TEACHER RETENTION: WHY THEY STAY
by
Michael Kurtz
3341 Derby Court Plover, Wisconsin, 54467
mkurtz@pointschools.net
Henry St. Maurice
1255 Deming Way
Madison, Wisconsin, 53717
HStMaurice@edgewood.edu
Abstract
This study was based on national studies of teacher retention. A
quantitative survey modified from Wiegand (2003) was completed by 425
practicing teachers from four Wisconsin school districts. Perception
data were gathered from 319 participants who reportedly planned to
continue teaching at their current schools. Findings from the study were
that the teacher turnover rate was higher than national averages, and
that participants’ responses were influenced by gender, age, current
school teaching experience, and grade levels. Responses from
participants who reported decisions to remain showed significant
relationships to their responses on intrinsic motivation, school
organizational characteristics, and school climate.
Keywords: Teacher Retention; Teacher Turnover; Teacher
Attrition; Teacher Recruitment; School Improvement; Student AchievementHighlightsTotal teacher turnover rates were higher than national rates.
Characteristics associated with teacher efficacy were the strongest
reasons to stay.
Relationships with students and colleagues influenced decisions to
remain.
Participants’ responses were strongly influenced by grade levels.
1. Introduction
This study addressed teacher retention at the school level. It used a
quantitative survey of teachers who have remained in teaching positions
in Wisconsin to find their perceptions of conditions that affected their
decision to stay at their current schools.
Since the early 1980s, education research and policy in the United
States has been brimming with recommendations for improving public
schools. A significant part of the discussion revolved around the issue
of teacher labor markets (Borman & Dowling, 2008). Teacher shortages
were predicted based on increasing student enrollments and increasing
teacher retirements (Ingersoll, 2001). The educational literature
articulated the growing concern that teacher shortages would cause the
nation’s school districts to lower teacher standards, filling the
increasing numbers of teacher openings with marginally qualified
teachers (Darling-Hammond,
1984).
Concern over teacher shortages creating school staffing problems has
been the target of educational reform and policy initiatives. School
staffing problems refer to a school administration’s “inability to
adequately staff classrooms with qualified teachers” (Ingersoll,
2001, p. 500). The 1983 release of A Nation at Risk called for
qualified teachers and recommended incentives for attracting outstanding
students to the teaching profession (Gardner,
1983). A 1996 report from the National Commission on Teaching and
America’s Future (NCTAF) urged the nation to invest in quality teaching
by setting a goal to provide every student with “competent, caring, and
qualified teaching” by the year 2006 (p. 10). According to the report,
a central strategy for improving schools is recruiting, preparing, and
retaining good teachers.
States and school districts have addressed school staffing problems
through recruitment strategies such as alternative certification
programs to allow college graduates to begin teaching without formal
education training. States and districts have also recruited teachers
from overseas, offered scholarships, financial incentives, student loan
forgiveness, housing assistance, and tuition reimbursement to aid
recruitment (Ingersoll & May, 2012). The dominant policy approach to
school staffing problems has been teacher recruitment (Borman &
Dowling, 2008; Ingersoll, 2001).
In contrast to recruitment, policy makers have paid relatively less
attention to the role of teacher turnover in school staffing problems
(Ingersoll, 2001). However, teacher turnover is a significant aspect
behind the need for attracting new teachers (Murphy & DeArmond, 2003;
Ingersoll, 2001; Ingersoll & Perda, 2010). Two major components of
teacher turnover are teacher attrition and teacher migration. Teacher
attrition refers to teachers “who leave the occupation of teaching
altogether” and teacher migration refers to teachers “who transfer or
move to different teaching jobs in other schools” (Ingersoll, 2001, p.
503). When teachers exit the profession or migrate within or across
school districts, they create vacancies that must be filled. Higher
levels of turnover increase the demand for teachers, creating a greater
need to increased supply. In other words, teacher turnover causes
teacher shortages that result in school staffing problems.
These problems are already severe in some instances. An estimated 3.9
million new elementary and secondary teachers will be needed for the
2008-2009 through 2020-2021 school years (Aaronson & Meckel, 2008). At
the beginning of the 1999-2000 school year, schools across the nation
hired 64,000 math and science teachers. By the end of the following
year, nearly 68,000 had left or moved to other schools or school
districts (Ingersoll & Perda, 2010).
Two conditions driving the demand for teachers are a growing number of
teacher retirements and a larger percentage of the teacher workforce
composed of beginning teachers. According to the NCTAF (2010), the
teacher workforce is aging with nearly half of the workforce at or near
retirement age. Ingersoll and Perda (2010) found that the number of U.S.
teachers over age 50 has grown 141% from nearly 530,000 in 1988 to
almost 1.3 million in 2008. As aging teachers exit the profession, they
are generally replaced with beginning teachers (Grissmer & Kirby,
1997). Some researchers estimated that between 30-50% of beginning
teachers leave the profession within the first five years
(Darling-Hammond, 1997; DeAngelis & Presley, 2011; Grissmer & Kirby,
1991; Ingersoll & Smith, 2003). Replacing exiting teachers with
beginning teachers who generally have high rates of attrition may
increase overall teacher turnover rates and simultaneously increase
demand for teachers.
Teacher migration adds to the complexity of turnover. At
individual-school levels, the impact of teachers changing schools is the
same as teachers leaving for other reasons. In either case, the school
has to replace the vacating teacher. After examining population data in
Illinois, DeAngelis and Presley (2011) found that “on average, about
40% of schools’ total loss of new teachers each year between 1987 and
2001 was due to teachers moving to teaching positions in other IPS”
[Illinois Public Schools] (p. 611). Using data from the 1990-1991
Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and the 1991-1992 Teacher Follow-up
Survey (TFS), Ingersoll (2001) found migration to represent nearly 55%
of total teacher turnover.
