The Role of Principal Leadership in Beginning Middle School Teacher Commitment and Retention

• In Event: Roundtable Session 18.
  In Roundtable Session: School Leadership Roundtable

Abstract

Recent research indicates that principals can strongly affect beginning teacher commitment and retention, but it is less clear how and why principal leadership plays such a central role in these outcomes. This paper reports on a two-year qualitative research study of five novice math and science teachers in two Michigan school districts. The study investigated the ways in which novices’ commitment to their schools and future teaching plans were shaped by their principals’ policies and behaviors. All five teachers expressed high levels of commitment at the end of their second or third years of teaching, and we argue that leadership related to student discipline, instruction, and teacher evaluation combined with high levels of principal-teacher trust to contribute to these outcomes.

Authors

• Peter A. Youngs, Michigan State University

• Hyun-Seung Kwak, Michigan State University

• Ben Pogodzinski, Wayne State University