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An evaluation of teacher retention in K-12 public schools

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An evaluation of teacher retention in K-12 public schools

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Content An Evaluation of Teacher Retention in K–12 Public Schools
Adam Joseph Silva
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education
December 2023

© Copyright by Adam Joseph Silva 2023
All Rights Reserved

The Committee for Adam Joseph Silva certifies the approval of this Dissertation
Maria Ott
Eric Canny
Ekaterina Moore, Committee Chair
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2023

iv
Abstract
Research in the past decade has addressed the worsening teacher retention rates. The issue of
teacher retention has considerable impact upon other factors including the financial impacts to
school districts and decreasing student academic success rates. This evaluative study examined a
public school district in California and the factors that influence a teacher’s decision to leave the
profession or transfer to another school. The Clark and Estes gap analysis model was used as a
framework to examine the knowledge, motivational, and organizational factors that influence
teacher retention. Findings can be used to assist the organization in its goal of improving teacher
retention rates by 25%. Interviews with 12 teachers throughout the district were conducted to
capture these influential factors. Recommendations are included to assist the district with
improving teacher retention numbers. The Kirkpatrick model was used to provide assessment for
the intervention included within the recommendations.

v
Dedication
To my family, I have dedicated this work to you. You are my team. Hope, Melissa, Thatcher,
and Ada, I will forever love you. The love and support you have provided to me throughout this
journey is the reason why any of this was possible. Thank you for showing me Jesus through this
love and support. I am humbled and grateful to be known as your husband, father, leader, and
friend. You are the greatest team for which any leader could ever ask.
To God, I want to express my gratitude. He gives us every opportunity and blessing. I know that
this was only possible because He made it so.

vi
Acknowledgements
I want to thank my dissertation committee. To my chair, Dr. Ekaterina Moore, and other
committee members, Dr. Maria Ott, and Dr. Eric Canny, thank you for your wisdom and
direction throughout this process. I am grateful for the time and dedication you have given to me.
Thank you to all of you who serve within the field of education and to those that
participated in this study. What you do matters more than what anyone will ever realize. Thank
you for entering a field that receives little societal appreciation for the level of education and
professionalism that are manifest in you. Thank you for your perspectives; your voice is
paramount. Thank you for the love you have for your students; the care you show them might be
among the little they receive each day.

vii
Table of Contents
Abstract..........................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Dedication .....................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Acknowledgments..........................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
List of Tables .................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
List of Figures.............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.i
Chapter One: Introduction of the Problem of Practice ....................................................................1
Context and Background of the Problem.............................................................................1
Purpose of the Project and Research Questions...................................................................3
Importance of the Study.......................................................................................................4
Stakeholder Group of Focus ................................................................................................5
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology ....................................................6
Definitions............................................................................................................................6
Organization of the Dissertation ..........................................................................................7
Chapter Two: Literature Review .....................................................................................................9
Historical Context ................................................................................................................9
Teacher Retention and Experience ....................................................................................10
Teacher Retention and Training.........................................................................................11
Teachers Who Hold STEM Degrees……………………………………………………..12
Teacher Retention and Marginalized Communities ..........................................................12
The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact Upon Teacher Retention ..........................................14
Reasons Underlying Poor Teacher Retention ....................................................................15
Existing Strategies for Solving the Problem of Poor Teacher Retention...........................17
Conceptual Framework......................................................................................................20

viii
Chapter Three: Methodology.........................................................................................................29
Research Questions............................................................................................................29
Overview of Design ...........................................................................................................29
Research Setting.................................................................................................................30
Researcher Positionality.....................................................................................................31
Data Sources ......................................................................................................................33
Credibility and Trustworthiness.........................................................................................36
Ethics..................................................................................................................................37
Chapter Four: Findings..................................................................................................................39
Themes Emerging from Qualitative Interviews.................................................................39
Knowledge Findings..........................................................................................................42
Motivation Findings...........................................................................................................50
Organizational Findings.....................................................................................................57
Summary............................................................................................................................63
Chapter Five: Discussion ...............................................................................................................65
Findings..............................................................................................................................65
Limitations and Delimitations............................................................................................66
Recommendations for Practice ..........................................................................................67
Recommendations for Continued Organizational Practice................................................87
Future Research .................................................................................................................88
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................89
References......................................................................................................................................90

ix
Appendix A: Interview Protocol....................................................................................................95
Appendix B: Interview Questions..................................................................................................96
Appendix C: Immediate Evaluation Instrument ............................................................................99
Appendix D: Delayed Evaluation Instrument..............................................................................100

x
List of Tables
Table 1: Teacher Attrition Rates for CVPS .....................................................................................2
Table 2: Teacher Participant Profiles.............................................................................................34
Table 3: Themes From Qualitative Interviews ..............................................................................40
Table 4: Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes ..........................74
Table 5: Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation of Administrators....76
Table 6: Required Drivers to Support Administrators’ Critical Behaviors ...................................77
Table 7: Evaluation of Appreciation Program Learning Components ..........................................82
Table 8: Components to Measure Reactions to the Program.........................................................85
Appendix C: Immediate Evaluation Instrument Levels 2 and 1…………………………………99
Appendix D: Delayed Evaluation Instrument Levels 4, 3, 2, 1………………………………...100

xi
List of Figures
Figure 1: KMO Framework ...........................................................................................................27

1
Chapter One: Introduction of the Problem of Practice
This study examined the problem of poor teacher retention within K–12 public schools in
California. Teacher retention is a growing concern in the United States throughout the field of
education, and the effect of teacher turnover is far reaching throughout society. Nationally, over
500,000 teachers move or quit the profession every year (Alliance for Excellent Education,
2014). The fact that an average of 8% of teachers leave the profession each year shows that this
is a problem (Kelchtermans, 2017).
Local reports do not indicate that the problem is being addressed adequately. According
to one study, from 2016 to 2017 the number of school districts throughout the state of California
that reported teacher shortage rose from 75% to 80% (Learning Policy Institute, 2018). Recent
research indicates that the frustrations and interruptions encountered by the field of education
due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have created an even bigger issue on the horizon for
teacher retention. For example, a 2022 survey of public-school teachers revealed that 55%
indicated they are ready to leave the profession, up from only 27% prior to the pandemic
(Jotkoff, 2022). The problem of poor teacher retention within K–12 public schools is a
significant issue that may continue its negative trend unless innovative solutions can be offered
to this problem of practice.
Context and Background of the Problem
The organization of focus for this study went by the pseudonym California Valley Public
Schools (CVPS). CVPS is a public school district located in a rural area of California. CVPS
employs approximately 300 teachers and serves 5,000 K–12 students through its operation of 10
school sites, including six elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school, and one
continuation high school.

