Organizational Factors Affecting Retention and Attrition in New York City Middle Schools

• In Event: Roundtable Session 124
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Retention in New York City Middle Schools: The Research Alliance for the New York City Schools’ Three-Year Study (2009-2012)

Abstract

Purpose

This paper provides an overview of the key organizational factors teachers reported as affecting their career plans. Teacher retention/attrition has been studied widely over the past 30 years. Much of this research, however, has focused on characteristics of individuals who leave or stay in teaching assignments. Much less is known about the interaction between schools’ organizational functioning and turnover. In addition, very little work has been done to specifically understand teacher attrition in New York City (except Boyd et al., 2007) or in middle schools.

Theoretical Framework

Researchers have identified the relationship between the ways that teachers experience schools as work environments, and their decisions to continue in their jobs (Ingersoll, 2003; Johnson, et al. 2005; Marvel et al., 2007). Teachers who are dissatisfied with their social relationships in schools – with parents, colleagues, the principal, or students – are more likely to say that they expect to leave teaching (MetLife Survey of the American Teacher, 2006). There is some evidence that the highest performing teachers leave when their school is not organized to support them (Kopp, 2011).

Methods and Data Sources

The data for all four papers are derived from two main sources. First, in spring 2010, 125 of 196 "true" middle schools serving only grades 6-8 participated in a survey, a school-level response rate of 64%. A total of 4,214 full-time middle school teachers in these schools completed a survey, a within-school response rate of approximately 80%. The survey addressed teachers' backgrounds, career plans, and reports of the school as a workplace.

Second, we conducted explanatory case studies (Yin, 2003) of four of these middle schools serving low-income student populations, from May 2010 through June 2011. We identified the cases through longitudinal analysis of NYCDOE administrative data. The schools are in the Bronx and Brooklyn (two each); in each borough, one school has a 10-year history of relatively low turnover, while the other has high turnover. At each school, we conducted multiple waves of semi-structured interviews with teachers of varying years of experience, teacher leaders, APs, and principals (81 interviews total). We also observed a sample of meetings and public spaces. We are employing systematic qualitative analysis methods (Miles & Huberman, 1984), including an iterative thematic coding schema with inter-coder reliability checks and the use of NVivo 8 for data management.

All four papers draw on aspects of these common methods and data sources; variations specific to each paper are noted below.

Results

Both the survey and case study data revealed administrative leadership as the key organizational factor affecting retention. (Paper #2 looks deeply at this finding.) The qualitative analysis is still underway. However, preliminary analysis suggests the following additional factors to be explored in this paper: teachers’ relationships with students and families, including perceptions of student behavior (also supported by survey results); teachers’ relationships with colleagues; and opportunities for professional learning.

Significance

This paper will provide a comprehensive analysis of organizational factors affecting teacher turnover in NYC middle schools, valuable for informed administrative and policy decisions.

Authors

• Jennifer Goldstein, California State University - Fullerton

• Aaron Pallas, Teachers College, Columbia University