Teacher Attrition - Dissertation Example

?Teacher attrition: Introduction: This remains a widely acclaimed reality that maintaining a high level of teacher quality forms the critically important factor which ensures student achievement. With myriad types of demons endangering the teacher quality presently, students are consequently facing more and more problems to ensure individual academic accomplishments. The tendency of leaving schools and teaching profession by the learned and wiser teachers results in an inability to preserve an experienced teaching community and this produces many deteriorating influences on the students. What seems to come forward as a really deplorable reality is that many educational officials think that simply replacing those teachers lost to attrition by hiring new teachers could be an effective remedy. Presently, many authentic reports have denied such a fake proposition of undermining the critical nature of teacher attrition by easily hiring new teachers. Mississippi education administrators have taken a wise decision to take the challenge of reducing the teacher attrition rates to a structural level. Still, a great deal needs to be addressed regarding the issue of teacher attrition and this research aspires to make a contribution to this ongoing effort with results based on certain questions. Discussion and conclusions: The research results show that there is certain reality in the claim that the number of those teachers leaving the educational field far exceeds those entering it which clearly strengthens the critical nature of teacher attrition. The fact that teachers constantly rotate with the experienced teachers leaving and new teachers entering the teaching process to leave it within a couple of years leaves the students with no proper education which seriously interferes with their academic dreams. This is exactly why teacher attrition is such a hotly debated issue and deemed to be such an emergency based situation in America for the past many years. This remains a research-based reality that high level of performance on the part of students is directly related with lower attrition rates. Teacher training plans based on longer time periods also greatly helps in provoking the teachers to continue teaching in schools and colleges well after the teaching training process ends. Research survey has also shown that stress plays a phenomenal role in promoting the teachers to quit teaching soon. Lack of confidence comes in handy with high level of stress and together they convince a teacher to ignore the students’ learning needs and consider them less important. This issue can be resolved significantly with the help of long teacher training processes which each teacher should be required to engage in prior to becoming a professional scholar. People come in the teaching profession with a sense of purpose very clear in their minds but due to lack of recognition, support, and salary issues, they get bound to leave much earlier than necessary thus increasing turnover rate among teachers. “Every year in the United States, schools conservatively spend $2.2 billion on the recruiting, hiring, and training of teachers to replace those who have left teaching” (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2005). Continuous support is also found to have played a phenomenal role in reinforcing teachers’ self-esteems and their decisions to stay and continue teaching for the benefit of their students. This shows that teacher factors related to attrition come first and should not be ignored at any cost. Even a teacher being paid a top-notch salary can never be expected to continue teaching and unaffected all the time despite being discouraged and not motivated in a proper manner. In response to the first question, the factor of salary is found to be positively related with the teachers’ decision to remain in the profession and which also seems to be consistent with the past research done on the relation between salary and teachers’ decision to continue or quit teaching. “High teacher salaries result in increased commitment and lower attrition” (Corbell, 2009). Administrative support also correlates with the decision to stay in the teaching profession which is also an established reality according to the past research done on teacher attrition. The fact that teachers tend to operate less confidently while teaching in schools and colleges when getting no support is an expected outcome of the research, and also correlates with what past research has to offer on this subject. “Strong, high-quality administrative support is key to successful new teacher retention” (Corbell, 2009). The relation between opportunities to assist in determining the content of professional development and decision to continue or quit teaching also holds importance and proves to be an important determinant of whether teacher attrition rates will speed up or slow down. Teachers from high school, middle school, and elementary school participated in the research survey. According to results regarding the first research problem, both salary and administrative support produced a positive influence on teachers’ decision to continue teaching, while the factor of professional development tended to produce a negative influence on the decision to continue teaching. All these three factors of salary, administrative support, and professional development proved to be effective tools for assessing the level of teacher satisfaction. According to the research results, professional development produces a negative effect on teacher satisfaction and strengthens teacher attrition. It is worth mentioning that administrative support proved to be the strongest variable in determining teacher satisfaction and sufficiently explained that how more support can lead to undermine teacher attrition. In response to the second research problem regarding the level of stress experienced by teachers from high school, middle school, and elementary school, significant differences surfaced among the teachers’ opinions. There appeared to be vast differences between the