Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education
Advisor
Lauralee Carr
Committee Member
Walter Crews
Committee Member
Ronald P. Kern
Keywords
beginning teachers, collaboration, instructional leadership, mentoring, new teacher induction, peer observations, principal leadership, professional development, school climate, school environment, teacher-administrator relationships, teacher attrition, teacher feedback, teacher mobility, teacher retention, working conditions
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to provide increased knowledge of the effect of principal leadership on new teacher retention. When compared to other mobility rates, the new teacher attrition rate is higher; new teachers leave the school systems at faster rates than they can be replaced (Darling-Hammond & Sykes, 2003; Ingersoll & Smith, 2003; “NEA Study,” 2005; “Support new teachers and keep them teaching,” 2005; Watkins, 2005). The failure to retain new teachers often results in fewer quality teachers and poorer levels of instruction (Brown & Wynn, 2009). This study speculates that principal leadership, specifically instructional leadership, directly affects new teacher retention, and is focused on three reoccurring themes: possible causes of new teachers’ low retention rates, characteristics of effective principal leadership, and principal implementation of new teacher induction programs.
A survey, developed by the National Center for Education Statistics, was distributed to new teachers to determine the effect that principal leadership has on new teacher attrition. The research states that new teachers often receive difficult teaching assignments that do not coincide with their subject matter strengths, and they work in isolation (Darling- Hammond, 2003). An effective principal who increases beginning teacher retention is accessible for conversation, provides continual feedback, allows for input in school decision-making, and creates positive working conditions. Probably the most influential support mechanism a principal can put into place is a new teacher induction program that matches beginning teachers with trained mentors, offers common planning time for collaboration, provides ongoing professional development, and directly involves principal participation (Ingersoll & Kralik, 2004). Upon completion of the survey, the data was presented to administrators for them to examine their own new teacher retention data as it relates to the types of professional development that school principals offer as support. Furthermore, the data is going to be implemented by the division’s Human Resources department to expand the new teacher induction and mentorship programs within schools and throughout the division in order to increase new teacher retention.
An analysis of the data revealed that principals must create a school atmosphere that permits new teachers to collaborate with their colleagues and perform peer observations in unencumbered planning time. The data also determined that novice teachers need an open forum to ask questions of their peers and their administrators. The general school factors, such as school climate, environment, and working conditions strongly influenced new teacher retention. However, the data proved that the principal leadership strategies of mentorship with seasoned teachers, and non-evaluative feedback from their principals, increased new teacher retention. All of these strategies represent easy, inexpensive solutions to increasing new teacher retention rates.