A certain amount of turnover is normal, inevitable, and can be
beneficial (Ingersoll, 2001) if those who are leaving are the least
effective teachers (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Ronfeldt, Loeb, & Wyckoff,
2013). However, high levels of turnover can have negative financial,
academic, and organizational effects.
The financial costs of teacher turnover can be attributed to costs
associated with recruitment and advertising, hiring incentives,
administrative processing, and teacher training. According to a
five-school-district study conducted by Barnes, Crowe and Schaefer
(2007), the cost of replacing a teacher ranged from $4,366 in Jamez
Valley, New Mexico to $17,872 in Chicago, Illinois. They estimated the
total cost of turnover for Chicago Public Schools to be over $86
million per year. The Alliance for Excellent Education (2005) estimated
the national cost of teacher attrition at $2.2 billion per year. When
including migration, the Alliance determined that the nation’s schools
spend approximately $4.9 billion per year replacing teachers. The
combined costs of attrition and migration have taken a toll on the
nation’s schools, but perhaps the most crucial cost is the impact of
teacher turnover on student achievement.
Teacher turnover unfavorably affects student achievement. Studies have
linked high levels of turnover to lower student performance (Guin, 2004;
Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2005; Ronfeldt, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2013).
Exiting teachers are usually replaced with new teachers with little or
no experience (Grissmer & Kirby, 1997). New teachers are more likely to
leave within the first five years of teaching resulting in additional
new teacher replacements. Considering that new teachers generally take
1-5 years to become effective (Rivkin et al., 2005), high levels of
turnover can lead to greater concentrations of inexperienced and less
effective teachers.
Student achievement can be affected by teacher turnover in other ways.
Organizational costs occur when high levels of teacher turnover disrupt
the coherence of the organization impacting a school’s ability to
function effectively and efficiently. Disruptions can decrease employee
morale and increase stress on employee work relationships. In a
five-school case study, Guin (2004) found that schools with high
turnover rates were “less likely to have high levels of trust and
collaboration among teachers” (p. 20). In addition, he found that
teacher turnover caused disruptions in school climate, disruptions in
teaching and instructional programs, and repetition of professional
development. The combined effect of organizational disruptions caused by
teacher turnover resulted in significantly lower test scores on
statewide math and English assessments. The disruptive effect of
turnover on an organization has been found to impact student achievement
even when exiting teachers are replaced with teachers who are equally
effective (Ronfeldt et al., 2013).
The effects of teacher turnover may be the most harmful to students in
schools with underserved student populations. Schools with lower student
achievement, a higher rate of minority students, and higher levels of
poverty consistently have higher rates of turnover (Borman & Dowling,
2008; Guin, 2004; Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2002). Results of
correlations between school achievement and teacher characteristics
found that “nonwhite, poor, and low performing students particularly
those in urban areas, attend schools with lesser qualified teachers”
(Lankford et al., 2002, p.54).
Finding qualified teachers will continue to be a challenge for schools
and school districts. As predicted, student enrollments and teacher
retirements have increased over the past two decades, creating a greater
demand for teachers (Ingersoll & Perda, 2010). However, Ingersoll and
Perda (2010) found that the nation has produced an adequate supply of
teachers, indicating that recruitment efforts have yielded results.
Still, teacher shortages exist due to an uneven distribution of teachers
for some geographic regions, school districts, and for specific subject
areas (Murphy & DeArmond, 2003; Rice, Roellke, Sparks, & Kolbe, 2009).
“But the largest source of hiring problems is not between states but
between schools, even within the same district” (Ingersoll & Perda,
2010, p. 585). These hiring problems are largely caused by teacher
turnover, leading some researchers to conclude that improving teacher
retention to reduce turnover will help schools suffering from staffing
problems while simultaneously improving school performance (Ingersoll &
Perda, 2010; NCTAF, 2010).
The research question that guided this study was: How do teacher
characteristics and organizational characteristics relate to teachers’
decisions to remain at their current schools? The model for this study
was adapted from theories and research by Ingersoll (2001) and
Ingersoll and Perda (2010) on the supply and demand of teachers. Their
model was an alternative to contemporary theory that school staffing
problems were caused by an inadequate supply of teachers and could be
solved through the recruitment of new teachers. Ingersoll (2001)
theorized that recruitment alone would not solve school staffing
problems. This study tested his conclusion that school organizations
play a significant role in reducing teacher turnover.
2. Method
This study \soutanalyzed teacher characteristic variables and school
organizational characteristic variables as related to teachers’ reported
decisions to remain at their current schools. The following attitudinal
data were collected: teacher perceptions of personal intrinsic
motivators, personal extrinsic motivators, school climate, and school
resources as predictors of teacher retention. Of particular interest
were the perceptions of subgroups of teachers who planned to remain at
their current schools. The following subgroups were analyzed: gender,
current school teaching experience, age, and grade level.
2.1 Participants
The population for this study was practicing PK-12 teachers in
Wisconsin. This study used a single-stage purposive sample of four
Wisconsin school districts to access the perspectives of PK-12 public
school teachers in Wisconsin schools. All districts were similar in
size.
