School and District Leader Perceptions on Beginning Teacher Support and Retention

School and District Leader Perceptions on Beginning Teacher Support and Retention

Author: Elizabeth Hastings Payne Moran

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13:

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Teacher shortage is a chronic problem across the United States today. As a result school districts struggle each year to appropriately staff their schools and provide students with highly-qualified teachers. Of those teachers leaving, the highest category was new teachers or those educators who are in their first five years of teaching. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the perspectives of school and district leaders on beginning teacher support and retention. InQuiry methodology was used to collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data. Findings generated three distinct viewpoints. An analysis and implications for these findings are discussed in order to highlight factors that can be implemented to improve teacher retention.


Teacher Perceptions Regarding Teacher Retention in an Urban Middle School

Teacher Perceptions Regarding Teacher Retention in an Urban Middle School

Author: Marilyn Parker

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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The new terminology in public school districts is "urban education" which breeds an entirely new scope of needs for public urban school success. Teachers who work in urban schools with large numbers of low socio-economic minority students feel less satisfied and are more likely to turn over; meaning that turnover is high with low morale in the very schools that would benefit the most from a stable staff of experienced teachers (Grissom, 2011). The purpose of this qualitative research study was to identify teacher perceptions regarding teacher retention in a high need, low socio-economic public urban middle school, identifying reasons why teachers stay at that same school, transfer to another school within the district, or leave the profession in entirety. Urban schools are challenged to improve teacher retention and quality (Sachs, 2004). The participants in this study consisted of a sample population of 50 certified novice and veteran teachers who completed a confidential online survey that consisted of eight open-ended questions. Findings from this study are expected to show factors that can positively or adversely impact teacher retention according to teacher perceptions in a high need, low socio-economic public urban middle school. Some of the factors that are expected to be revealed are teacher preparation for urban education, teacher workload, and campus leadership support. Implications for school leaders are to consider teacher feedback regarding campus improvement, assist teachers with balancing workloads, and increase effective campus leadership support to retain high quality teachers for urban school long-term success.


Novice Teachers’ Perspectives of what Leadership Can Do to Retain Teachers

Novice Teachers’ Perspectives of what Leadership Can Do to Retain Teachers

Author: Pilar Leigh Westbrook

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13:

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Addressing teacher turnover is costly regarding recruitment, training, and student learning loss to schools and taxpayers. Given such high costs and importance in the growth and stability in society, understanding novice teachers’ perceptions about teacher attrition needs further investigation. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate what leadership methods and administrative supports are needed to retain novice teachers. There were three research questions: (a) What can principals/school leaders provide to support and retain teachers? (b) Do the leadership principles outlined by Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) align with novice teacher job satisfaction enough to retain teachers? (c) What are the most important pillars of the leadership responsibility matrix as they pertain to perceptions of novice teachers about retention? The study was conducted through multiple focus groups and interviews with 13 novice teachers who had 0 to 3 years of experience working in a school district serving a high poverty, high minority student population of 12,000 students. Each research question was satisfied based on data collected and coded into themes that afforded a clear understanding of what novice teachers need to feel and be successful in teaching. The collective findings from the participants found the following themes as those most important to support and keep teachers: Coaching, Communication, Relationships, Cooperative Team Building, Resources, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) of teachers, and Culture. The qualitative data suggest a loosely coupled relationship exists between needs of the novice teachers and the 21 responsibilities of school leaders. The predominant theme of coaching surfaced among the novice teacher participants. Findings from the study may be used by school districts to obtain a better understanding of modern leadership principles from the viewpoint of novice teachers. The findings suggest there are growth opportunities for school leaders to encourage, grow, and sustain teachers. The study concludes with recommendations for future research.


THE IMPROVEMENT OF A BEGINNING TEACHER SUPPORT PROGRAM TO ENHANCE TEACHER RETENTION.

THE IMPROVEMENT OF A BEGINNING TEACHER SUPPORT PROGRAM TO ENHANCE TEACHER RETENTION.

