contribute to this outcome. / Choosing, supporting, and valuing faculty and encouraging shared decision-making appear to be the central practices in building teacher retention; and these practices are supported by and integrated with principals' modeling of positive personal characteristics, exercising fairness and equity, being visible and approachable, and communicating in an open two-way manner. Congruence of findings from all data collection methods provided an updated list of common practices identified by these highly successful principals that may inform principal preparation and a professional development model for present and future educational leaders interested in maintaining a stable teaching faculty. / by Janet A. Cornella. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This study probes the impact that the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification process has on teachers, schools, and school districts. In particular the study provides research to determine if National Board Certification significantly affects teachers staying in the classrooms as full time teachers. The NBPTS process is explored to better understand the background of the endeavor and how it may thereby assist in promoting teacher retention and whether this concept is being realized. The history of leadership is also explored and discussed as it pertains to education and the NBPTS process. Beyond researching the relationship between National Board Certification and teachers leaving the classroom as full time teachers, this study also sought to determine if ethnicity (Black, White, Hispanic or Other) and/or gender were statistically significant moderators of this relationship. Of the total number of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) who completed the survey (N=220), 22 participants reported that they were not teaching full time in the classroom at the time of this study. Of the total number of teachers who had not obtained NBC (general education teachers or GETs) who completed the survey (N=110), 28 participants reported that they were not teaching full time in the classroom at the time of this study. The results from this study indicate that GETs left the classroom as full time teachers, while remaining employed with the Broward School Board, at more than twice the rate of NBCTs. / by Lewis Jackson. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Teacher attrition is a problem with a number of implications, not the least of which is the teacher shortage. Almost half of all new teachers leave the profession within the first five years, creating a difficult model where more teachers leave the teaching profession compared to teachers entering the profession. Part of the problem is a result of career progression. However, most of teacher attrition is a result of factors such as inadequate pay, administrative support, workplace conditions, student related issues, and collegiality with peers. Without a thorough understanding of the factors that contribute to teacher attrition it is impossible to create an environment where "No Child is Left Behind". Although teachers do not enter the profession with the notion of getting rich, they do need to make enough money to support themselves and their families. Furthermore, professional status in America is closely tied to socioeconomic status. Therefore, while salary may be the largest component of teacher attrition, school and district characteristics, teacher qualifications, and demographics also affect a teacher's decision to leave the profession.

Despite numerous studies and reviews on faculty turnover, there appeared to be no systematic investigation of factors which influenced voluntary turnover among full-time faculty members in Nigerian educational institutions such as those studied here. In addition, it appeared that Nigeria lacked faculty turnover data for use in any meaningful research study. Therefore, this study investigated factors perceived to be influential among full-time faculty members leaving their jobs or institutions voluntarily. The six facets of the Job Descriptive Index developed by Smith, Kendall, and Hulin as well as a questionnaire about commitment development by Mowday, Porter and Steers elicited data concerning: present work, pay, promotion, supervision, coworkers, job in general, and commitment. Two hundred and eight (84.21%) of 247 full-time faculty members from ten selected colleges of technology/polytechnics in Nigeria became involved in this study. Means, frequencies, percentages, one-way ANOVA set at .05 level and Scheffe Test of Multiple Comparison set at .10 level were used for the analysis of data. Based on the findings, it could be established that full-time faculty members in Nigerian Colleges of Technology/Polytechnics are dissatisfied with their conditions of service. The most influential factors for voluntary turnover were pay and opportunities for promotion. Conclusions drawn from the study indicate that the demographic characteristics (gender, age, level of education, years of college teaching experience, salary grade level, college/polytechnic of employment, and region of origin) affect full-time faculty members' work attitudes. Further studies are recommended to determine policies and practices suitable for retaining the most capable full-time faculty members in Nigerian Colleges of Technology/Polytechnics.

Thesis advisor: Laura O'Dwyer / In recent decades, the plight of early career teacher turnover has had significant financial ramifications for our nation’s schools and has posed a serious threat to achieving educational equity, with the most disadvantaged schools experiencing the highest rates of turnover. Using data collected from the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Survey, this study employed discrete-time competing risks survival analysis to explore the first-year experiences of public middle and high school teachers as predictors of their career decisions to stay in their current school, move to a new school, or leave the profession across the first five years of their career. Four facets were conceived as characterizing teachers’ first-year experiences: 1) policies and programs for first-year teachers provided by the administration including mentoring and induction, 2) perceptions of their preparedness to teach, 3) perceptions of school climate and workplace conditions, and 4) satisfaction with teaching. The research questions are: 1. What are the first-year experiences for teachers in the sample and how do they compare between teachers who are retained in their first school placements and teachers who voluntarily or involuntarily turn over in later years? 2. What first-year teacher experiences predict voluntary and involuntary turnover at the end of years 1, 2, 3, and 4? And, how does satisfaction with teaching in the first year interact with the three other facets of the first-year experience to predict voluntary and involuntary turnover across the early career window? Findings suggest there may be differences in the mechanisms that drive the moving and leaving phenomena, suggesting that policymakers treat the two turnover pathways as separate problems requiring separate solutions. Furthermore, findings suggest there may be more policy-amendable variables that can be manipulated in the first year of teaching to prevent leaving than there are to prevent moving, implying that curbing rates of moving to minimize the localized impacts of teacher migration to other schools may be more challenging than reducing rates of leaving the profession. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation.

