Research Brief

Retaining Quality Teachers

The Study

Most of the studies on teacher retention focus largely on teacher personal characteristics. This study was designed to explore more fully the organizational influences upon teachers’ decisions to remain in, move from, or leave their current teaching positions. The purpose of the study was three-fold:

1. To use qualitative, in-depth interviews and focus groups of 42 teachers currently working in Richmond metropolitan area public schools.

2. To use an administrative survey to obtain perceptions of seven central office contacts regarding school division teacher retention strategies.

3. To use qualitative phone interviews of 23 teachers who left their school divisions in the 1999-2000 or 2000-2001 school years to identify reasons for leaving.

The Findings

What is consistent across all facets of the study---the teacher focus groups, the central office administrator surveys, and the exiting teacher telephone interviews—is the finding that insufficient salary, lack of administrative support, and lack of planning time are the top reasons that teachers leave the profession. These factors not only lead to teachers’ sense of professionalism and improved levels of job satisfaction, but ultimately increase the likelihood of teachers remaining in their school divisions. This study also found that while teacher retention is complex, there is a hierarchy of organizational influences associated with teacher retention and attrition.

The findings are consistent with others that low salary is linked to higher rates of teacher attrition (Darling-Hammond, 1999; NCES, 1997a; Murnane, Singer & Willett, 1989). What is interesting in this study is that the focus group teachers reported salary as the top reason that colleagues left, but for the exiting teachers, only two left because salary was the top issue. For the exiting teachers, administrative support played slightly more of a role than salary in their decisions to leave. An explanation for the findings of salary as a top reason in teacher focus groups is that Virginia falls below the national average for teacher salaries, over $2,000 short of the national average of $42,717.

Central Office Administrator Surveys revealed that schools are doing the right things for new teachers—better pay and better support through mentorship programs. If issues related to administration and the work environment are not resolved first, however, those new teachers are still at risk of leaving. The issue may not be so much about salary as it is about the demands of the profession and the inadequate compensation for such work. Teachers’ comments such as “it’s not worth the pay” support this assertion.

Implications

Aside from salary and benefits (which is also an issue of state policy), administrative support plays the largest role in keeping good teachers. Figure 1 outlines the many aspects of administrative support and its vital role in keeping good teachers. If school divisions wish to improve teacher retention, targeted efforts to increase building level and district level administrative support should be priority. After administrative support, policies to improve teacher planning time and to reduce class size should follow. Other concerns were in the areas of SOL pressures, parental support, and student discipline and attitudes.

For More Information

To learn more about teacher retention contact the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium at www.vcu.edu/eduweb/merc or call 804-828-0478.