Search results

Policymakers have focused on improving STEM outcomes for US high school students for over 50 years. Much of this focus has centered on improving the quality of STEM teachers, particularly in poor and minority schools. Few, if any, of these efforts have considered the importance of the content knowledge of those providing instructional leadership in schools – namely, principals and assistant principals. This chapter examines the percentage of school leaders with teacher certification in mathematics or science and the degree to which teacher and school leader turnover interrupts the leadership–teacher relationships. The study concludes relatively few school leaders have the content knowledge to provide deep instructional leadership. Moreover, the study finds combined teacher and school leader turnover greatly diminishes the sustained relationships between instructional leaders and teachers, particularly in lower-performing schools.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion (EE) in between bundled high-performance human resource practices (HPHRPs) and intention to leave (ITL) in the education sector.

A survey questionnaire method was used to collect data from a sample of 514 teachers working in different professional colleges in Jammu and Kashmir (North India). Data were validated with CFA and SEM was used to test hypothesised relations.

The results show that bundled HPHRPs have greater impact on EE and ITL as compared to individual HPHRPs. Further, the study also confirmed that EE partially mediates the bundled HPHRPs and ITL relationship.

Future research need to explore same relationships in different sectors with longitudinal data at the multi-level approach.

Educational administration should focus on the bundled HPHRPs, which will benefit not only the teachers, but the students too. It should adopt relaxation techniques like mindfulness training approach, yoga and meditation. Further, to reduce their career-related confusions management should organise career awareness programmes.

The results from this study explored new and untested mechanism, i.e. EE as mediator between bundled HPHRPs and ITL relationship in the professional degree colleges in India, has not been previously researched.

This chapter analyzes 2011 survey data from a sample of Texas principals who were asked about their perceptions of their working conditions such as: support and facilities; salary; resources; autonomy to make decisions; testing and accountability pressures; and relationships with supervisors. Respondents were also asked about their intentions to stay or leave their particular school. Researchers and policymakers agree effective and stable school leadership is critical to school improvement efforts, but we know little about how various working conditions impact principal effectiveness and turnover. This work is important because in-depth knowledge of the causes of principal turnover in general and how principal working conditions impact turnover in particular is a pre-requisite to creating policies and support mechanisms to support principals in small and mid-sized districts.

The main objective of this study is to analyze the impact of spiritual intelligence (SI) based on its four dimensions (critical existential thinking (CET), personal meaning production (PMP), transcendental awareness (TA) and conscious state expansion (CSE)) on teachers' turnover intention (TI) through sanctification of work (SoW) and job satisfaction (JS).

Drawing from multiple intelligence theory, this study adopted a cross-sectional design to explore the hypothesized relationships. Copies of the questionnaire were distributed to 367 teachers working in public schools in Plateau State, Nigeria, and 290 out of the retrieved copies were useable. The data collected were analyzed using variance-based structural equation modeling (SEM), Smart-PLS 4.

The results suggest that SI does not significantly influence TI, while SoW and JS mediate the relationship between SI and TI.

The result suggests that SoW and JS are significant mechanisms through which SI predicts teachers' TI. This highlights the need for educational policymakers to integrate spiritual literature as well as imbibe spiritual practices such as prayers, meditations and yoga either at work or privately to enhance the development of SI among teachers.

The results offer an insightful understanding of SI and how it influences work outcomes. The mechanism roles of SoW and JS explain the process by which one's perceived numinous object, activity event and job experience influence a job decision.

For decades, special education has been plagued by shortages of fully qualified teachers. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was designed to address the problem of teacher shortage by easing entry and promoting alternative routes (ARs). However, the law was not specific to special education, and the logic on which it is based fits the special education context poorly. Nonetheless, ARs have proliferated in special education. In this chapter, we consider the impact of NCLB generally and AR preparation specifically on special education teacher (SET) shortages. We describe the population of SETs, review research on special education ARs, and consider the problem of diversifying the workforce. We also review research on teacher attrition and policies designed to reduce it.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether teachers with high value‐added scores (as a measure of teacher quality) stay or left test grades and subjects in a medium‐sized school district.

Panel data for this paper encompass teachers providing math and reading instruction and link to individual students in grades 3‐10 from a single Florida school district (2000‐2001 to 2004‐2005). Value‐added modeling is used to estimate a measure of teacher quality, which is entered into binomial logistic regression models.