2
CVPS is not immune to the problem of teacher retention, as its annual turnover numbers
from 2016–2021 averaged 10%, or 30 teachers. The reality of this teacher shortage causes the
district to employ 15% of their teachers with only emergency credentialing within the state each
year. Emergency credentials refer to temporary teaching certificates issued by the state that
allows uncertified teachers to teach in a school classroom. Emergency teaching certification is a
temporary teaching certification issued by states to allow individuals who do not have a
traditional teaching certificate to teach in a classroom. The certification is a temporary measure
used by school districts facing a critical shortage of certified teachers to fill up teaching
positions. Due to the influence of the military installation nearby that is responsible for much of
the local economy, it is expected that 2% of this turnover is linked to military transfers out of the
area. Finally, those educators who retire account for approximately 3% of the annual teacher
turnover. Table 1 highlights the attrition rates at CVPS for the past 5 years.
Table 1
Teacher Attrition Rates for CVPS
School year Attrition rates
2016–2017 9.4%
2017–2018 10.5%
2018–2019 10.7%
2019–2020 11.2%
2020–2021 10.3%

3
Like many organizations, CVPS has a mission statement. CVPS's mission statement
comprises five goals for 2020–2023; the fifth goal of the district is to retain a high-quality
diverse educational team. The current methods of meeting this problem of poor teacher retention
within the district have been to increase professional development and launch an appreciation
campaign to communicate value from the district to the educators. Specifically, CVPS recently
increased teacher contracted days from 182 days to 185 days per year in order to provide three
days of paid professional development for educators throughout the district. The value campaign
entailed videos of district leaders performing various roles in CVPS in an effort to articulate that
leadership understood the importance of every person employed and to celebrate the work that
often goes unnoticed within the organization The measurement of this goal is to improve teacher
retention from a 10% attrition rate to an 8% attrition rate from 2020 to 2023. This is in line with
their overall district goal of retaining a high-quality diverse educational team.
Purpose of the Project and Research Questions
The purpose of this research was to gather qualitative data from teachers employed by
CVPS regarding potential factors that may influence teacher retention. I used a Clark and Estes
(2008) gap analysis model as the framework of the study to evaluate the potential gaps that may
contribute to the problem of practice. This approach investigates the knowledge, motivation, or
organizational factors that may be present within the organization which may be responsible for
influencing teacher retention.
Previous research in the area of teacher retention points to influential factors of including
strong administration support and communication (Ingersoll, 2001). To increase teacher
retention, it is important to investigate why a teacher leaves an organization. According to
research, teachers most likely leave an organization due to increased expectations and demands

4
leading to burnout, poor career advancement opportunities, and lack of resources (Borman &
Dowling, 2008; Ingersoll, 2001).
The following research questions guided this study:
1. What knowledge gaps influence teachers’ desire to remain with the organization?
2. What motivational gaps influence teacher retention?
3. What organizational gaps influence teacher retention?
Importance of the Study
The problem of poor teacher retention within public schools is one that has a greater
impact than the inconvenience of trying to fill vacancies every year. Teacher turnover has a
lasting and negative impact on both the quality of staff instruction and student achievement,
especially in the areas of math and English Language Arts (Loeb et al., 2012; Ronofeldt et al.,
2013; Sorensen & Ladd, 2020). The problem of teacher retention is especially crucial to consider
in schools in under-served communities. For instance, researchers have found that schools whose
student body is made up of 20% or more free-lunch-eligible students or students with below
average student achievement scores have greater odds of teacher turnover (Borman & Dowling,
2008). Another study states that high-poverty schools see twice as many teachers move to
different schools than low-poverty schools (Kelchtermans, 2017). This is a significant issue
when considering how teacher turnover disproportionally affects smaller and lower income
schools, potentially exposing already marginalized people to the compounding issues of poor
quality of teaching staff and poor student achievement.
Another compelling reason to conduct this study is the amount of money that is lost each
year from teacher turnover. It is estimated that the problem of teacher attrition within the United
States costs approximately $2.2 billion annually (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2014).

5
According to the Learning Policy Institute (2017), it costs the average district approximately
$20,000 per teacher to provide onboarding, human resources (HR) support, and training for new
teacher hires. With this in mind, the school district of focus for this study currently suffers from
10% annual turnover rate, or about 31 educators within a district that employs around 300. From
these numbers, it is estimated that the local public school district spends $620,000 every year due
to teacher turnover. Reducing teacher turnover would result in significant savings for the district
in addition to the continuity it would provide for students, families, and district staff.
Stakeholder Group of Focus
The stakeholder group of focus for this study was the public-school teachers who are
employed by the district. This group was the stakeholder of choice for this study due to the
potential impact teacher loss has on students, staff, families, and the community. Though there
are other stakeholder groups that are affected by poor teacher retention, such as students, parents,
and administrators, it is important to focus upon the stakeholders that have the greatest impact
for the problem of practice. Specifically, this study focused only on a single stakeholder group,
per the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis. Clark and Estes recommended studies focus on the
stakeholders who not only have been impacted by the problem of practice, but who may also
have the greatest ability to enact change within the organization. Therefore, it is important to
collect data from the individuals within the district who are available to provide an in-depth
understanding, from a teacher’s perspective, on the various knowledge, motivation, and
organizational barriers that influence a teacher’s decision to leave the profession or current
teaching position.

6
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology
Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis framework guided this study. This framework seeks
to understand the best solution to reach performance goals for an organization. In an effort to
find the best solution to the problem of poor teacher retention, this framework was used to
investigate potential gaps in knowledge/skills, motivation, and organizational (KMO) influences
that may hinder or help the organization in meeting the stated goals. This analysis approach was
well suited to the study in that analysis of various KMO influences may assist California Valley
Public Schools (CVPS) in meeting its goal of teacher retention.
The methodological approach for this study was qualitative research. Qualitative research
is an inductive process that has a focus on meaning and understanding of people and their own
interpretations of their experiences (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). A qualitative research approach
was used for its ability to capture the perspectives of teachers as they are the individuals who can
distinguish what they know or by how they are motivated. In addition, this qualitative approach
allowed for inductive reasoning in an effort to capture as many KMO factors that may be present
within this particular organization.
Definitions
Several definitions are presented that clarify various aspects of the research.
• Experienced teacher refers to a fully state credentialed educator with more than 5
years of experience.
• Knowledge/skills refers to the ability to know how to achieve a performance goal or
task (Clark & Estes, 2008).
• Leaver/teacher attrition refers to educators who leave the field of education
altogether (Ingersoll, 2001; Kukla-Acevedo, 2009).