Author: Ervin D. Patrick

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 147

ISBN-13:

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This study was designed to improve the current beginning teacher support program and address the problem of beginning or early career teachers leaving the district. Researchers have found that as many as 50% of teachers leave the profession within their first five years of teaching (Darling-Hammond & Sykes, 2003). This study proposed changes to the Beginning Teacher Support Program that would positively impact the turnover rate. The study focused on Craven County Schools, located in eastern North Carolina. The district has experienced three consecutive years of teacher turnover greater than 15%, causing a high degree of concern within the district. This improvement study was conducted following a small-scale proof of concept in an elementary school within the district. Supporting this study is the model of improvement offered by Langley et al. (2009), joined with the methodology of Improvement Science. There were five improvement strategies implemented in the school during the study including: (a) mentor beginning teachers through years four to six, (b) employ an experienced Exceptional Children's teacher as a beginning teacher mentor, (c) assign buddy teachers in the same subject as the beginning teacher, (d) employ additional beginning teacher mentors and (e) implement mentor and beginning teacher support meetings. The goal of this study and the implementation of these strategies was to reduce teacher turnover to 10% in the school. Although the goal was not reached during the current school year, at the conclusion of the study, the improvement strategies were deemed effective and comprehensive enough for a large-scale implementation across the district.


Teachers’ Perceptions of Motivational Factors that Influence Elementary Teacher Retention in Urban Title I Schools

Teachers’ Perceptions of Motivational Factors that Influence Elementary Teacher Retention in Urban Title I Schools

Author: Patrice Y. Graham

Publisher:

Published: 2024

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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National teacher shortages have received attention in the last few years, and researchers have projected turnover rates will grow in the upcoming years. As a result, districts and administrators were challenged to hire highly qualified teachers. There needed to be more educational research regarding why teachers remained in urban Title I schools. Due to the lack of research, further research was necessary to form a better understanding of increasing elementary school teacher retention. Elementary school teachers from one school district in Georgia responded to a questionnaire to explore the motivational factors influencing their retention in Title I schools. The 29 certified teachers indicated the following motivational factors influencing their retention in urban Title I schools aligned into eight themes: acceptance, altruism, educational systems, interpersonal skills, job satisfaction, leadership, resiliency, and work-related stress. In this study, I explored the teacher retention crisis, beginning with understanding the factors that influenced teacher retention. While there was abundant research data on teacher attrition, there needed to be more research on the factors affecting teacher retention. Identifying characteristics that support teacher retention was crucial for maintaining a skilled and satisfied staff. School districts and managers must learn how to establish systems that cater to the essential requirements of instructors working in high-poverty, low-performing schools.


Schools and Society

Schools and Society

Author: Jeanne H. Ballantine

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2017-10-25

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 1544302398

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The authors are proud sponsors of the 2020 SAGE Keith Roberts Teaching Innovations Award—enabling graduate students and early career faculty to attend the annual ASA pre-conference teaching and learning workshop. This comprehensive anthology features classical readings on the sociology of education, as well as current, original essays by notable contemporary scholars. Assigned as a main text or a supplement, this fully updated Sixth Edition uses the open systems approach to provide readers with a framework for understanding and analyzing the book’s range of topics. Jeanne H. Ballantine, Joan Z. Spade, and new co-editor Jenny M. Stuber, all experienced researchers and instructors in this subject, have chosen articles that are highly readable, and that represent the field’s major theoretical perspectives, methods, and issues. The Sixth Edition includes twenty new selections and five revisions of original readings and features new perspectives on some of the most contested issues in the field today, such as school funding, gender issues in schools, parent and neighborhood influences on learning, growing inequality in schools, and charter schools.