The teacher survey was completed by 425 practicing teachers during April
2015 representing an approximate response rate of 38%. Of the 421
participants who reported gender and ethnicity, the majority were White
(n = 407, 96.7%) and female (n = 304, 72.2%). Two
participants (0.5%) reported American Indian or Alaskan Native, 3
(.7%) reported Asian or Pacific Islander, zero reported Black or
African American, 4 (1%) responded Hispanic or Latino, and 5 (1.2%)
responded two or more races. Of the 416 participants who reported age,
51 (12.3%) were less than 30 years of age, 266 (63.9%) were 31 to 50
years of age, and 99 (23.8%) were older than 51. The mean age of
participants was 42.7 years (SD = 9.8) and the median age was
43.5. The exact age of three participants was unknown due to the
construction of the survey. Three participants reported an age of 61 or
older and are included in the 51+ category. Mean participant age and
standard deviation were calculated using an age of 61 for each of these
participants.
Grade level was reported by 420 participants and represented with 127
(30.2%) teaching elementary, 91 (21.7%) teaching middle school or
junior high school, and 165 (39.3%) teaching high school or senior high
school. Thirty-seven participants (8.8%) reported teaching at more than
one grade level. Highest degree earned was reported by 422 participants
where the majority of participants possessed a master’s degree (n= 326, 77.3%). Ninety-five participants (22.5%) held a bachelor’s
degree and one (.2%) held a doctorate.
Participants averaged 16.6 years (SD = 8.7) of total teaching
experience and 11.1 years (SD = 8.2) of teaching experience at
their current school. Of the 424 participants who reported total
teaching experience, 46 (10.8%) reported less than 5 years, 54 (12.7%)
reported 5-9 years,
165 (38.8%) reported 10-19 years, and 159 (37.4%) reported 20 or more
years. Of the 422 participants who reported current school teaching
experience, 112 (26.5%) reported less than 5 years, 94 (22.3%)
reported 5-9 years, 141 (33.4%) reported 10-19 years, and 75 (17.8%)
reported 20 or more years.
2.2 Variables
The dependent variable of this study was a teacher’s decision to stay at
his or her current school. The independent variables of this study were
variables associated with teacher characteristics and school
organizational characteristics.
Teacher characteristics describe the variables used to determine the
type of teachers that are more likely to stay (Boyd et al., 2011).
Teacher characteristic variables for this study were demographic
variables (i.e., gender, age, and ethnicity), qualifications variables
(i.e., teaching experience, grade level, and highest degree earned),
intrinsic motivational variables (i.e., personal teaching efficacy,
personal connection to the school and community, and a sense of comfort
at the school), and extrinsic motivational variables (i.e., other
employment opportunities and retirement).
School organizational characteristics refer to school to school
differences in workplace conditions that may influence a teacher’s
decision to stay (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Boyd et al., 2010; Ingersoll,
2001; Kukla-Acevedo, 2009). The school organizational characteristic
variables for this study were teacher influence (i.e., teachers’
autonomy in their classrooms and teachers’ involvement in school
decision making), availability of resources (i.e., salary, instructional
materials, and facilities), teacher perceptions of workload,
administrative support, student behavior, parent involvement, staff
relations, school safety, professional growth opportunities, and school
or district induction and mentoring programs.
2.3 Instrumentation
The study used a quantitative survey approach to gather information
about teachers’ perceptions of conditions that affected their decisions
to remain at their current schools. The survey was cross-sectional: data
were collected in a short time frame. It contained 40 items in three
sections: backgrounds, future plans, and perceptions (Appendix B). It
included 33 items adapted or modified from the Wiegand Teacher
Retention Survey (Wiegand, 2003), four items adapted from the
Perrachione et al. (2008) survey, and three items added by the
researcher. It was self-administered online. Statements of participants’
implied consent were included in solicitations and the instrument; both
were approved by a Human Participants Review Board.2.4 AnalysisData analysis was conducted in five stages:
1. Background characteristics of respondents;
2. Analysis of future plans;
3. Analysis of Likert-scale items for all teachers that plan to remain;
4. Analysis of Likert-scale items by teacher subgroups;
5. Qualitative analysis of open-ended items.
In the first stage of analysis, frequency tables were used to determine
counts and percentages of teachers by gender, age, ethnicity, total
teaching experience, teaching experience at the same school, grade
level, and highest degree earned. Means and standard deviations were
calculated for age, total teaching experience, and teaching experience
at the same school for all respondents.
The second stage of the analysis was divided into two sections. The
first section used descriptive statistics to summarize the future plans
of all respondents. A frequency table was used to display counts and
percentages of respondents who selected each of the twelve future plan
options. The second section used a chi-square test for independence to
examine cross- tabulations between teacher demographic characteristics
and teacher future plans and to examine cross-tabulations between
teacher qualification characteristics and teacher future plans. Teacher
demographics included age and gender. Teacher qualifications included
total teaching experience, teaching experience at the same school, grade
level, and highest degree earned. Future plans data were collapsed into
two categories, those who planned to return to their current
schools and those who did not plan to return to their current school.
The Pearson 2 value was
used to determine significance on tables larger than 2 by 2 (i.e., two
categories per variable). The Yates’ correction for continuity was used
to determine significance on 2 by 2 tables. The significance level was
set at 95% (p < .05).
Prior to conducting the third and fourth stages of data analysis,
internal consistency was analyzed on the sample data for each of the
four subscales from the teacher perception scale. The subscales were
intrinsic motivators, extrinsic motivators, school climate, and school
resources. Cronbach’s α value and mean inter-item correlation value were
calculated for each subscale.
Internal consistency was acceptable with Cronbach’s α values above .7
for intrinsic motivators (α = .76) and school climate (α = .85) scales
and mean inter-item correlations within the acceptable range for the two
smallest scales, extrinsic motivators (.34) and school resources (.22).