7
• Motivation can be seen as that which influences the choice of contributing effort
toward a goal, maintaining effort until the goal is accomplished, and the amount of
mental effort that is used to complete the task or job (Clark & Estes, 2008).
• Mover/teacher migration is the move or transfer of educators to different teaching
jobs in other schools (Ingersoll, 2001; Kukla-Acevedo, 2009).
• Novice teacher is an educator with less than 5 years of experience in the field of
education.
• Organizational barriers are problems within the structure of the organization that
prevent or delay work, such as, inadequate resources, organizational process, missing
tools, or inadequate facilities (Clark & Estes, 2008).
• Retention is the ability to retain or keep educators within the same school or
classroom beyond the current year (Ingersoll, 2001).
• Stayer is an educator who remains within their current teaching assignment or school
beyond the current year (Kukla-Acevedo, 2009).
• Teacher turnover is the departure of teachers from their current teaching jobs, but not
from the field of education (Ingersoll, 2001).
Organization of the Dissertation
This dissertation is organized into a five-chapter research study. In the first chapter, I
introduce the reader to the problem of practice, context and background of the problem, the
purpose and importance of the study, and an overview of the theoretical framework and
methodology. The second chapter includes a literature review on the relevant topics and main
ideas of this study. In addition, the second chapter explains the conceptual framework for this
dissertation. Chapter Three describes the methodology with research questions, an overview of

8
the design and data collection procedures, research setting, the trustworthiness of the study,
ethical responsibilities with study participants, and potential limitations of the method or
framework of the study. Chapter Four provides an introduction for data collection findings for
the study. Finally, the fifth chapter includes a detailed discussion of the research findings and
any organizational practice recommendations regarding knowledge, motivation, and
organizational barrier gaps that derive as a reflection from the findings. Chapter Five also
describes recommendations for future research and a conclusion for the study.

9
Chapter Two: Literature Review
This literature review will explore previous literature and research regarding the teacher
retention problem affecting K–12 public schools. Specifically, this review will highlight
historical context for the problem of practice, how this problem disproportionally affects those in
marginalized communities, how the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated the problem,
reasons underlying the problem, and the existing strategies for solving the problem. Following
the general review, this chapter provides the conceptual framework discussing the literature on
knowledge, motivation, and organization gaps that may influence teacher retention.
Historical Context of Teacher Retention Problem
Employee turnover within any organization can be costly. In fact, an organization that
experiences a high amount of turnover also experiences a cause-and-effect relationship of
ineffectiveness and low performance throughout the organization (Ingersoll, 2001). This problem
of practice also impacts the field of K–12 public education. Teacher turnover is high and is a
main contributor to national teacher shortages, with almost 90% of annual teacher demand being
due to teacher attrition (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2019). Teacher attrition rates
across the United States have seen a 3.3 percentage point increase from 1992 at 5.1% to 2008 at
8.4%, adding a demand for approximately 125,000 more teachers (Carver-Thomas & DarlingHammond, 2019). In fact, newer research suggest that these attrition rates are now much higher
at around 11% (Learning Policy Institute, 2018). Within the first 5 years of teaching, about 30%
of new educators will leave the field of education across the nation (Ronfeldt et al., 2013).
The problem of teacher attrition, at a national annual rate of 11%, is compounded
annually by the additional 8% of educators who move to another school (Carver-Thomas &
Darling-Hammond, 2019). Though it could be assumed that a teacher leaving the profession

10
might be more detrimental than teacher migration, studies highlight that teacher migration, a
teacher moving from one school to another, is almost as negatively impactful to an organization
as an educator leaving the occupation altogether (Ingersoll, 2001). The state of California sees its
share of this occupational problem facing the nation, as California’s teacher demand is at an 88%
increase due to attrition, with about 8.5% of teachers leaving the profession every year and 8.4%
moving to another teaching location (Learning Policy Institute, 2018).
Teacher Retention and Experience
There is much literature that examines the relationship between the rate of teacher
attrition and the qualifications and experience level of the educator. Numbers show a U-shaped
curve for the age/experience years of a teacher and turnover, indicating that teachers experience
turnover early in their careers and then again as they approach retirement (Ingersoll, 2001).
Novice teachers, those who have fewer than 5 years of experience, are nearly one and half times
as likely to depart from the field of education and over two times as likely to transfer to another
teaching location (Kukla-Acevedo, 2009). Correlating with the salary difference between
experienced and novice teachers, those under 30 years of age were more than three times more
likely to leave the field of education and more than four times as likely to move to a different
school. As mentioned, within the first 5 years of teaching, more than 50% of teachers will choose
to leave the profession early in their careers. This group of over 50% represents teachers who
may also forfeit the investment of influence that they made upon their students. According to
Kukla-Acevedo, it takes teachers approximately 5 years of teaching to effectively influence
student improvement. This translates to many students whose improvement may suffer because
their teacher left the profession or school.

11
Teacher Retention and Training
Not only do younger teachers face more attrition than older teachers, but teachers with
less education are more likely to experience attrition (Borman & Dowling, 2008). Teachers who
enter the teaching profession through alternative certification program are 25% more likely to
leave the field of education than those who enter the profession through a traditional certification
program (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2019). This is significant when considering that
teacher demand is influencing an emergence of more teachers with subpar education, credentials,
or training.
These trends are also reflected locally. The Learning Policy Institute (2018) reported that
two out of three teachers in California enter the profession on substandard credentials due to
teacher shortages throughout the state. A substandard credential in California can be understood
as any emergency or probationary teaching credential given by the California Commission on
Teacher Credentialing that is not a Single Subject Teaching Credential or a Multiple-subject
Teaching Credential. In the state of California, the number of emergency-style permits, given to
unqualified non-credentialed individuals only when there are acute shortages, has risen from just
over 800 in 2012–2013 to almost 6,000 in 2016–2017 (Learning Policy Institute, 2018). Teacher
preparation programs within California have seen a decline in the number of enrolled candidates,
from almost 80,000 students in 2002 to slightly more than 20,000 in 2016 (Learning Policy
Institute, 2018). The issue of poor teacher retention significantly affects local schools if teacher
demand is leading to the commissioning of poorly qualified and trained educators into the field
who are more likely to leave within the first 5 years.

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Teachers Who Hold STEM Degrees
Interestingly, teacher attrition is disproportionally experienced among teachers who hold
degrees in STEM subjects such as science and mathematics. Research points out that special
education, mathematics, and science are the teaching fields that experience the most turnover
(Ingersoll, 2001). In fact, teachers with science or math undergraduate degrees are twice as likely
to leave teaching than teachers holding an undergraduate degree in a different subject matter
(Borman & Dowling, 2008). High school STEM teachers see even greater levels of attrition as
the odds are much higher for secondary education teachers in the subject matter of science and
math than for teachers of different subject matter and grade levels. While there are many
perspectives as to why teacher attrition affects STEM teachers more, the general belief among
educational scholars is that teachers with math or science credentials attrite at a greater rate
within public schools due to the vast opportunities available outside the field of education for
individuals with this knowledge and these skills (Kukla-Acevedo, 2009).
Teacher Retention and Marginalized Communities
Teacher attrition not only disproportionally affects teachers of STEM or special
education backgrounds, this problem of practice is experienced in much higher frequency for
people of color and low-income. This places historically marginalized communities at a
disadvantage and subjects them to perpetual systematic oppression.
Disproportionality in Low-Income Communities
On average, smaller schools are more likely to experience attrition than larger schools of
1,000 or more students (Borman & Dowling, 2008). One of the potential reasons for this is that
most of these smaller schools do not receive the same funding or resources as their larger
counterparts. Teachers from schools who spend more per student in instructional spending were

