PRIORITIZING NEW TEACHER RETENTION FOR PRINCIPALS IN HARD TO STAFF DIVERSE SCHOOLS

Abstract

Teacher attrition is a major challenge for public school districts across the country, especially in poor, urban and/or high needs schools. Sixty-one percent of school district superintendents identified teacher retention as a top concern. The majority of the teachers who leave are the new, well-prepared, successful teachers and the mid-career teachers. The study design used a mixed methods approach, with an improvement science methodology and an action research design to explore the principal’s role in the retention of non-tenured effective teachers. The design incorporated a focus group, implementing a teacher retention change strategy/change idea, and a survey to assess the potential influence of the teacher retention change strategy/change idea. The research was conducted in three phases. Phase 1 consisted of a qualitative focus group and brief training. Phase 2 consisted of a qualitative and quantitative implementation of a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle and the completion of a PDSA instrument. Phase 3 consisted of a quantitative survey. The findings supported that principals do consider the retention of effective teachers to be important, however they are not implementing effective strategies. Findings highlighted that when principals implement specific, research-based retention strategies it can enhance the focus on retaining effective teachers; and it shows promise that it may help to retain new teachers. Two recommendations of this study include identifying new and innovative teacher retention strategies and providing principals with targeted training opportunities in order to enhance collaboration and retention strategy implementation at the school level.