Teacher Retention And Satisfaction With A Servant Leader Principle

While salary is a contributing factor to poor retention, administrators must investigate measures to adequately support their teachers. Greiner et al. (2005) created a five step plan to increase teacher retention. Their plan included designing collaborative training programs, developing flexible scheduling, strengthening relationships between experienced teachers, and developing partnerships between schools and local school districts.

Fifty percent of new teachers quit with in the first five years of teaching (NEA, 2015), with this number being so alarmingly high it begs the questions: Why do so many teachers leave after going through years of college for this profession? Were teachers not prepared for the job, through college training, what should colleges teach in order to better prepare teachers?

Teachers today face a number of challenges that contribute to a lack of job satisfaction, leaving schools for other professions that are more lucrative, low comparative compensation, and poor working conditions:

I can totally relate to Casey’s discussion, “When Teachers Lose Heart”. As a veteran teacher I have witnessed and felt the way in which Laurie Barnoski describes in the article reviewed. There are so many different issues in which teachers feel stressed about presently in school systems. This stress leads to teacher burn out and eventually to teachers wanting to leave the occupation in which they have trained and received degrees in. I personally started teaching in 2001 and feel like the fun and creativeness that teachers once had has slowly been stripped away. There are too many state and national policies we are trying to keep up with. High stakes testing has taken control and teachers feel threatened of their jobs in many ways. Rigorous

46 percent of teachers leave the profession within the first five years on the job. This is a result of disrespect to teachers in regards to their salary. Those who educate and shape the future generations should not be on the lower end of the pay scale; teachers are not being compensated well enough for the work they do. Teachers not only provide instruction in a number of academic areas, but they offer encouragement and inspiration to the future generations. Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions, but yet our educators are still undervalued and underpaid.

There are many contributing factors to low teacher turnover, however, the main issue is a lack of support and respect for our teachers. Instead of working on maintaining and providing support for our current educators, the conversation usually surrounds expensive and often ineffective recruitment programs. The harsh fact is that it is very expensive to live in our valley and the current teacher salary/benefits are not enough to attract top talent. We need to have a serious conversation with our teachers in order to learn what incentives they need to be successful in their roles as well as to maintain a comfortable living. Teachers are the one profession that truly molds the future of our

“The Teacher Retention Program is committed to supporting the development and retention of Arizona top teachers increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of Arizona’s school, and improving educational opportunities for all students” ("Teacher Retention Project," n.d., para. 1) . By retaining exciting dedicated educators who achieve in their field of expertise, the residents of Arizona will bring stability into the classroom which will result in higher academic test scores, increase graduation rates, and a positive school experience for our future citizen of the state of Arizona. This initiative will address the disastrous deterioration within the Arizona school district due to increasing numbers of teachers either relocating or vacating the teaching profession all together by providing a mentor program between effective teacher in high achieving schools with those in lower academic settings. As teachers leave the profession a void between seasoned experienced teacher and those beginning their career becomes noticeable, particularly in the low income school districts. By putting forward this initiative the residents of Arizona will comply with Brown vs. Board of Education ruling which address the issue of segregation in tangible

Many have voiced their concerns over the many issues within the teaching profession. Heather Voke of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum responds to one issue, the teacher shortage, by researching the nature of the shortage, its probable causes, problems resulting from the shortage, and frequently recommended policy changes. According to Voke (2003), 42 percent of all teachers leaving depart for lack of job satisfaction, to pursue another career, or better career opportunities. Low salaries and lack of public respect also impacts teacher retention. Policy recommendations to retain teachers include: salary increases, high quality induction programs, prohibit out-of-field teaching, include teachers in decision making, developing current teachers, collaboration with universities to attract and train teachers, and reduce class size. Voke suggests that policy makers and educational leaders do not understand the nature of the teacher shortage. Moreover, developing programs to attract candidates and not properly train them risks wasting valuable resources.

The purpose of exploring this phenomenon of teachers leaving their profession early in their career is to determine why it is happening and how it can be prevented in the future.

One of the largest problems with education in the United States is teacher retention (McLaurin, Smith, & Smillie, 2009). Some remaining challenges in education is the loss of new teachers during their first years in the profession (Nelson, Duke, Hutchens, & Machell, 2014). Teacher preparation programs have been found to be significantly related to teacher quality (Katitia, 2015). Teacher quality is known as the primary force in student learning outcomes (Ring & West , 2015).

There is a consensus among the concerned stakeholders that the quality of teachers is the leading factor in determination of student performance. In the case of United States, the student performance can only be given an impetus by the efforts which the state can make, under all costs, to develop and retain high quality teachers. The measures undertaken determine the level of turnover of the school teachers. Lazear (2009) similarly argues the length of employment is a critical factor in averse risks of employment a trend contrary to teachers treatment. The turnover of public school teachers will refer to the rate at which the state, which is the teacher’s

For a number of years, teacher retention has been a topic of discussion many scholars around the world. In the context of Australia, teacher retention has been examined by a number of researcher and stakeholders. Australia’s Department of Education conducted research pertained to teacher retention in the 2013 National Teaching Workforce Dataset Data Analysis Report (NTWD). It was found that primary school principals experienced 57.6% degrees of difficulty in filling vacancies and 40.8% had some level of difficulty in retaining staff (refer to figure 2 & 3) (Department of Education 2014). Such a finding is clear evidence that the failure to explore and employ retention strategies is detrimental to not only an organisation but also to an entire industry.

Maryland. The study evaluated the perceptions of principals, teachers, and support personnel concerning specific teacher attributes, characteristics, and behaviors that influence retention. It did not identify the actions principals take to promote retention. While the findings of these studies and others provide valuable data regarding the bigger issue of teacher retention, it is believed that more in-depth exploration will provide greater understanding of the role of the principal and the strategies they employ to reduce teacher retention. DeAngelis and Presley (2014) conducted a study to provide an overview of the findings of previous studies, paying particular attention to distinguishing between factors that have been found to influence teachers’ decisions to leave the profession vis a vis those factors

Negativity and low teacher retention rates are a product of teacher isolation. Collaboration and involvement with other components of the school outside the classroom leads to an increase in job satisfaction on the behalf of teachers. Jennifer Waddell, professor at the University of Missouri, states that, “Teachers highlighted both the personal and professional nature of the relationships, often commenting that the coworkers were their source of energy and strength as they met the challenges of teaching in urban environments. The teachers commented that their fellow teachers helped them experience a sense of belonging, ownership, and satisfaction in their jobs, even when district mandates and bureaucratic pressures were mounting” (Waddell, 2010). This feeling of satisfaction impacts teacher’s behavior in the classroom and leads to a higher retention of

The purpose of this essay is to examine whether there are relationships that exists between the impact of teacher turnover and student achievement, particularly in schools of low income, ethnic minority areas or non-white, and low achieving student populations. It is an interesting topic even though I am not in teaching profession but it is a topic that gives people concerns.