13
five times less likely to experience attrition compared to teachers at less funded schools (Borman
& Dowling, 2008). The lack of resources makes it difficult for teachers to meet the specific
educational needs of students, which may lend itself to the stress and burnout that leads to
teacher turnover.
According to the Alliance for Excellent Education (2014), high-poverty schools see
almost 50% more turnover rates than more affluent schools. Though turnover rates remain high
nationally for teachers with three or fewer years of teaching experience, turnover rates are 80%
higher for more experienced teachers within Title I schools (Carver-Thomas & DarlingHammond, 2019). Low-income schools have more difficulty replacing teachers who leave,
forcing them to hire inexperienced and less prepared teachers (Darling-Hammond & Sykes,
2003).
Disproportionality for People of Color
Another marginalized community that experiences an alarming disproportionality of
teacher attrition are people of color. For schools who are represented in the top quartile of
serving students of color (more than 55%), teacher turnover is 70% more than for those schools
that fall within the bottom quartile of serving students of color (Carver-Thomas & DarlingHammond, 2019). Minority students are also more likely to hire a teacher without full
credentials, education, or training. Teachers who are not fully state credentialed, but instead hold
an alternative or emergency credential, account for 21% of teachers within schools who serve the
highest percentages of students of color, compared to only 9% of alternative credentialed
educators for predominately White schools. Being disproportionally exposed to educators with
poor training correlates to lower student achievement. Students who experience higher levels of

14
teacher turnover score lower in math and English, and these results are more evident within
schools who have a higher number of Black or low-performing students (Ronfeldt et al., 2013).
Teachers of color are more likely to leave than White teachers. According to a national
teacher survey, 62% of Black teachers and 59% of Hispanic teachers desire to leave the field of
education (Jotkoff, 2022). The need to answer the problem of poor teacher retention is
paramount for these marginalized individuals who continue to systematically suffer more than
others.
The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact Upon Teacher Retention
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was significant for the field of K–12 public
education. Almost twice as many teachers indicated they wanted to leave the profession of
education compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic introduced practices and
methods never before used within the field and unintentionally created additional responsibilities
and expectations for teachers. According to an EdSource survey (EdSource, 2021), 77% of
teachers felt that the teaching environment during the pandemic was challenging. Almost 84% of
teachers believed that teaching became more difficult since the beginning of the pandemic.
About one out of five teachers reported feeling unsupported in meeting the unique demands
presented by the pandemic. Many teachers felt that their districts were ill-prepared for the
pandemic, as 51% indicated that they lacked the expertise that was necessary to give teachers the
help they need and 39% stated that their districts lacked the resources needed.
These additional challenges and expectations forced many teachers to put in many more
hours every week than prior to the pandemic. In fact, teachers reported they worked an average
of eight more hours every week than they did before the pandemic started (EdSource, 2021).
With the stressors the COVID-19 pandemic introduced to the field of education, the NEA (2022)

15
noted it is no wonder 90% of teachers said that feeling burnout is a serious problem within the
profession, while 91% indicated that pandemic-related stress was a serious problem affecting
teachers. Since teacher retention within K–12 public education was a significant issue before the
pandemic, it comes as no surprise that the problem worsened as a result of the pandemic.
Reasons Underlying Poor Teacher Retention
Many researchers have investigated the underlying causes or influential factors affecting
teacher retention. Some researchers found that problems stem from many factors, but those most
linked to poor teacher retention are a lack of mentorship or administrative support, a lack of
resources and low compensation, and burnout or job dissatisfaction (Borman & Dowling, 2008;
Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2019; Ingersoll, 2001; Kukla-Acevedo, 2009;
Solomonson et al., 2018).
Lack of Mentorship or Administrative Support
A common factor believed to influence teacher retention is whether the teacher has a
support system from local leadership. Mentorship may have a key role in the longevity of a
teacher. Comprehensive induction programs that provide mentoring of new teachers may lead to
higher levels of job satisfaction, higher ratings in classroom teaching practices, and higher levels
of student achievement (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2014).
Carver-Thomas and Darling-Hammond (2019) found that administrative support in the
form of encouraging and acknowledging staff, communication, and a well-managed school affect
retention. For instance, teachers who report experiencing regular administrative support and
communication, in addition to career advancement opportunities, are less likely to leave than
teachers who do not experience this support (Borman & Dowling, 2008). In fact, the more a
teacher experiences administrative support, the less likely they are to leave their current teaching

16
assignment. According to Ingersoll (2001), the odds of teachers leaving their current teaching
assignment or leaving the field of education is reduced by 23% when administrative support is
increased.
Lack of Resources and Low Wages
Two of the most influential factors in terms of teacher attrition are the lack of teacher
development and poor compensation (Solomonson et al., 2018). Compensation has been shown
to have a significant relationship with teacher turnover, as teachers who taught within districts
that were in the top quintile of teacher salaries were 31% less likely to turnover compared to
those within districts in the bottom quintile (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2019).
Whether a teacher is new to the field or is a seasoned educator, higher salaries correlate with
reduced odds of teacher attrition (Borman & Dowling, 2008). Likewise, a lack of educational
resources can have an impact. Borman and Dowling found higher levels of attrition when
educational resources are not available to the teacher, such as teacher aides or classroom
assistants.
Burnout and Job Dissatisfaction
Beyond the influence of poor compensation, burnout and job dissatisfaction may
contribute to teacher turnover. According to Ingersoll (2001), school staffing problems are not
only due to teacher shortages but are primarily due to excess demand resulting from teacher
attrition. In fact, this research concluded that teacher turnover due to retirement is significantly
minor compared to other factors such as job dissatisfaction.
The job dissatisfaction that teachers experience has been largely due to the challenges of
dealing with poor student behavior (Kukla-Acevedo, 2009). According to Kukla-Acevedo, first
year teachers are 3.44 times as likely to leave the teaching profession due to problematic student

