Correlations between teacher turnover and specific non-pecuniary school characteristics among secondary band and choral programs in a large urban district

Abstract

This study was designed to examine teacher turnover among secondary choral and band programs ( N = 124) in a large, urban school district in the USA during a 10-year period (1999–2000 through 2009–2010). Also, this study investigated correlations between teacher turnover and specific non-pecuniary school attributes, including total school enrollment, total number of minority students enrolled in the school, total number of students classified as low-poverty, total number of suspension incidents, and total number of expulsion incidents. Overall, secondary music teacher turnover in this urban district negatively correlated with enrollment, minority, and suspension incidents. Specifically, middle school choral teacher turnover was negatively correlated with enrollment and minority, middle school band teacher turnover was negatively correlated with enrollment, minority, and suspension incidents and high school choral teacher turnover was negatively correlated with enrollment, minority, and suspension incidents. Interestingly, high school band teacher turnover was not correlated with any of the non-pecuniary school characteristics.