This paper finds a negative relationship between reading teachers' value‐added scores and attrition (p<0.05) – a finding consistent with the few that have examined the relationship between value added and teacher attrition. A significant relationship is not found between math value added and attrition. There is also no significant relationship between value added and transferring. Secondary and alternatively certified teachers are more likely to exit tested grades/subjects. Classroom percentages of students enrolled in the free/reduced lunch program (a proxy for poverty) are associated with leaving among math and reading teachers.

Not all turnover is negative. Evidence from this paper suggests that schools are not losing the best teachers from tested subjects and grades – those in which schools and school leaders are held accountable. While there are costs associated with turnover, it can serve as an important matching function between workers and employers.

Only, a few published studies have utilized value‐added scores as the measure of teacher quality and tested their relationship with teacher attrition.

The shortage of teachers of color, specifically Black female teachers, is a problem that detrimentally impacts students in US public schools. The high turnover of Black teachers may be caused by the poor working conditions they experience in their schools. However, the literature lacks a broad overview that gives a national perspective on how working conditions in general, and interpersonal relationships in particular, affect the retention of Black female teachers. For this study, we analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of over 1,000 Black female teachers who participated in the 2007–2008 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). We addressed two main research questions. First, how do the working conditions in schools where Black female teachers are employed relate to their retention? Second, does the quality of the interpersonal relationships between Black female teachers and others at their schools predict career decisions? Our findings have implications for policymakers and school leaders who seek to improve teacher retention in US public schools.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the effectiveness and practical utility of an organizational learning intervention for an organization that was not progressive, was not specifically chartered as a learning organization, and was situated in an urban, culturally diverse, and under‐privileged community.

In this empirical case study, employees were surveyed pre‐ and post‐intervention on measures of organizational learning, school climate and morale. Archival data on turnover rates were also collected for the years bracketing the intervention (2003‐2005).

Analyses show the center reduced turnover and improved in organizational learning, morale, and to a lesser degree, organizational climate. Analyses demonstrate relationships between change in organizational climate dimensions (e.g. supportive leadership, appraisal and recognition, goal congruence) and change toward organizational learning.

This research suggests that organizational learning – and the post‐bureaucratic practices that characterize it – can be useful even in the most challenging of settings. Unlike previous research, this study specifically addresses organizational learning's utility for under‐privileged populations; it also examines how the more traditional measure of organizational climate is related to post‐industrial notions of learning and business performance. It should be of value to academics and practitioners wishing to apply organizational learning to less‐advantaged and change‐averse organizations.

At the virus' US epicenter, New York City, teachers experienced the impact of the pandemic firsthand in real time. Consistent with intensification (Apple, 1986), as school struggles to adapt to a rapidly changing social and educational landscape, socioemotional stressors and occupational responsibilities increase. Through the metaphoric (Craig, 2018) image of a candle, and using the tools of narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990) – broadening, burrowing, storying, and restorying – we surface four teachers' lived experiences in a year filled with incredible grief and loss, socio-political-cultural trauma, racial strife, and personal-professional challenges to show their resolve and resiliency to persevere through and beyond burning out.

Research funded by the Albert Shanker Institute found African-American teachers leaving teaching at higher rates than White counterparts even though the former are recruited in proportionally higher numbers. Thus, while recruitment efforts appear somewhat successful, schools and school systems fail to retain teachers of color. This “revolving door” of African-American teachers portends dire consequences for school communities, creating instability of staffing that potentially upend students’ opportunities for academic success. African-American female (AAF) teachers, considered a backbone of non-White communities, are particularly sensitive to teacher mobility and turnover. Studies, however, indicate that AAF teachers are more satisfied working in urban school contexts than other teachers, suggesting that they prefer racially congruent schools which share sociocultural attributes similar to their own, and view working conditions more favorably in such environments.

Teachers’ perceptions of the workplace can be used to gauge risk for occupational stress. Commonly referred to as the transactional model, teachers’ risk for stress can be assessed by the appraising workplace resources vis-à-vis workplace demands. Stress-vulnerable teachers are associated with lower professional commitment and increased occupational burnout. Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics 2007–2008 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), this chapter explored the intersections of risk for occupational stress, racial congruence, and professional commitment among AAF teachers. Findings from this chapter suggest interactions between racial congruence and AAF teachers’ perceptions of occupational stress and commitment to teaching. Implications for how these results might inform policy are discussed.