Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Andrew Thomas

Abstract

Educational researchers contend that high-quality, sustaining teachers are critical to student success. However, few policymakers agree on the best way to improve teacher quality. Researchers outside of education found associations between employee engagement and job performance, which suggests that improving teacher work engagement may potentially improve teacher productivity. Engagement theories framed this correlational study; Kahn's engagement theory, Spector's job satisfaction theory and Meyer and Allen's organizational commitment theory. These theories contributed to examining relationships between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and teacher work engagement. Additionally, this study further examined how these relationships mediated teacher demographics ( gender, age, educational level, and years of experience). Approximately 26 New York City secondary school teachers from five schools responded to a survey. Regression analysis showed no significant results between any of the variables; however, the descriptive analysis showed that teachers' satisfaction came from having competent supervision, their commitment was due to a sense of obligation to their schools, and their engagement was related to how absorbing they found their work. Results based on a response rate of less than 1%, suggests that due to low power, generalization among this population of teachers could not be established. Therefore, further study of how teachers engage with their work is warranted. Implications for social change are that programs that improve the quality of teacher supervisors or give teachers rewards regarding absorbing and engaging work assignments might improve teacher productivity and higher student achievement.

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