New Teacher Retention In A Suburban School District: A Study Of New Teachers' Perceptions Of Their First-Year Experiences And Their Reasons For Remaining With The School System

Abstract

The purpose of this correlational study was to determine if there was a significant discrimination between New Teachers' perceptions of yearlong experiences and their reasons for remaining. This study relied on secondary data from one mid-Atlantic school system that has enjoyed higher teacher retention rates than the national average. In this school system, New Teachers were given many experiences. The New Teachers' perceptions of the usefulness or helpfulness of these experiences or the degrees to which new teachers perceived that these experiences met their needs are included as independent variables: (a) perceived degree of helpfulness of observing veteran teachers, (b) perceived extent to which support from administrators (instructional facilitators) met teachers' needs, (c) perceived extent to which support from administrators (principals and content supervisors) met teachers' needs, (d) perceived extent to which teacher mentor support met teachers' needs, (e) the perceived degree of helpfulness of professional development related to instruction, (f) the perceived degree of helpfulness of professional development related to new teacher workshops, (g) the perceived degree of helpfulness of professional development related to policies and procedures, (h) the perceived degree of helpfulness of professional development related to classroom management, (i) the perceived degree to which working conditions needs were met, and (j) the perceived degree to which supportive climate needs were met. Reasons for remaining with the system served as the dependent variable. The findings indicated the greatest and least discriminant conditions. The conditions found to have the greatest discrimination were found in professional development (new teacher workshops and policies and procedures), the observation of veteran teachers, and teacher mentor support. Supportive climate, support from administrators (instructional facilitators), and professional development (instruction) were the least discriminating conditions. Recommendations included providing opportunities for New Teachers to collaborate with colleagues and the teacher mentor as part of a professional development practice. Policy recommendations included funding teacher induction programs, recruiting quality teachers, and examining how the school as an organization is structured to support and retain new teachers. Areas for future research included examining the relationship between quality teacher preparation programs and teacher retention. Another area was to examine if a relationship existed between yearlong first year new teacher experiences and the retention of minority teachers.