Why do Teachers Stay?
Location
Room 218
Proposal Track
Research Project
Session Format
Presentation
Preferred Time
Friday morning
Abstract
A spring 2007 survey of Georgia public school teachers asked how they felt about many aspects of their work situation. Of the state’s 115,049 teachers that year, 19,312 completed the voluntary on-line anonymous survey. Teachers from 123 of the 180 school systems provided completed surveys. The state annual employment data collection was used to follow the respondents still employed in Georgia public schools through 2011. Previous work using this dataset focused on the perceived quality of building leadership and its impact on teachers’ mobility over the four years. The current analysis focuses on the characteristics and survey responses of teachers who remain in the same schools over the four years.
The present study compares survey responses to four-year teacher mobility rates. For example, teachers who rate their principal favorably are much more likely to remain in a school than those who do not. Factor analysis of survey identified item groups that loaded on factors for Professional Learning, Parental/Community Support, Time Sufficient to Teach, Teaching Load, Leadership, Testing, and Pay, among others. Responses on these factors will be compared to mobility to determine how important these issues seem to be in teacher retention.
Keywords
Teacher retention, attitudes, mobility
Recommended Citation
Eads, Jerry, "Why do Teachers Stay?" (2015). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 25.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2015/2015/25
Why do Teachers Stay?
Room 218
A spring 2007 survey of Georgia public school teachers asked how they felt about many aspects of their work situation. Of the state’s 115,049 teachers that year, 19,312 completed the voluntary on-line anonymous survey. Teachers from 123 of the 180 school systems provided completed surveys. The state annual employment data collection was used to follow the respondents still employed in Georgia public schools through 2011. Previous work using this dataset focused on the perceived quality of building leadership and its impact on teachers’ mobility over the four years. The current analysis focuses on the characteristics and survey responses of teachers who remain in the same schools over the four years.
The present study compares survey responses to four-year teacher mobility rates. For example, teachers who rate their principal favorably are much more likely to remain in a school than those who do not. Factor analysis of survey identified item groups that loaded on factors for Professional Learning, Parental/Community Support, Time Sufficient to Teach, Teaching Load, Leadership, Testing, and Pay, among others. Responses on these factors will be compared to mobility to determine how important these issues seem to be in teacher retention.
