Date of Conferral

10-8-2024

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Mary Hallums

Abstract

Despite interventions to decrease teacher turnover, there remains a 16-24% teacher turnover rate at one Southeastern School District (SSD) in the United States. There is a gap in practice related to the successes and challenges of retaining teachers in the local setting. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the teacher turnover rates in an SSD that are consistently higher than teacher turnover rates in other state schools and the nation. Lee and Mitchell’s unfolding model of voluntary employee turnover guided this study. Research questions addressed principals' perceptions of the successes and challenges related to the high teacher turnover rates and perceptions of strategies that have been successful in addressing teacher turnover. Data were collected using semistructured interviews from a purposeful sample of eight principals, one from each programmatic grade level. The format for retrieving and analyzing the text-based data was textual analysis, where simple semistructured interviews were transcribed through coding words and phrases as analytic memos in a research journal. The findings revealed principals’ perceptions of the challenges and successes, and these specific findings may successfully adapt and address teacher turnover in the rural SSD. It is recommended that these findings be presented to district directors and principals at both the district and school building levels. Insights from the study may offer a positive social change in increasing student outcomes by communicating perceptions and specific strategies that have successfully retained teachers, decreasing the teacher turnover rate in rural SSDs.

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