What causes a teacher to leave and move to another district or campus? Many times, teachers leave because they are unsatisfied, overwhelmed, or unprepared for the demands of the job. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the contextual factors that may explain why teachers decide to transfer to another campus or leave their current district to pursue a position at another district. The following factors, as told from the teachers' perspective, were examined: (a) campus culture, (b) campus leadership, (c) working conditions, and (d) other contributing factors. This study focused on the types of experiences teachers reported encountering, whether positive or negative, that contributed to teacher turnover. Data for this qualitative study included a survey and focus group. Participants selected to participate in this study were teachers who either exited from a public-school district or transferred from one campus to another campus within the same school district. An analysis of the qualitative responses from the teacher survey and a focus group interview provided answers and insight into the research questions. The data were collected and analyzed to further understand the types of experiences or factors that contribute to teacher turnover within one school district. The findings from this study confirm that the literature about factors that influence teacher turnover DO matter to teachers. Based on the research literature, this study and my own experiences, the campus principal holds the major responsibility for building and sustaining positive relationships with teachers. Recommendations for future research and implications for future practice as it relates to school principals and district administration are discussed.

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Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Also available in print.

Teachers are central to improving education quality and student learning. Yet, it is common that education systems short-pay teachers. Linking the occupational choice literature, this dissertation raises concern regarding potentially large adverse effects of holding teacher wages back from broader market levels, in terms of declining teacher aptitude and reduced student learning. Using a four-part analysis, I examine and contextualize theoretical stipulations using the case of Chinese teachers. Firstly, in Part I, I establish the causal link between teachers’ human capital level and student learning outcomes, by employing student fixed-effect models to relate differences in teachers across subjects to variations in student test scores. I find statistically significant impacts of teachers holding advanced tertiary degrees on improving student learning, at 0.033 standard deviations or adding about 1 additional month of learning over a typical 9-month academic year. Secondly, in Part II, I document relative pay gaps between teachers and comparable workers using Mincer earnings function. Between 1988 and 2013, I find sharp shifts in the relative wage attractiveness in the teaching sector, such that teachers’ mean wage levels experienced 24 percentage-points reversal, at 11 percent below the private sector levels in 2013. Also, returns to holding advanced tertiary degrees in teaching is about 11 to 15 percent less than that of the private sector in years 2007, 2008, and 2013, while this difference was statistically indistinguishable in the pre-2007 period. Thirdly, in Part III, I estimate the probability of entry to teaching by different human capital traits, and find declining trends for more educated individuals overall. In 2007 and 2013, new labor market entrants with advanced tertiary degrees are 4.7 and 5.8 percentage-points less likely than comparable workers in older cohorts to choose teaching. Similar patterns continue to hold when I use alternative human capital and skills proxies. Fourthly, in Part IV, using a national representative panel dataset containing 211 matched teachers, I track career destinations and relate it to opportunity wages and non-pecuniary outcomes. In general, I find that teacher turnover rates are high at about 35 percent, half of which are exits from the education sector entirely; there also exist positive associations between opportunity wage levels and turnover decisions, but there is no evidence of non-pecuniary gains from turnovers.

Much research has been conducted on what can be done to retain teachers in education. This study is an examination of what keeps teachers in high-poverty middle schools. The purpose of the study was to examine why teachers choose to stay in high poverty schools. According to Ed. Gov.(1999) high poverty schools are defined as schools that have 75% to 100% of students on free or reduced lunch. Eight teachers were interviewed from 2 high poverty schools located in the southeastern region of the United States. These teachers had been employed by their school for at least 5 years. Data were gathered and analyzed to reveal why teachers stay in high poverty schools even though the work can be extremely difficult. This study showed that the teachers interviewed feel working in a high poverty school can be more difficulty due to issues such as behavior and lack of parental involvement. However, rewards such as student growth and the love they develop for the students are worth the extra labor they put into their jobs. The good they find in their jobs seemed to outweigh the bad.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-120). Also available on the Internet.