17
behavior. While burnout and job dissatisfaction are nothing new within the field of education,
there has been a shift since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The NEA (2022) noted that the
reasons educators left the profession during the pandemic is that teachers are experiencing
burnout caused by the teacher shortages already affecting schools and a perceived increase in
poor student behavior.
Existing Strategies for Solving the Problem of Poor Teacher Retention
While there is much literature highlighting the problem of poor teacher retention, little
was found regarding solutions for this issue within K–12 public education. Some of the proposed
solutions have included providing teachers with mentorship and leadership support programs,
being intentional with showing appreciation to teachers, or increasing teacher salaries (Leob et
al., 2012). However, while there are various potential solutions, not every one of these solutions
may be practical.
Teacher Mentorship and Leadership Support
The concept of providing mentorship and support from leadership to teachers is a
solution that may have a significant impact. Research has been shown to suggest that as teachers
receive more training and experience, particularly in the form of professional development, their
performance improves substantially, especially within the first few years of their career (Cortini
et al., 2019; Leob et al., 2012). Likewise, teachers who feel supported by leadership, specifically
in the form of administrators showing trust and allowing more classroom autonomy, have been
linked to lower risks of attrition (Ingersoll, 2001).
It is especially important, especially at the beginning of a teacher’s career, that leaders
demonstrate understanding of how the teacher’s personality, abilities, and teacher styles are best
suited for the classroom and students. For instance, Leob et al. (2012) tested more than 350,000

18
students over a period of 3 years to determine the relationship between a school’s effectiveness
and the retention of teachers. Findings show that student allocation with the teacher’s personality
and abilities in mind can help teacher effectiveness and lower teacher turnover. This guidance
and mentorship may provide aid to the teacher in pursuing high levels of student performance,
which may also assist in increasing levels of teacher retention. Schools that employ teachers who
produce the greatest levels of student performance, specifically with math and reading scores,
have the lowest levels of teacher turnover.
Showing Appreciation
Increasing teacher appreciation may positively impact a teacher’s decision to stay within
their current teaching profession. For instance, almost 82% of teachers feel that many in society
do not understand or appreciate the challenges they face as educators or how hard educators
work to meet those challenges (EdSource, 2021; Hatfield, 2023; Houston, 2022). Increasing the
incidences of demonstrating teacher appreciation should be considered as a solution to
motivational gaps that negatively influence teacher retention. Providing appreciation may be a
viable solution in that the practice of receiving and expressing gratitude can have a positive
effect upon one’s life, job satisfaction, and job performance (Cortini et al., 2019). In fact,
research to investigate the prevalence and associations of flourishing in a sample of more than
5,500 New Zealand workers shows that workers who felt appreciated by others had 29% greater
odds of flourishing at work than those who felt they were unappreciated (Hone et al., 2015). In a
study conducted of 805 teachers to determine if job resources affect work engagement, workers
who felt appreciated at work were 25% more likely to feel mentally renewed and vigorous in
accomplishing difficult or stressful work tasks (Bakker et al., 2007).

19
This is important to address because appreciation is related to an individual’s feeling of
flourishing, health, and well-being (Kostenius & Bergmark, 2016). Satisfaction, increased job
competence, and feelings of health and well-being have been shown to positively impact a
worker’s overall productivity; elements that may have a significant impact on the quality of
teacher instruction (Wigfield & Cambria, 2010). Providing school districts and leadership with
resources and programs that emphasize teacher appreciation may positively impact teacher
retention.
Appreciation can be shown to educators from others through various mediums such as
words of affirmation, gifts, time, and acts of service. In their book, The Five Languages of
Appreciation in the Workplace, Chapman and White (2019) provided practical ways to
communicate appreciation with others within the workplace. Specifically, in an effort to increase
a teacher’s experience of feeling appreciated through words of affirmation, one might
communicate words of gratefulness to them through an email, letter, or card. Other practical
ways that teachers can experience increased appreciation through the mediums of time and acts
of service are to volunteer within the classroom whenever possible, or to ask if the teacher might
need any assistance after school with grading or preparing for lessons. Finally, though not always
feasible, purchasing a gift for the teacher’s personal use or for use within the classroom can
communicate appreciation to teachers.
Increasing Teacher Compensation
There has been research to indicate that as teacher salaries increase, teacher retention
increases (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Ingersoll, 2001; Kelchtermans, 2017; Kukla-Acevedo,
2009; Solomonson et al., 2018). Although studies show that a considerable increase in salaries
may work to thwart teacher attrition, these studies also confirm that the increase of salary that is

20
necessary to impact attrition is so high that this is typically not a viable option for school districts
(Kukla-Acevedo, 2009). The concept of increasing teacher salary comes with a series of
questions regarding where the extra funding will come from. K–12 public schools are already
constricted by a lack of state and federal funding and increases in teacher salaries may not
receive priority if there are other areas of need throughout the school district. Therefore, the
solution of simply increasing teacher salaries is not one that is practical for most districts, as they
are already struggling to provide classroom resources for student development and achievement.
Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework chosen for researching the problem of poor teacher retention
was the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis approach. This approach seeks to identify the
potential influential gaps that may be contributing to teachers leaving the school or profession
altogether. Specifically, the gap analysis framework looks at the potential knowledge,
motivation, or organizational gaps that might impact the problem. Clark and Estes (2008) used
an analogy of “people as cars” to describe how the three factors of knowledge, motivation, and
organizational barriers must be in line to remove performance gaps. In this analogy, knowledge
can be seen as the engine that allows the vehicle to move forward, motivation is the fuel that
keeps the engine running, and organizational factors are the road conditions that either make it
easier or harder for those things to move forward or to the desired destination.
I focused upon the knowledge, motivational, and organizational gaps might keep
California Valley Public Schools from meeting their teacher retention goals. Specifically, I used
this conceptual framework to recognize the organizational and personal goals desired,
acknowledge the gaps, provide solutions to fill those gaps, implement solutions and, if necessary,
realign goals.

21
Knowledge/Skill Gaps
According to Krathwohl (2002), there are four main types of knowledge: factual,
conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive. Factual knowledge can be understood as the basic
information, such as terminology and specific details that employees must understand to be
familiar with a task. Conceptual knowledge is the knowledge of how things interrelate within the
bigger picture of functionality. This may look like the ability to understand theories, models, and
structures of accomplishing the task. Procedural knowledge is the “how to” of performing a task.
Finally, metacognitive knowledge is the awareness and understanding of one’s own cognition
and self.
Knowledge gaps that can impact an organization’s ability to achieve its desired goal can
be in the form of communication, procedures, or experience. For example, communication
knowledge issues might derive from not clearly communicating the goal at hand or by not
ensuring that personnel correctly understood it. Procedure knowledge issues might look like
employees not understanding exactly how to go about achieving the goal. While employees
might understand the specific goal of the organization, they may not understand how they might
be able to meet the goal. Experience knowledge issues may include employees who may have
never achieved or accomplished a similar task as the desired goal (Krathwohl, 2002).
As already mentioned, it is important to recognize that knowledge can look different
throughout an organization (Krathwohl, 2002). For example, knowledge may be simply
information that is necessary to complete job tasks, training that provides the “how to” of
completing tasks, job aids that provide self-help and reminders for employees who have been
trained, or education that is used to help employees gain conceptual, theoretical, and strategic
knowledge and skills.

