Beginning Teacher Retention Research Articles

Beginning Teacher Support Model: Elementary Teachers’ Resilience and Retention in Arizona

In the United States, beginning teacher retention rates are extraordinarily low; only 50% of teachers remain in the classroom after five years. In particular, the State of Arizona has been recruiting significant numbers of teachers from out of state and attempting to retain them with minimal success. This persistent problem has led the neediest of students to have teachers with lower levels of professional experience, leaving those students with continually lower achievement gains. Drawing on integrated action research and grounded theory methodology, this study’s took place in a large kindergarten to eighth grade elementary school district located in a high-poverty neighborhood in Arizona. The study invited six new teachers in their first year of teaching to explore innovative strategies to increase these teachers’ retention in the profession. The ultimate goal was to understand how such support might alter a beginning teacher’s perceptions of their own persistence and resilience in dealing with the challenges of first-year teaching, thereby reducing beginning teacher attrition. The study finds that teachers must be nurtured and cared for in order for them to fully devote their time and energy to effectively care for the students in their classroom. Increasing self-awareness and resiliency has the potential to create a ripple effect to retain more beginning teachers, as they become more likely to persevere, ask for help, connect with others, and achieve a healthy life/work balance while positively impacting students and their community.

Better understanding the professional and personal factors that influence beginning teacher retention in one Canadian province

In 2019-2020, approximately 300 beginning teachers agreed to participate in the Alberta Teachers’ Association research study designed to better understand the factors that best support early career satisfaction and growth. With attrition rates as high as 50% in the first five years worldwide, more information is needed as to how to retain teachers. Some contexts have a greater retention rate, but why? Is it due to professional or personal factors, or a combination of both? Using a survey design and a focus group that investigated Early Career Teachers (ECT) perceptions of professional development, mentorship, and school contexts, in addition to personal well-being and resiliency characteristics, results from this study demonstrated that both professional and personal factors are equally influential when retaining early career teachers beyond the first three years. Participants reported not only feeling supported and valued by administration and colleagues, they also rated high on competency and resiliency questions. When asked if they could see themselves being a teacher in 10 years, over 77% selected Strongly Agree and Agree. Therefore, when implemented and supported in unison, adaptive professional and personal factors appear to be a highly predictive combination for improved teacher retention.

Using Measures of Fit to Predict Beginning Teacher Retention

AbstractA school’s performance over time is shaped by its ability to retain strong teachers. Research has identified multiple predictors associated with teacher retention; however, few studies have...

All’s well? New Zealand beginning teachers’ experience of induction provision in their first six months in school

While the importance of induction for increasing beginning teacher retention and supporting professional development is widely recognised, less is known about the nature of support that novices encounter when they first start teaching. This study investigated 12 first-year New Zealand primary teachers’ perceptions of their induction experiences in their first six months of teaching. Semi-structured interviews (n = 24) were the primary sources of data for this qualitative study. The study showed that despite New Zealand’s longstanding commitment to the induction of beginning teachers, the participants’ experiences were diverse and variable. The findings point to the learning and development opportunities open to beginning teachers when they work in schools that both recognise novices’ particular needs and have a school-wide commitment to the ongoing professional learning of all teachers.

Two Contrasting Models for Mentoring as They Affect Retention of Beginning Teachers

Research indicates that mentoring programs help increase the retention of beginning teachers. School administrators may be presented with competing mentoring models, with various sources and types of support, aimed at improving beginning teacher retention. This study collected both qualitative and quantitative data under the rubric of a comparative case study method to investigate mentoring models in the Asher and Dane School Districts (pseudonyms). Using this approach, the authors explored the two distinct models related to beginning teacher retention. Although both districts used collaborative teams, in-school mentors, and principals within the context of professional learning communities to participate in the mentoring of beginning teachers, only the Dane School District employed district “coaches.” Findings from this research suggest that these “coaches” were not as effective as in-school mentors or collaborative teams in increasing retention, possibly because of lack of proximity and personal relationship. Additional findings describe and explain mentoring characteristics and different sources of support that benefited the mentoring experience and subsequent retention of beginning teachers.

