The Effects of Teacher Turnover on School Organization

• 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 examines the effect of teacher turnover on the organizational functioning of New York City middle schools. Although research has considered who leaves, and the consequences of teacher turnover for student achievement (e.g., Boyd et al., 2007; Goldhaber et al., 2010), there has been little research on the consequences of teacher turnover for organizational functioning. Some of the school organizational conditions associated with higher levels of student achievement—e.g., inclusive leadership, strong parent-community relationships, a safe and orderly school, and professional capacity (Bryk et al., 2010)—may be more difficult to create in schools with high levels of turnover. But there has been little empirical research exploring this possibility.

Theoretical Framework

The paper draws on Grant's (1996) knowledge-based theory of the firm, which views the production and application of knowledge as the key feature of an organization, and organizational culture and practices as the mechanisms for knowledge production and application. Organizational turnover may hamper the institutionalization of such organizational culture and practices (Dess & Shaw, 2001).

Methods and Data Sources

In addition to the survey and case studies described earlier, the paper draws on New York's human resources data management system to construct the percentage of new-to-school teachers who left a school within three years. We also use state and district reports on student demography and academic achievement.

The quantitative analysis consists of a two-level regression model with teachers as the level-one units and schools as the level-two units. The model estimates the between-school variation in teachers' reports of the school as a workplace, and then examines what fraction of that variation can be accounted for by school-to-school differences in turnover rates. Subsequent steps shed light on the fraction of the total effect of turnover on the school as a workplace, which can be attributed to the selection of different kinds of teachers into different middle schools and to the common dependence of school climate and teacher turnover on the demographic character of the schools.

The analysis of fieldwork data draws on teachers' reports of the mechanisms by which turnover has influenced the social organization of the school, including trust among teachers and between teachers and school leaders, willingness to collaborate, innovation, and risk-taking.

Results

Our analysis reveals that most of the variation in teachers' reports of school organizational functioning is within, rather than between, schools, with the greatest between-school variance in principal leadership and school disorder. For some school factors, higher teacher turnover rates are associated with poorer functioning, but the effects are modest, and shrink when school demographic factors and individual teacher characteristics are taken into account.

Significance

The study's importance rests on its ability to assess competing explanations for the association of teacher turnover and school organizational functioning. The results suggest that New York City middle schools with high levels of turnover have a number of structural and demographic features that may account for school-to-school differences in school organization. We conclude that reducing turnover is but one piece of a comprehensive approach to school improvement.

Authors

• Aaron Pallas, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Barbara Tanner, Teachers College, Columbia University