22
Potential Knowledge or Skill Gaps at CVPS
Potential knowledge or skill gaps that may influence teacher retention for California
Valley Public Schools is the lack of classroom management skills and relationship building
experience of younger or fairly new teachers. These knowledge gaps may be seen as procedural
knowledge gaps, in that do not understand when to use appropriate procedures for classroom
discipline, or they can be seen as metacognitive knowledge gaps, such as lacking strategic
knowledge of how to build rapport with students and parents or guardians (Krathwohl, 2002).
The lack of these essential resources may make it more difficult to handle the behavioral
problems of students which in turn can lead to teachers leaving (Kukla-Acevedo, 2009). If there
are not adequate resources such as professional development for teachers or opportunities to be
mentored by an administrator or senior teacher, teachers may become frustrated and feel illprepared to face the many challenges of being a teacher. Having the opportunity to develop these
skills may have a significant impact upon teacher retention. For instance, professional
development opportunities may be responsible for a 10% increase in teacher retention (Latham
& Vogt, 2003). In this current study, I aimed to understand the relationship between teachers not
receiving proper training and skill development and identifying potential knowledge or skill gaps
that may keep CVPS from reaching its goal of increased teacher retention.
Motivational Gaps
Motivation gaps that may have an impact upon an organization’s performance can be
commitment related or confidence related (Elliot et al., 2017; Schunk, 2019). In an effort to
understand if the performance issue facing an organization is commitment oriented, one can ask
if people are team motivated, if they understand the value of achieving the goal, if there any
negative consequences of not achieving the goal, or if the mood toward the goal has changed.

23
Confidence-related performance can afflict an organization if the people within the organization
are under-confident or overconfident. This can be done by asking if personnel are confident in
achieving the goal or if they feel that they may be hindered from achieving the goal in some way.
At the same time, overconfidence can have a negative impact upon an organization due to
individuals not taking responsibility for mistakes, not recognizing procedural errors, or rejecting
corrective feedback.
Potential Motivational Gaps at CVPS
Within this research, I applied the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis to understand
what motivational factors might be present that may influence teacher retention. Understanding
the ways that individuals are motivated, through self-efficacy, extrinsic value, and intrinsic
value, helped me identify motivation themes.
Self-Efficacy and Motivation
The approach for examining the potential motivational factors that may lead to teacher
retention was to investigate levels of self-efficacy and the intrinsic elements that create value for
the teacher. Self-efficacy examines the motivation of individuals based on their belief and
confidence in their abilities to complete a given task (Elliot et al., 2017; Schunk, 2019; Zee &
Koomen, 2016). This confidence and belief can be influenced by various factors, such as
enactive attainment, vicarious experience verbal persuasion, physiological states, and personal
context and outcomes. The social feedback that individuals receive after performing a task is an
example of verbal persuasion influence upon self-efficacy (Schunk, 2012).
The concept of efficacy can be seen through the individual lens and the collective lens.
The individual self-efficacy refers to the amount of confidence that an individual has in
themselves to complete a task, while collective self-efficacy refers to the amount of confidence

24
that is placed within the group or organization as a whole in completing a task. High levels of
self-efficacy often correlate with practices that have a positive impact upon teacher retention,
such as the individual choosing difficult tasks, expending greater effort, persisting longer, using
more complex learning strategies, and experiencing less fear and anxiety when completing the
task (Elliot et al., 2017; Harrison et al., 1997; Zee & Koomen, 2016). Looking at the motivation
gaps present through the lens of self-efficacy can assist the researcher in recognizing the ways
that the external environment of the teacher and the social interactions that they experience
within the workplace can influence a teacher’s personal belief of possessing the necessary skills
to be a successful educator who can weather the difficulties of the teaching profession.
While there may be various elements that contribute to a person’s belief that they can
persevere through a task, the most reliable influence on self-efficacy is how that person interprets
their past performance (Elliot et al., 2017). This past performance is often interpreted and
enforced from verbal feedback within the social context of the individual. For instance, if an
educator hears from parents that they do a good job in communicating with parents (receiving
appreciation or recognition), the educator is more likely to believe that the next time they need to
communicate something of importance to the parents that it will be successful and that the
information will be communicated well. Likewise, if after witnessing dynamic classroom
management, an administrator expressing an appreciation for this skill to the teacher in charge of
the classroom can positively influence the teacher’s self-efficacy which can, in turn, aid in
teacher retention. In addition, teacher self-efficacy is important to investigate as research
indicates that it influences individual goal setting which could result in plans of longevity within
the organization (Patall, 2012).

25
Motivation Through Extrinsic and Intrinsic Value
Motivation can be understood as that which drives an individual to complete a task,
persevere through a task, and expend the effort needed to complete the task (Wigfield & Eccles,
1992). This can be accomplished through two forms: extrinsic motivation and intrinsic
motivation. Extrinsic motivation occurs when individuals are driven to perform an activity to
earn some type of reward or to avoid punishment. However, intrinsic motivation is that which
drives someone to perform an activity for its own sake or personal rewards that derive from the
task aligning with personal values.
This study focused upon investigating the extrinsic motivation of teachers, such as higher
compensation, which has been correlated with teachers making the decision to stay at their
current place of work. In addition, I attempted to understand the intrinsic motivators that have
been shown to influence teacher retention, such as the personal dedication of the teacher to their
students and the teacher’s individual belief in the importance of education. For the disgruntled
teachers who actually stayed within the profession during the struggle of the COVID-19
pandemic, two out of five stated that their students were the main reason they remained
(EdSource, 2021). Findings from the current study show that there are some factors within the
realm of teaching that may significantly influence the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation that can
improve teacher retention.
Organizational Gaps
Organizational gaps are those issues that leadership within the organization influences,
such as tools, processes, and procedures. The organization might be hindering the performance
of its employees if it does not ensure that personnel have the necessary tools, material, or
workspace to accomplish the tasks expected so they can meet the organizational goal. Likewise,

26
business processes or organizational procedures might have unintended consequences that may
not be effective or efficient in achieving goals.
Potential Organizational Gaps at CVPS
Potential organizational gaps that were examined within the organization of focus
included a lack of resources in the form of administrator support or in the form of building
relationships through a collaborative culture of trust. A collaborative culture of trust can be
understood as an environment within the organization in which members are encouraged to work
together and to build relationships that foster trust between colleagues. Educational organizations
who report better levels of administrative support and trust between administrator and faculty
also report higher levels of teacher retention (Ingersoll, 2001). A culture of trust is essential for
an organization to enact reform or change, meaning that any positive transformation such as
increasing teacher retention cannot be achieved without trust between the administrator and the
teacher (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2000). If there are issues of a perceived lack of support or
trust from the administrator, this may negatively influence a teacher’s decision to stay within the
organization (see Figure 1).