Professionalism and Community

Professionalism and Community

Author: Karen Seashore Louis

Publisher: Corwin

Published: 1995-03-24

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13:

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Authors Louis and Kruse examine the question: Why do some school communities succeed and others fail? They take a look at five urban schools that have been attempting restructuring for several years - enough time to show results. They describe how the development of a professional community - or the lack thereof - impacts the implementation of change and how teachers' efforts at professionalism can positively affect the process. Focusing on the structural, social, and human conditions of schooling, the authors describe how to form a professional community. Using their extensive research on professionalism, they develop a framework for evaluating the elements of community and then use the framework to present a cross-case analysis of various schools in the study. Professionalism and Community is a potent source of information for all policymakers and school leaders who are committed to long-term, effective change. It reveals a significant reason why so many well-intentioned, well-planned reforms fail, in spite of individual commitment and the heroic efforts of the participants. By observing those who have gone before, readers can learn important lessons from this study and discover the keys to making their own reform efforts work.


Organizational Learning in Schools

Organizational Learning in Schools

Author: Kenneth Leithwood

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 9789026515408

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This volume presents the view that what matters most are learning processes in organizations and ways of enhancing the sophistication and power of these processes. Each contributor, therefore, explicitly addresses the meaning(s) of organizational learning which they have adopted themselves.


The Relationship Between Principal Support and Teacher Retention in Hard to Staff Schools

The Relationship Between Principal Support and Teacher Retention in Hard to Staff Schools

Author: Amy Lee Hughes

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13:

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This dissertation examines the relationship between principal support and retention of teachers in hard to staff schools. The purpose of this study was to, (a) to determine the relationship between teacher retention and principal support, (b) to examine the perception of support between teachers and principals and how these perceptions affect teacher retention in hard to staff schools, and (c) to discover if there is a correlation between the principal's supports and teacher retention. Within these school environments, the participants were both administrators and teachers who are employed in the sample schools. Findings in this study verified information found within the literature review and were consistent with prior research and studies indicating that support of teachers have a large impact on teacher retention in hard to staff schools. Teachers that participated in this study provided insight as to which forms of support they valued most from their principals. The recommendations that are provided are intended to be a guide for administrators working in hard to staff schools to improve their programs so that they face less teacher attrition in hard to staff schools. The recommendations are also intended to encourage leaders to look more closely at their programs and their own styles of leadership and support as to improve their communication and support of their teachers in these hard to staff schools. Specific recommendations are made for administrators, institutions, teachers, working in hard to staff schools. As well as researchers interested in pursuing more information in this area of research.


Secondary-school Principals' Perceptions of Their Role in the Retention of the Novice Teacher

Secondary-school Principals' Perceptions of Their Role in the Retention of the Novice Teacher

Author: Theresa J. Coker

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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ABSTRACT SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS' PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR ROLE IN THE RETENTION OF NOVICE TEACHERS Theresa J. Coker Secondary schools in the U.S. face instructional challenges due in part to novice teacher turnover. Research indicates that new teachers remain in the profession due to: supportive principal leadership, an orderly school environment, classroom autonomy, and significant professional development (Grissom, 2008). The purpose of this study was to understand how secondary-school principals perceived their role in novice teachers' professional development and retention. Qualitative research using in-depth, semi-structured interviews included 15 secondary-school administrators from an urban district in the southeast United States. Data analysis used Eisner's (1998) four-part approach to educational criticism—description, interpretation, evaluation, and thematics—supported by Hatch's (2002) typological analysis. Four typologies organized description and interpretation: principals' early experiences as educators; principals' perceptions of the recruitment process; principals' view of the process of professional development; and life and duties of principals. The thematics dimension of educational criticism indicated that principals' lack of time led to their delegating leadership tasks to other staff regarding novice teachers' professional development. Their descriptions of their interactions with novice teachers reflected a transactional leadership style and an approach of "leading from the middle" (Bolman & Gallos, 2011) to respond to both demands from above and needs at the school level. Further, these principals perceived all teachers new to their schools as novice, whether experienced or inexperienced. Implications include considering transformational leadership when working with novice teachers and clarifying hiring and retention responsibilities regarding novice teachers. Such communication among all parties would support novice teachers' development and commitment to the profession. Further research might focus on observing the interactions of both administrators and faculty with novice teachers to understand the complexity of the process of their professional development.