Oh, Won't You Stay: A Multilevel Analysis of the Difficulties in Retaining Qualified Teachers

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires that every classroom be staffed with a "qualified teacher." A growing literature is focusing on what causes teachers to leave their jobs and/or the teaching occupation, rather than solely on factors influencing teacher recruitment. This article...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPeabody journal of education Vol. 81; no. 4; pp. 65 - 94
Main Authors Omenn Strunk, Katharine, Robinson, Joseph Paul
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Philadelphia Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc 2006
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Subjects
Attrition
Diversity (Faculty)
Education - Standards
Educational Legislation
Ethnicity
Faculty Mobility
Federal Legislation
Hispanics
Labor Turnover
Language teachers
Minority group students
Minority Groups
Multivariate analysis
No Child Left Behind Act 2001
Professional recruitment
Race
Racial Composition
Racial Factors
School dropouts
Social identity
State schools
Student Diversity
Teacher Certification
Teacher Characteristics
Teacher Persistence
Teacher Recruitment
Teacher retention
Teacher Selection
Teachers
Teachers - Qualifications
Teaching
Teaching (Occupation)
Teaching Experience
Urban schools
Working conditions
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Summary:The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires that every classroom be staffed with a "qualified teacher." A growing literature is focusing on what causes teachers to leave their jobs and/or the teaching occupation, rather than solely on factors influencing teacher recruitment. This article uses nationally representative data from the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey to address teacher attrition in a multilevel analytic framework, accounting for the clustering of teachers within schools within states. Drawing from a theoretical framework rooted in occupational wage theory and social identity theory, we find teachers are more likely to leave if (a) they are specialized instructors (especially foreign language); (b) they have a probationary teaching certificate; (c) they are less experienced; (d) the racial composition of the students is heavily minority; (e) the students' racial composition is less matched to their own race/ethnicity; and, for teachers of some races, (f) the teaching staff's racial composition is more matched to their own race/ethnicity.
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ISSN:0161-956X
1532-7930
DOI:10.1207/s15327930pje8104_4