Twenty-seven of the original 29 items were retained. Two items were
eliminated from the intrinsic motivators scale in order increase the
size of the Cronbach’s α. The items removed were close to homeand similar to school attended as a child.
The third stage of the analysis was divided into two sections. The first
section utilized one-sample t -tests to examine the perceptions of
teachers who planned to remain teaching at their current schools on
continuous variables within teacher characteristic and organizational
characteristic subscales. The continuous variables were measured on a
six-point Likert-type
scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly
agree). A mean value and standard deviation was calculated for each
continuous variable. Responses were ranked within each subscale
according to mean value. The mean value of each item was compared to a
neutral score value (3.5) to determine significant differences. Cohen’sd was used to determine effect sizes.
The second section utilized paired-samples t-tests to compare
mean values of the teacher characteristic and organizational
characteristic subscales in order to differentiate the level of
importance teachers returning to their current schools placed on each
subscale construct. The significance level for both the one-samplet-test and paired samples t-test was set at 95% (p<.05).
The fourth stage of the analysis utilized an independent t-test
to compare the means of continuous variables over gender and Analysis of
Variance (ANOVA) testing to compare the means of continuous variables
over age, current school teaching experience, and grade level. Testing
occurred within the subscales of personal intrinsic motivators, personal
extrinsic motivators, school climate, and school resources. In addition
to Cohen’s d for effect sizes of independent samplest-tests, Eta-squared (η2) was used to determine effect sizes of
the ANOVA tests. A post-hoc analysis was conducted with ANOVA on
significant items to determine where the differences among groups occur.
The Tukey HSD post-hoc test was used when equal variances were assumed.
The Games-Howel post-hoc test was used when equal variances were not
assumed. The significance level was set at 95% (p <
.05).
The fifth stage of the analysis involved a qualitative analysis of the
responses of the two open-ended items from Section C of the survey. All
open-ended responses were analyzed using a procedure described by
Creswell (2014). Coding and categorizing themes was validated by two
independent reviewers. Responses to other consideration that
influence me to stay were categorized into 14 themes; responses toother consideration that would influence me to stay if it were
present were categorized into 13 themes. Frequencies were reported for
each theme and segregated by gender and grade level.
3. Results
Table 1 provides descriptive statistics to summarize the future plans of
all respondents. Of the 418 participants who responded, 336 (80.4%)
planned to remain teaching at their current school. The combined
percentage of participants who planned to continue teaching at a
different school either in the same district or a different district was
4.6%. A total of 88.3%, planned to continue in education either
teaching or in another capacity such as administration or school
counselor. Only 3.3% of participants who responded planned to retire.
Teacher retirements represented approximately 17% of all participants
who reported not planning to return to their current schools.
Twenty participants indicated future plans other than the 12 listed
options. Seven of the 20 participants were looking for jobs outside of
education in which six of the seven participants indicated that they
will likely return to their current schools next year. Four participants
were pursuing a career in education that was not included as one of the
12 listed options. Two participants responded that they would like to
stay if they could and two participants indicated that they would be
working at multiple schools. Two participants were looking for teaching
jobs outside of the state of Wisconsin and three participants were
uncertain of their plans for next year.
3.1 Teacher characteristics & future plans.The chi-square test for independence indicated a significant association
between current school teaching experience and participants’ future
plans, (3, n = 415) = 9.28, p = .03, with a medium effect
size Cramer’s V = .15. The percentage of participants planning to
return to their current schools increases the longer they remain at
their current schools. Only 70.6% of participants with less than five
years of current school teaching experience plan to return compared with
82.8% of participants with five to nine years, 84.1% of participants
with 10 to 19 years, and 85.3% with 20 or more years of current school
teaching experience. There was no significant association between total
teaching experience and future plans, (3, n = 417) = 4.23,p = .24, between grade level and future plans, (2, n =
376) = 1.63, p = .44, between highest degree earned (with Yates
continuity correction) and future plans, (1, n = 416) = .17,p = .68, between age and future plans, (2, n = 409) =
3.54, p = .17, and between gender (with Yates Continuity
Correction) and future plans, (1, n = 414) = .01, p = .94.
3.2 Teacher Perceptions
Perception data were gathered from 319 participants who planned to
continue teaching at their current school. A one-sample t-test
was utilized on the teacher-perception items from each of the four
subscales to determine if the mean scores were significantly different
than a neutral score value 3.5. Paired-samples t-tests were
utilized to compare mean values of the teacher perception subscales to
differentiate the level of importance participants placed on each
subscale construct for returning to their current schools.
One-sample t-tests indicated that all items from the intrinsic
motivation scale were statistically significant each having a mean value
above the neutral score (3.5). The highest mean value was 5.15 for the
survey item positive impact on the students’ personal growth. The
second highest mean value was 5.07 for the survey item positive
impact on student achievement. The remaining items listed in order from
highest mean score to lowest mean score were; comfortable working
at this school (M = 4.98), collegial friendships(M = 4.96), connection to students (M = 4.72),feel needed at the school (M = 4.46), and connected to the
community (M = 4.43). The Cohen’s d statistic indicated a
large effect size ranging from 0.89 to 2.3 for all items exceptconnected to the community which had a medium effect size
(Cohen’s d = 0.78).
One-sample t-tests indicated a significant difference between
mean scores and the neutral score for all four items of the extrinsic
motivation scale though only one item, not old enough to receive
retirement benefits, had a mean value (M = 3.97) higher than the
neutral score (3.5) with a small effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.27).