elementary teachers’ perceived levels of stress and the middle school and high school teachers’ perceived levels of stress, with the middle school and high school teachers’ showing the highest amount of perceived levels of stress and the elementary school teachers’ showing results in contrast. There were no significant differences in the middle school and high school teachers’ perceived levels of stress. The high school teachers’ perceived level of stress was highest and the elementary teachers’ perceived level of stress was the lowest. Such type of a research result as deduced from this research correlates with the research done in past on the subject of varied levels of stress experienced by teachers teaching at different levels. As responsibilities increase, problems also increase with one obstacle cropping up after another. The nature of tests which have to be organized and the level of academic responsibilities which have to be fulfilled in middle and high school certainly takes the teachers to the next level of stress which is actually nothing like what is experienced by other teachers in elementary schools. In response to the third research problem regarding the mandatory routine duties and paperwork assigned by administrators and pressures for students to perform on state and/or local tests, the testing statistically significantly predicted teachers’ perceived levels of stress. The extrinsic rewards could be reflected by, salary, benefits, retirement benefits and perhaps tenure and such extrinsic rewards are found to be extremely craved by the teachers in addition to being satisfactory and fulfilling the teachers’ psychological needs. Reducing the teacher turnover rates is extremely important because whopping sums of money are lost every year to increased turnover among teachers. According to a report prepared by North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, only in 2007-08, about 3,200 teachers quit their jobs and could not be retained owing to dissatisfaction, increased workloads, and poor administrative support experienced by them. “At an estimated replacement cost of $11,800 each, the state could have saved in excess of $37 million if the estimated number of retainable teachers actually were retained” (NC Department of Public Instruction, 2008). By ensuring extrinsic rewards like good salaries, administrative support, less teaching-related workloads, and prolonged teacher training programs, turnover rates can be reduced. “ Past research has disclosed that teachers believe their lower rate of pay has a negative impact on their overall professional worth. It is understandable, therefore, that when one contemplates the high rate of teacher attrition, the first explanation that typically leaps to mind is the relatively low compensation. Back some years when teaching became one of the lowest paid jobs in America for a college graduate and when lawyers, doctors, and engineers began earning a deal more than the teachers employed at elementary, middle, or high schools, the teacher attrition rates also increased simultaneously. Increasing teacher salaries to a level that would match the level of salaries received by doctors or engineers is found to be directly related with “lower high school dropout rates and increased college attendance among students taught by these better-compensated teachers” (Loeb & Page, 2000). This means that even high school dropouts can be propelled down and college attendance rates can be increased if learned and experienced scholars are motivated to stay and continue teaching by means of improved salary. This also remains a fact that many new teachers working in inner-city areas earn way less than other teachers employed at suburban schools. Such a decrease and difference in annual income is clearly noticed by the teachers in inner-city schools which negatively influences their decisions to continue teaching and consequently, fosters teacher attrition. According to much of the past research done on the financial state of teachers employed at schools located in outlying rural district, teacher attrition rates are even higher there because of poor salaries and mounting responsibilities which have to be carried out by the suburban and urban school teachers. This study provided findings that in many instances were consistent with the past research done on teacher attrition. The first study variable positively related to teacher attrition was in regards to salary and this finding is clearly consistent with literature that indicated that teachers are more disheartened about their salaries than persons in other professions. Improving teachers’ salaries often appears to form the most important solution to the growing problem of teacher attrition when it comes to school administrators who can afford increased expenditures by making some adjustments. Still, it remains a deplorable reality that “despite the known benefits of increasing teacher salaries, United States teacher salaries have held steady over 15 years” (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, cited in Corbell, 2009). However, for schools located in rural and inner-city areas, improvements made on teachers’ salaries often appears to seem virtually impossible. In an order to effectively reduce the turnover rate among teachers in all the schools nationwide, addressing the variable of salaries specifically does not seem enough. This remains a reality that even teachers from developed areas can be made willing to pursue their teaching careers in rural and inner-city schools if proper and attractive professional development opportunities be provided and ensured to them by the school authorities. The factor of professional development is exceedingly important in the context of teacher attrition. Many teachers even employed at high-end schools are seen quitting their jobs and increasing the turnover and teacher attrition rates because no professional development opportunities and support seems to be available to such teachers. It is worth mentioning that math and science teachers have been found to be particularly prone