"I Want to Be Part of the Solution": Exploring Teacher Commitment in Urban Schools

• In Event: Reimagining the Educator Pipeline: Strengths-Based Approaches to Studying Teacher Preparation, Recruitment, Diversity, and Retention

Abstract

To address teacher shortages, some urban districts rely on alternative certification programs (e.g., Teach For America, Urban Teachers), which offer streamlined entry into the teaching profession (Feistritzer et al., 2011; Humphrey et al., 2008). However, alternatively certified teachers tend to exit teaching at higher rates than traditionally certified teachers (Sutcher et al., 2016), thereby perpetuating teacher turnover.

Teachers’ career decisions are “deeply intertwined” with their motivations for entering the profession as well as their sense-making about their experiences, working conditions, and professional identities (Clandinin et al., 2009; Hong, 2010; Rinke, 2008; Schaefer et al., 2012). Whereas some individuals enter teaching for the long term, others enter with short-term goals of “exploring” or “contributing” before transitioning to other careers (Johnson, 2004; Rinke, 2011, 2013; Watt & Richardson, 2008).

This study explores how alternatively certified urban teachers, who entered with “exploratory” or “short-term” orientations to teaching, explained their decisions to commit to teaching as a long-term career. To do so, I conducted a study on Teach For America (TFA) alumni in one urban region (“Midwest City”). TFA recruits college graduates and career changers to teach for two years in high-poverty, urban and rural schools and primarily attracts individuals who do not plan on becoming career teachers. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with 50 TFA alumni (current teachers and other professionals). For this paper I analyzed interviews with those who remained in teaching (N=25). My analysis involved both inductive and deductive coding strategies (Charmaz, 2006; Miles et al., 2014), which allowed me to explore and examine patterns in teachers’ sense-making about their experiences, school conditions, and alternative career options.

Findings suggest that contextual factors (e.g., instructional support, school leadership), relationships with students, sense of efficacy, and professional identity development underscored TFA teachers’ career decisions. Those who committed to a career in teaching experienced opportunities for growth and advancement within their schools and came to see teaching as a purposeful and impactful career. Relatedly, they found ways to infuse their passions for social justice, policy, and advocacy within their classrooms or school communities. Teacher mobility in Midwest City, which contributes to instability at some schools, permitted some TFA teachers to remain in teaching despite negative experiences at their first schools. Indeed, many found that moving to a new school in Midwest City solidified their commitment to the teaching profession.

With persistently high rates of new teacher attrition and fewer young adults entering teaching (Everitt, 2018; Ingersoll et al., 2018), this study has important implications for schools and districts that face chronic teacher turnover. In contrast with much of the turnover literature that focuses on factors associated with “stayers,” and “leavers,” this research focuses on an understudied population of “stayers” – those whose orientations toward teaching shifted from short-term or exploratory to long-term. By elevating the experiences of those who, from the start, were less likely to stay in teaching and who work in schools often deemed “challenging,” or “hard to staff,” this study illuminates the draws of a career in urban education.

Author

• Naomi Blaushild, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy Human Development and Social Policy