The growing dilemma of teacher job turnover has severely handicapped the fundamental responsibility of school districts to maintain a committed and stable instructional force. Using the lens of organizational systems theory, this chapter explores ways in which building leaders can actively increase job embeddedness of teachers and staff by constructing collaborative perspectives of teaching and learning. A systems approach where disciplines are integrated and community culture is respected can result in teachers being more engaged in school-wide pedagogy, feeling less isolated, and developing a convivial sense of fidelity which can lead to job satisfaction and commitment to remain.
TopChapter Objectives
- 1.
Present a literature-based discussion of the problem and impact of teacher turnover.
- 2.
Report findings of a study that explored the extent to which schools with more inexperienced and uncertified teachers have greater percentages of teacher departures than other schools.
- 3.
Share insights and recommendations on the issue of teacher attrition from the perspectives of building principals, district superintendents, and the school board.
TopIntroduction
The growing dilemma of teacher job turnover has severely handicapped the fundamental responsibility of school districts to maintain a committed and stable instructional force (Blizard, 2021). Using the lens of the Organizational Systems Theory, this chapter explores ways in which building leaders can actively increase job embeddedness of teachers and staff by constructing collaborative paradigms. A systems approach where disciplines are integrated and community culture is respected can result in teachers being more engaged in school-wide pedagogy, feeling less isolated, and developing a convivial sense of fidelity which can lead to job satisfaction and commitment to remain.
The problem of teacher turnover has been a growing quandary in American education for all of the twenty-first century, with the current rate imposing crisis levels in most high poverty schools (Garcia & Weiss, 2020). High poverty schools struggle to maintain a cadre of educators who are able to provide the pedagogical stability and instructional acumen necessary to address the curricular and performance needs of children in chronically low performing schools (Duruk & Akgun, 2020; Ronfeldt et al., 2020). While the problem of teacher attrition is well documented, less is known about how to address and reverse the trend to prevent the continued harm being done to children who have no alternative but to attend understaffed schools.
Multiple studies and individual testimonies document the critical role of an exemplary classroom teacher in stimulating the academic prowess, scholarly inquiry, and personal development of a child (Geier, 2021; Keeley et al., 2016; King & Kokores, 2017). Within this context, school districts strive to ensure that classrooms are staffed with teachers who are capable of providing captivating learning experiences. This transformative potential of schooling was best expressed by Fuller (1868), “Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery” (p. 669).
The challenge for schools to hire and retain highly qualified and credentialed classroom teachers has been of concern for many decades (Darling-Hammond, 2020; Ditman, 1946; Gershenson, 2021; Hackett, 1953; Maul, 1952; Misemecje & Adams, 1978). More recently, these issues have been exacerbated by a steady decline in teacher education program enrollments and early departures of new hires (Bassok et al., 2021; Carter, 2021; Holmes, 2021; Redding & Nguyen, 2020). It has become increasingly apparent that addressing these crucial issues is beyond the capacity of a single classroom, an individual schoolhouse, or a solitary principal.