to “leave teaching due to dissatisfaction or to pursue another job in or out of education” (Ingersoll, 2000).With the help of proper administrative support and increased collaborative time ensured to the teachers, retention rates at many schools and colleges can be increased along with saving huge amount of dollars spent on recruiting new teachers in place of those leaving earlier than necessary. Attrition rates can be decreased among new teachers by adopting useful strategies targeting their minds and manner of thinking. According to the research survey, administrative support proved to be one of the strongest predictors of teacher retention. Many teachers leaving schools earlier than necessary cite lack of administrative support as the primary or significant factor in their decision to leave. New teachers who are just beginning their careers obviously need more time to interact with the administrators so that communication could be built up and confusions could be removed. In case of little or none verbal contact with the administrators, new teachers are certainly left with many problems. Many new teachers see administrative support as a key element that could ensure their success as distinguished mentors. “National Schools and Staffing Survey and Teacher Follow-up Survey data indicate that 84% of new teachers receive face-to-face interactions with administrators, and view such interactions as essential to their success” (Ingersoll, Smith & Dunn, cited in Corbell, 2009). However, the quality of interaction is not the same in every school and it varies considerably. Administration is found to play a huge role in influencing the teaching community to stay or leave a particular school or college. The extent to which the administration can shape a teacher’s perception of success as a mentor in a positive or negative way is huge and should not be undermined. With the help of administrative support, research professes that new teachers can be influenced to prolong their teaching careers with the end result of dropped teacher attrition rates. Moreover, seminars should be held for new teachers in an effort to boost their confidence levels so that retention rates could be increased. Teachers should be motivated to stay in a school or college by organizing informative seminars coupled with collaborative time. Maintaining a good quality of interaction is highly and critically important because this is the only way administrative support could be ensured. More and more chances of face-to-face interaction with administrators should be provided to new teachers so that teacher retention rates could be improved. According to research, those American schools which have been found to provide the facility of administrative support to their teachers are found to have higher teacher retention rates subsequently. “Schools that provide new teachers with face-to-face administration support and more autonomy have lower levels of teacher attrition” (Guarino et al., 2006). The third variable examined was teacher’s ability to help determine the content of professional development opportunities. This factor is important; however it proved to be negatively correlated and one of the weaker factors relating to teacher attrition. This is ironic considering that in much of the past research done on teacher attrition rates and professional development opportunities, the lack of professional development is identified as one of the major factors directly contributing to teacher attrition. Reducing teaching-related workloads and modifying teaching assignments is also crucial to optimize teacher retention and teachers’ satisfaction. This is understandable that new teachers face a variety of problems at the beginning of their careers and such problems can be increased if they be unreasonably provided with difficult and tedious teaching assignments. According to past research done by (Guarino et al., 2006 & Huling-Austin, 1990), organizing difficult assignments can seriously interfere with an otherwise strong teacher support programs meant to boost teachers’ satisfaction level and which include many good elements like support from the administration, mentoring, and increased collaborative time. According to past research, each of these elements is found to produce a phenomenal influence on both teachers’ satisfaction rates and retention decisions. “A beginning teacher’s assignment and workload appear often in the literature as important factors in teacher retention and satisfaction” (Darling-Hammond, 1998). References: Alliance for Excellent Education. (2005). Teacher attrition: A costly loss to the nation and to the states. Retrieved from http://www.all4ed.org/publications/ TeacherAttrition.pdf#search=%22alliance%20for%20excellent%20education%20cost%20of%20turnover%22. Corbell, K.A. (2009). Strategies That Can Reduce New Teacher Attrition in North Carolina. Retrieved from http://www.fi.ncsu.edu/assets/podcast_episodes/white-paper-series/strategies-that-can-reduce-new-teacher-attrition-in-north-carolina.pdf Darling-Hammond, L. (1998). Teacher learning that supports student learning. Educational Leadership, 55(5), 6-11. Guarino, C., Santibanez, L., & Daley, G. (2006). Teacher recruitment and retention: A review of the recent empirical literature. Review of Educational Research, 76(2), 173-208. Huling-Austin, L. (1990). Teacher induction programs and internships. Handbook of research on teacher education. New York: Macmillan. Ingersoll, R. M. (2000). Turnover among mathematics and science teachers. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/gse_pubs/96 Loeb, S. & Page, M. (2000). Examining the link between teacher wages and student outcomes: The importance of alternative labor market opportunities and non-pecuniary variation. Review of Economics and Statistics, 82(3), 393-408. North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (2008). Teacher turnover report: Annual report on the reasons teachers leave, 2007-2008. Retrieved from http:// www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/recruitment/surveys/turnover/reasons0708.pdf. Read More