Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Leadership & Policy Studies

Committee Chair

Charisse Gulosino

Committee Member

Dustin Hornbeck

Committee Member

Lou Franceschini

Committee Member

Sharon Williams-Griffin

Abstract

In many educational systems across the world, teacher attrition has become a major problem. As the student population in America continues to grow, one problem plaguing policymakers and school districts is staffing schools with quality educators. This national shortage of educators has been plaguing the United States for almost a decade. It brings one to question why there is such a shortage of qualified educators available to effectively instruct and academically prepare America’s youth. The main goal of this quantitative study is to investigate the reasons for teacher attrition in a large urban school district in the southeastern region of the United States. Herzberg's two-factor theory was used as a framework to analyze the data collected in this study, highlighting the complex nature of teacher attrition. The study employed inferential statistics and regression analysis. The key predictors of group membership in schools with low and high attrition rates were found to be the percentage below the poverty line, the percentage receiving SNAP benefits, and the percentage with less than a high school diploma. Charter schools were found to be overrepresented in lower attrition schools. Moreover, secondary and high-mobility schools have larger faculty sizes. However, the differences in student body sizes were not as distinct. The findings also indicate that school climate varies by school level, but the connection between teacher attrition and school climate remains uncertain. The study's final chapter provided recommendations for further research to understand the reasons for teacher attrition post-pandemic and how to enhance job satisfaction and retention using Herzberg's theory.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open Access

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