Beginning Teachers’ Workplace Experiences: Perceptions of and Use of Support

This paper illuminates the experiences of beginning teachers using a participatory perspective approach and drawing on some of these teachers’ perceptions. We place the ‘subject’ of workplace learning research centrally in understanding the relatedness between workplaces and novice employees/trainees. This paper builds on previous work by the authors using semi-structured interviews with 17 beginning teachers in 19 schools that aim to better understand issues associated with beginning teacher retention. This study explores an application of a framework for evaluating workplaces as from expansive to restrictive learning environments, whilst examining individuals’ responses to and agency in these environments. In addition, these teachers’ personal networks were explored to idedntify how they shaped the teachers’ engagement with workplaces. This analysis revealed networks both internal and external to their schools, and hence a broader view of workplace than is often proposed. Together these analyses allowed an examination of the relatedness between individual beginning teachers and the schools they experienced. This paper identifies the significance of ontogeny and expectation that individuals bring to the workplace, along with individuals exhibiting different agency. These beginning teachers indicate how individuals can be proactive in creating more expansive learning environments for themselves through the utilisation of personal networks, even when these are not offered. This finding may have implications for beginning teachers to re-evaluate their potential to become empowered as they begin their careers.

Supporting and retaining beginning teachers: a validity study of the Perceptions of Success Inventory for Beginning Teachers

In the United States, 50% of beginning teachers leave the classroom in their first 5 years of teaching (Ingersoll & Smith, 2004). This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Perceptions of Success Inventory for Beginning Teachers (PSI-BT), an instrument that can be used to make informed decisions for improving induction programs and ultimately to retain beginning teachers. The PSI-BT assessed factors that contribute to beginning teachers' perceptions of success as well as beginning teacher retention. An extensive literature review, expert opinions, and confirmatory factor analysis established the construct validity of the PSI-BT. Structural equation modeling analyses determined the factors that predicted beginning teacher satisfaction, commitment, retention intentions, and retention. When used to inform targeted professional development and support, we believe this instrument can help school districts improve retention and effectiveness of beginning teachers.

The Fatal Attraction of Mentoring: Mentoring for Retention of Beginning Teachers

The Fatal Attraction of Mentoring: Mentoring for Retention of Beginning Teachers

Principal Leadership and Professional Learning Communities: What Beginning Teachers Value

Beginning teachers in the United States continue to exit the classroom in alarming numbers, despite numerous recruitment and retention strategies. High turnover rates negatively affect instruction and, ultimately, student achievement. The purpose of this empirical inquiry of beginning-teacher retention issues is to better understand what new teachers value in a school leader within the context of professional learning communities. Twelve schools with low beginning-teacher attrition and transfer request rates were identified, and focus group interviews were conducted with four to six new teachers in each school (i.e., teachers with 1 to 3 years of experience, N = 61). Findings indicate that beginning teachers relate principal leadership, mentoring, and professional learning communities to their job satisfaction.

Influence Of Mentoring On Dyad Satisfaction: Is There Agreement Between Matched Pairs of Novice Teachers And Their Formal Mentors?

The practice of mentoring beginning teachers emerged in the early 1980s as an induction strategy to assist new teachers adjust to the demands of teaching, and to become socialized to the school environment (Feiman-Nemser, 2003). This tactic was in response to the high levels of attrition that newcomers experienced during their induction into the teaching profession. Whereas a six percent loss of staff per year might be expected in the corporate world (Norton, 1999), previous research reported that up to 25% of teachers leave the profession by the end of the first year, and almost half of new teachers leave within the first five years of entry into the occupation (Ingersoll & Smith, 2003). As such, beginning teacher retention looms as an important challenge for school districts, and was identified by theNational Commission on Teaching and America’s Future as a “national crisis” (2003, p. 21). While it can be argued that some employee attrition is natural and to be expected, the literature contends that high levels of turnover are an indication of ineffectiveness and low performance in an organization (Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). Furthermore, research suggests that some of the most talented beginning teachers are voluntarily leaving the profession (Ponessa, 1996). Education’s “revolving door” (Ingersoll, 2003, p. 11) phenomenon has resulted in a high cost of time, resources, teaching effectiveness, student achievement, and school cohesion (Cochran-Smith, 2004).