Mean values for the other three items were below the neutral score (3.5)
and ranged from 2.04 to 2.91. The effect size for no other
teaching opportunities in another school out of the district (Cohen’sd = -1.16) and no other teaching opportunities in another
school in the district (Cohen’s d = -1.06) were large. The
effect size for no other employment opportunities outside of
education (Cohen’s d = -0.37) was small.
One-sample t-tests indicated a significant difference between
mean scores and the neutral score for all 10 items from the school
climate scale each having a mean value above the neutral score of 3.5.
The three items with the highest mean scores were I feel respected
by the students (M = 5.05) with a large effect size (Cohen’sd = 1.93), I feel respected by the staff (M= 4.94) with a large effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.36),and I feel safe at this school (M = 4.92) with a large
effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.68). The remaining items listed in
order from highest mean score to lowest mean score were; the
principal is supportive (M = 4.88), there is a great deal
of cooperation among staff (M = 4.70), I have flexibility
in planning and teaching my curriculum (M = 4.58), my
principal enforces the rules and backs me up (M = 4.33), a
unique student program for which I am involved (M = 4.02),I can be involved in decision making (M = 3.98), andthere is positive parent involvement (M = 3.84).
One-sample t-tests indicated a significant differences between
mean scores and the neutral score (3.5) on four of the six items from
the school resources subscale. Mean values for two of the significant
survey items, good facilities (M = 4.59) and I have
the necessary instructional materials (M = 4.45) were higher
than the neutral score (3.5) with a medium effect size (Cohen’s d= .75) and a large effect size (Cohen’s d = 0.88) respectively.
Two of the significant items, I was in an induction and mentoring
program (M = 2.28) and more opportunities for professional
growth (M = 3.06), had mean values lower than the neutral score
(3.5) with a large effect size (Cohen’s d = -.88) and a
respectively small effect size (Cohen’s d = -.30). The itemsI am satisfied with my salary and I have adequate planning
time were not statistically significant.
The results from the paired-samples t-tests presented in Table 2
indicated that participants perceived intrinsic motivation and school
climate conditions as stronger reasons to remain at their current
schools than extrinsic motivation and school resource conditions. The
intrinsic motivational scale mean value was higher than all other scales
and the mean value for the school climate scale was higher than the
extrinsic motivational scale and the school resources scale.3.4 GenderThe independent samples t-test identified six items as having
statistically significant differences between female and male
participants’ perceptions of conditions related to their decision to
remain at their current schools. All six items had a stronger influence
on female participants than male participants with mean differences
ranging from .33 to .48. The item feel needed at this school had
the largest mean difference of .48 and was from the intrinsic motivation
subscale. The item principal support had the second largest mean
difference of .45 and was from the school climate subscale. The
remaining four items listed in order from highest mean difference to
lowest mean difference were; involved with decision making (mean
difference = .43), principal enforces rules and backs me up (mean
difference = .39), connection to students (mean difference =
.38), and cooperation among staff (mean difference = .33).
Cohen’s d ranged from 0.28 to 0.42 indicating a small effect size
for all six items.
3.5 Current school teaching
experience.
Table 3 displays ANOVA test results for significant items from the
teacher perception scale and current school teaching experience.Collegial friendships became a stronger reason for participants
to remain the longer participants taught at their current school.
Games-Howel tests indicated that the mean scores of participants with
less than five years of current school experience (M = 4.55,SD = 1.14) were lower than participants with 10 to 19 years
(M = 5.12, SD = 0.86) and 20 or more years (M =
5.16, SD = .92) of current school experience. Participants’
reported perceptions of feeling respected by students was also a
stronger reason to remain for participants with more current school
experience. Tukey HSD tests indicated that mean scores for participants
with less than five years of current school experience (M = 4.85,SD = 0.82) was lower than participants with 20 or more years
(M = 5.30, SD = 0.72) of current school teaching
experience.Not old enough to receive retirement benefits was a stronger
reason to remain for participants with more current school teaching
experience. Tukey HSD post-hoc comparisons indicated that mean scores
for participants with less than five years of current school experience
(M = 3.37, SD = 1.77) were significantly different than
participants with five to nine years (M = 4.09, SD = 1.73)
and 10 to 19 years (M = 4.21, SD = 1.61) of current school
experience. However, post-hoc comparisons were not significant for
participants with 20 or more years of current school experience.
Receiving support from the principal and having adequate planning time
were stronger reasons to remain for new participants than more
experienced participants. Games-Howel tests for principal supportindicated that mean score for participants with less than five years of
current school experience (M = 5.16, SD = 1.11) was higher
than participants with 20 or more years (M = 4.44, SD =
1.49) of current school experience. Tukey HSD tests for adequate
planning time indicated that mean score for participants with less than
5 years of current school experience (M = 3.65, SD = 1.55)
was higher than mean score of participants with 20 or more years of
current school teaching experience (M = 2.98, SD = 1.49).
3.6 Age.
Table 4 displays ANOVA test results for six significant items from the
teacher perception scale and three age categories. Participants’
reported perceptions of having a positive impact on student
achievement and student personal growth was an important reason
to remain for all participants but more important for older participants
than younger participants. Tukey HSD tests for positive impact on
student achievement indicated that mean scores of participants 51 and
older (M = 5.22, SD = 0.78) were higher than participants
30 years old and younger (M = 4.73, SD = 0.67).
Games-Howel tests on the item positive impact on student personal
growth indicated that the mean score of participants 51 and older
(M = 5.27, SD = 0.66) were higher than the mean
score of participants 30 years old and younger (M = 4.94,SD = 0.55).
