Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Cheryl Keen

Abstract

Teacher attrition has been a widely researched topic in the United States. However, little research has been conducted in large urban districts divided by high- and low-performing schools in regards to collective teacher efficacy and teachers’ intent to continue teaching. Considering this research gap, this quantitative study was conducted to examine collective teacher efficacy in relation to middle-school and high-school teachers’ intent to continue teaching and their perceptions of school performance. Within the conceptual framework of collective teacher efficacy, the research questions addressed the extent the independent variable, collective teacher efficacy, predicted the dependent variable, teachers’ intent to continue teaching for the next 5 years, with a moderating effect of teachers’ perceptions of school site performance. Survey data were collected from N = 105 teachers from a population of 364 beginning teachers at the middle- and high-school level in a Northern California school district. The Collective Teacher Beliefs Scale and single questions on the intent to teach for 5 years and the perceived school performance served as data collection instruments. A regression analysis confirmed that collective teacher efficacy significantly predicted teachers’ intent to continue teaching for the next 5 years (β = .62, p <. 01), with the model explaining approximately one third of the variance in the dependent variable (R2 = .36, F(2, 47) = 15.03, p < .01). A one-way ANCOVA showed no significant moderating effect of teachers’ perceptions of site performance. These results suggest that interventions aimed to enhance collective teacher efficacy may improve teacher retention, which in turn could lead to an increase in education quality for positive social change.

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