Conforme aponta a literatura, alta rotatividade de professores pode dificultar o desenvolvimento do trabalho da equipe escolar, com possíveis consequências prejudiciais para a aprendizagem dos alunos, e sinalizar outros problemas na escola, como condições de trabalho relativamente ruins. Esta dissertação tem o objetivo de investigar os determinantes da rotatividade docente na rede estadual de São Paulo, usando os dados dos Censos Escolares de 2007-2011 e considerando a estrutura institucional da rede. A descrição da rotatividade coletiva no nível das escolas evidenciou o alto nível da rotatividade paulista em âmbito nacional, bem como que a maior parcela da rotatividade é explicada pela migração de professores entre escolas. A análise da estrutura institucional da rede revelou que existem políticas com potencial de afetar à mobilidade docente, como o adicional por local de exercício (ALE) e a bonificação por resultados, e que a Secretaria da Educação do Estado (SEE) tem buscado elevar os custos de migração interna da rede. Revelou também que parcela da rotatividade docente até 2010 pode ser vista como estrutural, na medida em que quase metade dos professores não tinha vínculo com a escola e, por isso, não tinha garantia de continuidade na mesma de um ano para outro. Há evidências de que o professor que mais migra tem menor qualificação e de que o aluno mais afetado por equipes escolares mais instáveis é o de menor nível socioeconômico, principalmente nas séries iniciais do fundamental. Dentre as políticas da SEE, a Bonificação por Resultados está associada à menor rotatividade em todas as etapas escolares (ensino fundamental e médio), porém seu efeito é pequeno, e o ALE parece ajudar a fixar o professor do fundamental I nas escolas. / According to the literature, high teacher turnover can be detrimental to school work, with possible damaging consequences to student learning, and indicate underlying problems, as relatively poor work conditions. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the determinants of teacher turnover at schools managed by São Paulo State government using data from Censo Escolar 2007 to 2011 and considering the institutional features of the school administration. São Paulo has high collective turnover rates by schools compared to other Brazilian States and migration between schools accounts for most of the total teacher turnover. Between the relevant institutional features of the school administration are the existence of policies related to turnover, as the teacher bonus and the adicional por local de exercício (ALE), and the fact that the Education Department has increased the migration costs between schools. Also we can view the teacher turnover of São Paulo State as partly structural, because half of the teachers did not have a stable link with schools until 2010. There is evidence that the migrant teacher is less qualified and that schools serving economically disadvantaged and black students appear more vulnerable to turnover, especially elementary schools (first grades of ensino fundamental). The teacher bonus is associated negatively to turnover, but its marginal effect is very small, and ALE seems to help to retain teachers in elementary schools.

The purpose of this study was to explore elementary second-stage teachers’ (4–10 years experience) career decisions and the teaching and working conditions associated with those decisions. Retaining teachers is of extreme importance to public schools because chronic turnover is financially, organizationally, and instructionally costly. The study was conducted in two phases: (1) the collection and analysis of quantitative Teaching Empowering Leading and Learning Massachusetts (TELL Mass) (2014) survey data and (2) the collection and analysis of qualitative findings from interviews and a confidential questionnaire to obtain background and demographic information. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the survey results. A thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) of the interview transcripts was conducted to identify themes. Both school leadership and instructional practices and support proved to be important to survey respondents. However, the responses to the survey did not show that elementary second-stage teachers had markedly different immediate professional plans than their novice and veteran counterparts. Further, according to the survey data, there were no significant differences in the teaching and working conditions that affect the immediate professional plans of novices, second-stage, and veteran teachers. The elementary second-stage teachers interviewed identified the importance of the social aspects of teaching––students, colleagues, and school and district leaders––over any other teaching or working condition, when making career decisions. Even in challenging environments teachers noted how leaders and colleagues can impact decisions positively. These results, while not generalizable, can inform administrators, schools, and districts seeking to decrease elementary second-stage teachers departure from the classroom. Implications for practice and policy and for future research are suggested.

This paper examines the impact on pension generosity on teacher turnover in North Carolina Public School teachers. It specifically focuses on the impacts of vesting, employer contribution, and pension generosity for out-of-state teachers in their first five years of teaching. High rates of teacher turnovers, especially teachers in their early career, have been shown to negatively impact North Carolina students. As states search for solutions to decrease turnover and recruit more qualified teachers, the effects of pension programs on teacher turnover has yet to be thoroughly examined. This paper found that there was a slight negative correlation between teacher turnover and the generosity of pension programs.

Focus County School District in the Mideast United States experienced a 12% teacher turnover rate over the last 2 years. The purpose of this study was to explore those factors that led to teachers leaving the district. Bandura's social cognitive theory was the guiding theory to examine and explain those factors that contributed to the district's teachers' attrition. Using narrative inquiry, the teachers' thick descriptions of their experiences were collected through the interview process. The data consisted of 9 personal interviews of teachers who left the district. .The data were analyzed and coded through the 6-part LaBovian model of abstract, orientation, complicating action, evaluation, result, and coda. The semistructured interviews were analyzed with thematic analysis of the interviews. The 4 themes, developed inductively, were (a) lack of administrative support, (b) mentoring, (c) teacher preparation, and (d) salary. The results of the study prompted questions about how teacher careers might be sustained by considering each person's narrative stories. A policy paper project was created based on the findings of the study. The policy paper addresses teacher turnover in Focus County schools and ways to mitigate the turnover crisis. Positive social change will result from the school district being better positioned to improve teacher stability. Through increased teacher stability, the students will be situated for improved instruction.