Having time to plan was somewhat important for younger participants who
planned to return to their current school but was not an important
reason to remain for participants 51 and older. Tukey HSD tests
indicated that mean scores of participants 30 years old and younger
(M = 4.00, SD = 1.37) was significantly different than
mean scores of participants 51 and older (M = 3.25, SD =
1.54).
Three items were statistically significant for age comparisons but were
not strong reasons participants provided for remaining. Mean scores by
age category for the items no teaching opportunities in another
school out of the district ranged from 1.76 to 2.15, professional
growth opportunities ranged from 2.61 to 3.59, and induction
program ranged from 1.84 to 3.00.
3.7 Grade levels.
Table 5 displays ANOVA test results that indicated a significant
difference between mean scores of participants by grade level categories
and 15 items from the teacher perception scale. The mean scores of seven
items were significantly higher for elementary participants than for
high-school participants. Tukey HSD tests for the items;connection to students were higher for elementary participants
(M = 4.86, SD = 1.01) than high-school participants
(M = 4.51, SD = 1.06), feel safe were higher for
elementary participants (M = 5.12, SD = .69) than
high-school participants (M = 4.79, SD = .81), andrespected by students were higher for elementary participants
(M = 5.23, SD = .66) than high-school participants
(M = 4.96, SD = .81). Games- Howel tests for the items;involved with decision making were higher for elementary
participants (M = 4.45, SD = 1.04) than high-school
participants (M = 3.53, SD = 1.45), cooperation
among staff were higher for elementary participants (M = 5.09,SD = .84) than high-school participants (M = 4.36,SD = 1.21), respected by staff were higher for elementary
participants (M = 5.25, SD
= .74) than high-school participants (M = 4.73, SD =
1.21), and adequate planning time was higher for elementary
participants (M = 3.68, SD = 1.35) than high-school
participants (M = 3.18, SD = 1.54).
Two items had mean scores significantly higher for elementary
participants than middle- school and high-school participants. Tukey HSD
tests for positive parent involvement were higher for elementary
participants (M = 4.52, SD = 1.01) than middle-school
(M = 3.72, SD = 1.25) and high-school participants
(M = 3.35, SD = 1.17). Games-Howel tests for feel
needed at the school was higher for elementary participants (M =
4.79, SD = .78) than middle-school (M = 4.42, SD =
1.12) and high-school (M = 4.22, SD =1.17) participants.
Mean scores for four items were significantly higher for elementary and
middle-school participants than for high-school participants. Tukey HSD
tests for comfortable working at this school was higher
for middle-school (M = 5.23, SD = .77) and
elementary-school participants (M = 5.12, SD = .89) than
high-school participants (M = 4.81, SD = 1.07).
Games-Howel tests for principal is supportive was higher for
middle-school (M = 5.23, SD = 1.17) and elementary- school
participants (M = 5.22, SD = .90) than high-school
participants (M = 4.45, SD = 1.51), principal
enforces rules and backs me up was higher for middle-school (M =4.44, SD = 1.39) and elementary-school participants (M =4.89, SD = .90) than high-school participants (M = 3.84,SD = 1.37), I have the necessary instructional materialswas higher for middle-school (M = 4.70, SD = 1.00) and
elementary participants (M = 4.61, SD = .90) than
high-school participants (M = 4.18, SD = 1.20).
The Mean scores of only one item, unique student program for which
I am involved was significantly higher for high-school participants
than elementary participants. Tukey HSD tests revealed that mean score
of high-school participants (M = 4.30, SD = 1.36) was
higher than elementary participants (M = 3.80, SD = 1.23).
Mean scores for one item, satisfied with salary, was higher for
middle-school participants than high-school and elementary participants.
Games-Howel tests revealed that mean scores of middle-school
participants (M = 4.00, SD = 1.34) was higher than
high-school participants (M = 3.29, SD = 1.50) and
elementary participants (M = 3.43, SD = 1.39).
3.8 Open-ended
Of the 319 participants that planned to return to their current school,
129 participants wrote at least one response to other
consideration that influence me to stay representing 40.4% of
participants. Some participants provided multiple responses. The total
number of responses provided by the 129 participants were 172 responses.
The top five thematic categories representing reasons participants
provided for staying at their current schools were personal or
family reasons (32 responses), staff support (21 responses),difficult to start over or no other options (19 responses),salary and benefits (17 responses), and working with
students and parents (17 responses).
Of the 319 participants that planned to return to their current school,
108 wrote at least one response to other consideration that would
influence me to stay if it were present representing 33.9% of
participants. Some participants provided multiple responses. The total
number of responses provided by the 108 participants were 148 responses.
The top five thematic categories representing reasons participants
provided that would influence them to stay at their current schools weresalary and benefits plan (45 responses), workload (27
responses), respect or valued (15 responses),administrative support (11 responses), and teacher
influence (9 responses). Salary and benefits plan had more
responses then the next two highest thematic categories combined.
4. Discussion
The findings for total teacher turnover from this study were higher than
the national K-12 total teacher turnover rates reported by Ingersoll
(2001). Similar to Ingersoll’s findings, total teacher turnover rate for
this study included teacher migration, attrition, and retirement.
Ingersoll examined actual turnover data from the National Center for
Education Statistics (NCES) Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and its
supplement the Teacher Follow-Up Survey (TFS). Because this study used
self-reported data, however, actual total teacher turnover rate may
differ from rates reported in this study.
The results of this study indicated that teacher retirements accounted
for a largerpercentage of total teacher turnover than the national
teacher retirement percentages reported by Ingersoll (2001). Ingersoll
concluded that because teacher retirements accounted for only a small
portion of total teacher turnover, preretirement teacher turnover was a
significant cause of school staffing problems. The results from this
study support Ingersoll’s conclusion because the figure for this study
was still a relatively small percentage of total teacher turnover.
