Date of Award

1-1-2014

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Educational Policy and Leadership

Content Description

1 online resource (ix, 154 pages) : color illustrations.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Aaron Benavot

Committee Members

Kathryn Schiller, Kathryn A McDermott

Keywords

Attrition, Induction, Policy, Retention, State, Teacher, Teacher orientation, Teacher turnover, Mentoring in education, Teachers

Subject Categories

Education Policy

Abstract

Novice teachers in the U.S. leave the profession at higher rates than the average U.S. teacher. Attrition of new teachers is problematic for three main reasons: districts must expend resources to replace teachers and school climate and culture are disrupted by staff turning over. Many factors at the individual level contribute to a novice teacher's decision to leave that cannot be easily controlled. However, teachers who feel supported by administration and those who receive high-quality new teacher induction programs maybe more likely to remain than those who do not. Over the last decade, the number of states that have enacted legislation to require, and in many cases fund, new teacher induction as a way to improve teacher quality has increased. The purpose of this study is to explore whether those states with comprehensive induction policies have fewer novice teachers leaving the profession than states with weak or no induction requirements. The results confirm that states committed to requiring and funding induction have more teachers reporting to have received induction. The quality of the induction programming new teachers receive, however, depends more on the local-level support than on state-level policies. As with any policy implementation, support at the local level to carry out the initiative with fidelity is required. These findings suggest that states may improve induction quality and retain more high-quality novice teachers by targeting technical assistance to school leaders to actively support those teachers with the least experience. Finally, novice teachers in states with more detailed induction requirements are less likely to leave the profession than those in states with no induction policies.

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