27
Figure 1
KMO Framework
Summary
Research on the problem of poor teacher retention provided a robust context for the
current research’s problem of practice. The problem of poor teacher retention is one that affects
public-school districts nationally and California schools in particular. In addition, frustrations
introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic into the field of public education have worsened the
problem. This problem is one that costs billions of dollars a year to an entity that is already
struggling with funding and trying to fit everything within a restricted budget. Teacher retention
has disproportional negative impact upon marginalized communities such as people of color and
low-income families. Many factors present within an organization can influence teacher

28
retention. Within this research, I used Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis as a conceptual
approach to gather data regarding the knowledge, motivational, and/or organizational factors that
negatively influence teacher retention.

29
Chapter Three: Methodology
This chapter will provide an overview of the methodology for the study. Attention will be
given to the research questions that guided the study, the methodological design for the study,
and the rationale for the method selected. In addition, this chapter gives information regarding
the researcher, the setting in which the study occurred, and data collection procedures, and the
ethics that guided the collection of data.
Research Questions
Three questions guided the framework of the study, the methodological design, data
collection, and a summary of the findings.
1. What knowledge gaps influence teachers’ desire to remain with the organization?
2. What motivational gaps influence teacher retention?
3. What organizational gaps influence teacher retention?
Overview of Design
The goal of this study was to gain understanding of the potential knowledge, motivation,
and organizational gaps that may negatively influence teacher retention at California Valley
Public Schools. The importance of this understanding is to help California Valley Public Schools
identify the gaps and create solutions to address those gaps so the district can meet their goal of
improving retention from a 10% attrition rate to an 8% attrition rate over the next 5 years.
The approach for gathering data was through a qualitative lens. A qualitative methods
approach is appropriate for gathering data relating to this problem of practice because qualitative
research is used to understand the way individuals interpret their experiences and how they make
meaning out of their world (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Teachers must be able to speak to the
elements they perceive to be the most impactful in their decision to remain in teaching and in

30
their school. Their responses help identify the potential knowledge, motivational, and
organizational gaps that inform a teacher’s decision to stay within a school. The teachers are the
stakeholders who are making the decision to stay or leave. Therefore, the influential factors that
drive the decision must be analyzed from the perspective of those who can inform positive
change to the problem of poor teacher retention.
The method chosen for data collection was teacher semi-structured interviews . A semistructured interview can be understood as an interview protocol that has a mix of structured
questions, but there remains an element of open-endedness and less structure due to the
qualitative nature that allows for respondents to answer based on how they interpret their world
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). See Appendix A. Consideration for this method derives from the
importance of ensuring that the data collected best represents the interpretations of the teacher
and their understanding of the various knowledge, motivational, and organizational factors that
impact their decision to stay or leave the organization.
Research Setting
The setting in which the study occurred was the various school sites throughout the
district. However, interviews were scheduled to be convenient for the participants. Therefore,
there were instances where I had to meet outside of the school classroom or campus to
accommodate participants. In this instance, I defaulted to a location set by the teacher.
California Valley Public Schools (CVPS) is a district located in a rural area of California
and is considered a medium sized district compared to other districts within the state of
California. CVPS serves 5,000 K–12 grade students and is made up of 10 school sites that
includes six elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school, and one continuation high
school. These sites are spread throughout the city and the surrounding communities. CVPS

31
employs approximately 300 teachers every year to manage various classrooms, subjects, and
grade levels at these locations.
The selection of the research setting was twofold. First, it is important to understand the
potential influential factors that may impact a teacher from within the context that these factors
take place. Second, the selection of the research setting for interviews was to assist in the
availability that participants may have in an effort to collect enough data from a credible number
of respondents. Public school teachers already face a growing number of time-demands and
expectations. Therefore, the researcher must acknowledge this and take the convenience of
setting into consideration when seeking participants for the study. These accommodations were
an effort to encourage maximal participation and were meant to allow the teacher to interview
with me at a location that considers the teacher’s schedule.
Researcher Positionality
Any form of research should strive to protect itself from a subjective lens through which
data must travel in order to be interpreted. However, this is often difficult to do because of the
positionality of the researcher. Positionality can be understood as the uniqueness of various
aspects of one’s life which form an identity that is responsible for informing a worldview—such
as someone’s race, gender, social class, background, and sexual orientation (Maxwell, 2013;
Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This can be cumbersome because there are nuances and life
experiences that have shaped every individual and informs the way they interpret and interact
with the world around them. When a researcher approaches a study, consideration must be taken
by the researcher to recognize where there might be biases or assumptions held by the researcher
that may incorrectly inform the study and any conclusions from data collected. In addition, the
relationship of the researcher to any participants may impact the information that is gathered. For

32
instance, if there is a position of power or influence that the researcher has over the career of the
participants, this may cause the participants to not disclose particular useful, though unpopular,
data due to fear of harming their careers. Finally, these possible positions of power or privilege
may even cause the researcher to miss including essential voices in the data collected (Gibbs,
2018).
I am an insider of the organization, serving within one of the middle schools as an
English language arts teacher for 2 months and then as a substitute teacher within various
elementary schools throughout the district for more than 2 years. I am also married to a state
credentialed teacher who has taught fulltime for more than 4 years within the district. In addition,
I have family members who are retired teachers from the district. These family members served
with many of the leaders that are currently in charge of the district. As a father, I have two
school-aged children who currently attend one of the elementary schools in the district. Finally, I
have served for 2 years as president of the district superintendent’s school site council,
responsible for maintaining transparency and oversight of Title-I funds given by the state to the
particular school site. This school site council role is voluntary, and mandate requires that step
down from the council for 1 year due to having already served for 2 consecutive years on the
council. I do not hold any positions of power over any of the teacher participants, nor is my
spouse in a leadership role. The network of relationships that I have to the school district and its
leadership may be seen as positive due to its ability for me to easily collaborate with individuals
throughout the district in an effort to collect data.
In an effort to mitigate any potential biases or assumptions throughout the research
process, I have used member checks after the collection of data from the teacher interviews.
Conducting a member check is simply soliciting feedback regarding the initial data findings from

33
the participants to ensure that there is accurate interpretation and representation of the participant
from the dictation of the interviews (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The intention of
the member checks is to ensure that I do not have biases of what is being said and how it is
recorded due to pre-research interactions with participants potentially influencing me.
Data Sources
This section offers an overview of the data sources. Specifically, attention is given to the
introduction of the method for data collection, participant information, instruments used to
collect data, data collection procedures, and the data analysis approach.
Participants
The participants for this study were 12 teachers currently teaching in the CVPS district.
Due to the busy schedules of most educators during the school year, the sampling and
recruitment was convenience sampling. Therefore, the subjects and grade levels taught by the
teachers who participated in the study range from first through 12th grade. I succeeded in
recruiting six elementary teacher participants, four middle school teacher participants, and two
high school teacher participants in an effort to gather a sample group that most closely resembles
the percentage of employed teachers represented in each grade groups—50% elementary
teachers, 32% middle school teachers, and 28% high school teachers (see Table 2). There were
no criteria for the number of years the teacher participant has been teaching, nor for the number
of years the teacher has served in the district. An initial study invitation email was sent on behalf
of me to all of the teachers employed with CVPS to provide an introduction of the study to
potential teacher participants and to provide contact information for participants to contact me. I
physically went to each campus for a personal introduction with school administration, such as