The results of the future-plans analysis on teacher demographic and
teacher qualification variables indicated that only current school
teaching experience influenced participants’ reported decisions to
remain at their current school. Teaching experience, age, gender, grade
level, and highest degree earned were not significant.
The lack of statistical significance for age and teaching experience
contradicted findings from previous studies. Hughes (2012) and
Kukla-Acevedo (2009) found that beginning teachers were more likely to
leave teaching than experienced teachers. Previous studies that examined
age and teacher retention reported a pattern of high attrition for young
teachers and very low attrition for mid-career teachers until a
threshold was reached where attrition rates rose sharply between age and
teacher retention (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Grissmer & Kirby, 1997;
Guarino et al., 2006; Harris & Adams, 2007; Ingersoll, 2001; Ingersoll
& May, 2012). Though the results for the present study for teaching
experience and age were not significant, the percentage of teachers who
planned to remain increased as total teaching experience and age
increased.
Less surprising was the lack of statistical significance for a
relationship between gender and teacher retention. The literature
reviewed indicated mixed results for gender and teacher retention with
some studies finding females more likely to stay than males (Harris &
Adams, 2007; Ingersoll & May, 2012; Watlington et al., 2004) and other
studies finding males more likely to stay than females (Borman &
Dowling, 2008; Guarino et al., 2006; Ingersoll, 2001). This study found
that males and females planned to stay at about the same rate (80%).
There was also no statistical significance between grade level and
highest degree earned with teacher retention. This finding supported
findings by Hughes (2012) as well as Ingersoll and May (2012), in
contrast to findings by Borman and Dowling (2008). However, Borman and
Dowling (2008) found that elementary teachers were only 1.02 times more
likely to leave the teaching profession than secondary teachers. The
finding of no significance for highest degree earned supported findings
by Hughes (2012) as well as Perrachione et al. (2008), in contrast with
findings by Borman and Dowling (2008), who found that teachers with
graduate degrees were only slightly more likely to leave the teaching
profession than teachers without graduate degrees.
The strongest reasons participants provided for remaining at their
current schools were intrinsic teacher characteristics associated with
teacher efficacy. The results support the findings by Perrachione et al.
(2008) who found that teachers who declared their intent to remain
teaching were influenced by teacher efficacy and working with students.
The finding of a strong relationship between teacher efficacy and
participants’ reported decision to remain suggested that teacher
retention may be influenced by teachers’ beliefs in their capacity to
make a difference in the lives of their students.
Teacher perceptions of feeling comfortable working at a school was a
strong intrinsic teacher characteristic related to participants’
decisions to remain. The finding supports conclusions by Wiegand (2003)
who also found a strong connection between teacher retention and
teachers’ feelings of comfort at a school. Although comfort level was
slightly more important for elementary participants and middle-school
participants than for high-school participants, most participants
reported needing to feel comfortable working at their schools if they
were to stay. Wiegand (2003) described comfort as unique to each person
and meeting a person’s comfort needs requires getting to know an
individual teacher’s desires and abilities similar to the way that
teachers and other school personnel support students by getting to know
their needs and strengths.
Personal relationships teachers had with their colleagues were
reportedly strong influences on participants’ reported decisions to
remain. This finding supports research by Wiegand (2003) who found that
collegial friendships had a stronger influence on teacher retention for
teachers planning to remain at their current schools compared with
teachers planning to leave. Not surprisingly, collegial
friendships became a stronger reported reason to remain the longer
participants continued to teach at their current schools, suggesting
that friendships among colleagues appeared to grow over time.
Respect from students was the strongest organizational characteristic
related to participants’ reported decisions to remain at their current
schools. The item I feel respected by students was used to
measure the impact of positive student behavior on teacher retention.
Previous studies identified problematic student behavior as a reason for
teachers to leave their schools or leave teaching altogether (Boyd et
al., 2011; Gonzalez et al., 2008; Ingersoll, 2001; Ingersoll, 2002;
Kukla-Acevedo, 2009; Ingersoll & May, 2012). This study found that
positive student behavior, specifically student respect, impacted
participants’ reported decisions to remain at their current schools.
The item I feel respected by staff and there is a great
deal of cooperation among staff were also strong school climate
conditions related to teacher decisions to remain. The results supported
the findings by Boyd et al. (2011) and Inman and Marlow (2004) who found
that staff relations were related to the retention decisions of
beginning teachers.Another school climate condition that influenced
participants’ reported decisions to stay at their current schools wasschool safety . Interestingly, school safety was not a
strong variable among the reviewed studies that examined school safety
as a predictor of teacher turnover. Boyd et al. (2011) found no
relationship between school safety and first-year teacher retention
decisions in New York City and Ingersoll (2001) found that only 2% of
teachers who were dissatisfied with teaching and left the profession
reported an unsafe environment as a reason for leaving. However,
Ingersoll (2001) found that 26% of teachers from urban or high poverty
public schools who were dissatisfied with teaching reported an unsafe
environment as a reason for leaving. Although the literature revealed
that an unsafe environment was not a strong reason to leave, the data
from the present study indicated that a safe environment was a strong
reason to stay.
The results indicated that administrative support was an important
reason teachers provided for remaining supporting the findings from
several previous studies that found a relationship between
administrative support and teacher retention (Boyd et al., 2011; Certo
& Fox, 2002; Gonzalez et al., 2008; Guarino et al., 2006; Ingersoll,
2001; Ingersoll, 2002; Ingersoll & May, 2012; Kukla-Acevedo, 2009).
