Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Leadership & Policy Studies

Committee Chair

Charisse Gulosino

Committee Member

Lou Franceschini

Committee Member

Dustin Hornbeck

Committee Member

Sharon Griffin

Abstract

Teacher retention is a foundational issue and schools have historically struggled to retain teachers. Previous research indicates that teachers leave the profession at high rates before year five of teaching expertise. Lack of teacher retention contributes to instability and lack of trust in school districts. This secondary data study explores whether teacher retention predicts institutional outcomes based on teacher perceptions of school climate, school leadership, student achievement, and student behavior in Tennessee public school districts. This research answers whether student achievement, school climate, school leadership, percentages of disadvantaged, special education, minority, suspended, and chronically absent students predict teacher retention in Tennesse school districts. The study also answers whether each predictor is significant based on locale, including rural and urbanized districts. The study presents school districts from the 2022-2023 school year using the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP), Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS), Tennessee Educator Survey (TES), and district-level demographic and parent engagement reporting. Each institutional outcome is studied with multiple regression analysis to determine if it is a significant predictor of teacher retention. Study findings indicate school climate, school discipline, social studies growth, math proficiency, percentage of suspensions, percentage of special education students, percentage of economically disadvantaged students, and percentage of minority students are predictors of teacher retention, with either positive or negative correlations to teacher retention. The study uses human relations theory as a solutions-based framework for addressing teacher concerns in the school environment and offers suggestions for increasing retention.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open Access

Download

Share

COinS