However, the relationship between administrative support and teacher
retention varied by gender, current school teaching experience, and
grade level. Female participants and elementary participants reportedly
perceived a supportive principal as a stronger reason to remain than
male participants and high-school participants. A supportive principal
was also a reportedly stronger reason to remain for participants with
less than five years of current school experience than teachers with 20
or more years of current school experience, providing support for
research conducted by Wiegand (2003) who found that beginning teachers
wanted more support from the principal than did veteran teachers.
Good facilities and necessary instructional materials had some influence
over teacher retention decisions. The finding on instructional materials
supported the research by Ingersoll and May (2012) who found that
teachers were more likely to leave schools where the necessary teaching
materials were not generally available. The finding on facilities
supported the research by Boyd et al. (2011) who found that facilities
were related to first-year participants’ reported decisions to both
leave teaching and transfer to different schools in New York City.
This study did not provide support for a relationship between teacher
induction programs and participants’ reported decisions to remain. Of
importance to note is that only one item was used and the results were
based on teacher perceptions. Ingersoll and Smith (2004) used data from
the 1999-2000 SASS and 2000-2001 TFS to determine the impact of
induction programs on teacher retention for beginning teachers. Using
multinomial regression analysis to determine how different induction
supports impacted participants’ reported decisions to stay, Ingersoll
and Smith (2004) found that teachers who experienced the most support
were less than half as likely to depart at the end of their first year
as teachers who received no induction support. Perhaps the results of
the present study are not entirely conclusive on the impact induction
programs may have on teacher retention because the survey item did not
address the many facets of induction programs.
Satisfaction with teaching salary was not a statistically significant
reason participants provided for returning to their current schools.
Although results from this study did not find a relationship between
salary and participants’ reported decisions to stay, previous studies
found a strong relationship between dissatisfaction with salary and
teachers’ decisions to leave (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Certo & Fox,
2002; Gonzalez et al., 2008; Guarino et al., 2006; 2012; Ingersoll,
2001; Ingersoll, 2002). The qualitative analysis of the open-ended items
from this study indicated that teacher salary may influence teachers’
decisions to remain over time.
The two open-ended items provided participants opportunities to address
other considerations that may be present at their schools that influence
them to stay and other considerations that may not be present at their
schools but would influence them to stay. The thematic category that had
the most responses to the item other consideration that influences
me to stay was personal or family reasons. The strongest thematic
category that emerged in response to the item other consideration
that would influence me to stay if it were present was not found in the
literature reviewed and is possibly unique to Wisconsin. The thematic
category was salary and benefits plan. This theme had more responses
than the themes with the second and third highest responses combined. At
the time of the survey many school districts in the State of Wisconsin
were operating without a formal or clear compensation plan. The
elimination of traditional teacher-pay scales dates back to 2011 when
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law a bill commonly known as
Act 10. Prior to this time, teachers had been part of the collective
bargaining of salary schedules, benefits packages, and working
conditions.
Act 10 limited collective bargaining for most public employees including
public school teachers. A provision of the bill required the termination
of collective bargaining agreements and limited collective bargaining to
base wages prohibiting base wage increases to exceed the consumer price
index unless approved by referendum (Wisconsin Budget Repair Act, 2011).
The termination of collective bargaining agreements eliminated
traditional teacher salary schedules. In responses that fit the thematic
category salary and benefits plan, participants reportedly felt stuck
and uncertain of their financial future.
5. Conclusions
Pre-retirement teacher turnover may lead to staffing problems for
Wisconsin schools, but there may be ways to mitigate them. First, this
study showed that school-level teacher-turnover rate evidently reduced
by nearly 50% after participants remained at their current schools for
at least five years. Of the participants who reportedly planned to
leave, nearly half said that they planned to remain in education.
School-level teacher-turnover rates could be reduced if school leaders
could encourage new teachers to remain a little longer or persuade those
who are leaving for other schools to remain where they are.
A related way administrators may reduce teacher turnover at the school
level could be to develop school climates to support teachers’ decisions
to remain at their current schools. In this study, participants who were
reportedly more likely to remain were those who responded that they made
a difference in the lives of their students, felt a sense of comfort
working within their school, felt safe at their schools, and developed
relationships with colleagues within their buildings. Administrative
support could influence organizational conditions, provide professional
development opportunities, and build positive relationships that may
improve teacher retention in their schools. District-level
administrators could provide training for school- level administrators
to improve their effectiveness at developing positive school climates
conducive to teacher retention.
Of demographic and qualification characteristics, grade level had the
strongest relationship with the reasons participants provided for
remaining. Findings by grade level provided additional insight into the
types of professional development and relationship building techniques
that would be useful at elementary-, middle-, and high-school levels.
Administrators should review these findings when evaluating and
developing retention strategies for their schools.
Qualitative analysis revealed a finding unique to Wisconsin. Several
participants indicated need for a district-wide teacher-compensation
plans. They expressed concern over low salaries, lack of pay raises, and
no clear plans for advancement. The development of clear compensation
plans for districts that do not have them should be a top priority to
improve teacher retention in their schools.
The future-plans analysis revealed that the total teacher turnover rate
was higher in participant schools than national averages, suggesting
that Wisconsin schools may struggle to adequately staff their classrooms
with highly effective teachers.
6. Summary
Providing students with highly qualified teachers is a complex challenge
for schools and school districts across the nation. This study examined
teacher retention at the school level. Participants reportedly favored
retention in preferred assignments, as well as administrative
communications and support. School leaders would do well to use these
measures to help good teachers stay.