34
the school principal and their staff. This was done to introduce the study and ask to approach
teachers about participating in the study at weekly staff meetings.
Table 2
Teacher Participant Profiles
Pseudonym Experience
Diane Teacher 7 plus years of experience in first and third grade
Barbara Teacher with 14 plus years of experience in K–5 special education and fourth
grade
Dave Teacher with 8 plus years of experience teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth
grade English
Janet Teacher with 17 plus years of experience in counseling, teaching seventh grade
math, and as a resource teacher
Janice Teacher with 10 years of experience teaching high-school science
Tim Teacher with 3 years of experience teaching sixth and seventh grade English
Stacey Teacher with 2 years of experience teaching second grade
Scott Teacher with 5 plus years of experience teaching eighth grade and high school
math
Rachel Teacher with 7 plus years of experience teaching first grade
Melissa Teacher with 8 plus years of experience teaching second and third grade
Debra Teacher with 6 plus years of experience teaching third grade
Julie Teacher with 4 years of experience teaching eighth grade English and honors
English

35
Data Collection Method
The method for data collection for this study was teacher interviews with teachers
throughout California Valley Public Schools.
Instrumentation
The instrument that was used for data collection was face-to-face interviews between me
and the teacher. If the face-to-face interview could not be accommodated, the interview was
conducted via Zoom video conference call. of the interview comprised 14 open-ended questions
regarding teacher retention (see Appendix B), each with the intention of discovering teacher
perspectives regarding potential gaps in knowledge, motivation, and the organization that may
influence the problem of poor teacher retention within K–12 public schools. Specifically, four
questions solicited meaning of potential knowledge gaps, four of motivational gaps, five of
organizational gaps, and one for soliciting potential solutions. These questions were asked to
uncover how teachers make meaning of the problem within the workplace and to engage
participants in creating potential solutions to the problem of poor teacher retention (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). As stated, KMO factors were uncovered within the interview questions and the
guiding principles of the questions assisted in answering the three research questions.
Data Collection Procedures
The data collection procedures were captured with an audio or video recording of each
interview. A voice recorder was used with face-to-face interviews video recordings were made
through the Zoom video-conferencing program. Notes were taken by me throughout each
interview. Notes and recordings are stored on my personal and secure computer. Each interview
took approximately 60 minutes to complete. I wrote memos immediately following each

36
interview to record elements that could assist in establishing credibility and trustworthiness in
data analysis. These memos remained confidential and within a personal notebook of mine.
Data Analysis
The information captured within the interviews was transcribed from the audio or video
recordings into a Microsoft Word document. Zoom interviews were transcribed using Zoom’s
transcript feature and reviewed by me immediately after the interview. These transcriptions were
then coded within a code book. Coding is the process of identifying similar themes or patterns
that emerge from the data provided and categorizing these data into groups based on their
similarities (Gibbs, 2018).
• The first step in categorizing the data was to understand the a-priori coding
represented within the conceptual framework of the study.
• Second, the transcripts were evaluated line by line to find open codes that may come
to the surface from each interview.
• Next, attention was given to regroup any of the a-priori and open codes together that
may represent similar themes. This process of regrouping assists in generating themes
and findings that are common throughout the data.
• Finally, the data were used to inform the findings/results section of this study and to
provide any recommendations to the organization. However, just as the data were
used to find similarities and patterns, data helped identify variations in the
understanding of the problem of practice.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
Supporting parameters must be put into place to present data from this study that can be
seen as reliable and valid. One of the methods I used was writing personal reflective memos

37
immediately after every interview conducted to capture the mindset of the researcher during the
active collection of data and how that may influence how the interview is conducted, transcribed,
and interpreted. Credibility can be understood as the truth of the perspectives of the participants
and the researcher’s interpretation of them through the verification of the findings with the
participants (Cope, 2014). The credibility necessary for it to be trustworthy research connects to
a variety of audiences while making significant contributions and attending to ethical
considerations (Tracy, 2013). Credibility is further enhanced by referencing the positionality of
the researcher; the researcher ensures that their biases, dispositions, and assumptions do as little
as possible to influence the data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The overall purpose of these memos
was to reinforce the need for researcher self-awareness regarding researcher positionality.
In addition, I used member checks to ensure that the data collected is properly
understood. The desired amount of member checks for this study was with more than 50% of the
participants. While 100% member checks for every interview would be the best approach, time
and teacher availability limits the amount of member checks that can actually be conducted.
Without these member checks, I could run the risk of coding information incorrectly, leading to
unreliable data.
Ethics
In any form of research, much consideration to any ethical implications must be given to
the human participants involved in the study. In fact, it is argued that much of the validity and
reliability of any study depends on the ethics and values of the researcher (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). The measures that took place in this study to ensure ethical data collection included
gaining informed consent from the participants before conducting the interviews and ensuring
that researcher/participant confidentiality was provided through response confidentiality. Due to

38
the potential of interview responses including some negative comments regarding the
organization or leadership, the data were held secure with me on a personal laptop that can only
be accessed by me. In an effort to expose possible knowledge, motivational, or organizational
barriers within the organization, the data received must be given without filters, and that can only
happen if the participant is assured that their responses will remain confidential. I also reinforced
that their participation was completely voluntary and that they could leave the study at any time.
Finally, the research questions, in addition to the methods for study and data collection, were
submitted through an ethical review process for approval with the University of Southern
California’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) to ensure the highest level of ethical practice with
research participants. In addition, the dissertation was reviewed by a committee chaired by a
member of the Rossier School or Education at the University of Southern California.

39
Chapter Four: Findings
The aim of this study was to identify potential knowledge, motivation, and organizational
factors that may influence teacher retention within California Valley Public Schools. Using
qualitative data collection and analysis through interviews with teachers employed with the
organization, this study sheds light upon potential knowledge, motivation, and organizational
factors influencing teacher retention. Using the lens of the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis
model as a framework, I examined the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that
the organization may want to consider if California Valley Public Schools desires to achieve
their teacher retention goals of improving teacher attrition rates from 10% to 8% within the next
4 years.
The following are the research questions used to guide this study:
1. What knowledge gaps influence teachers’ desire to remain with the organization?
2. What motivational gaps influence teacher retention?
3. What organizational gaps influence teacher retention?
Themes Emerging From Qualitative Interviews
Themes were constructed to make sense of the data and ensure that the most important
and relevant information is derived from the interviews. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) discussed
the importance of making meaning out of the vast amounts of data the researcher collects in
order to answer the research questions that guide the study. The themes found within the data
that help answer the research questions have been categorized by the specific influential KMO
gaps referenced within the conceptual framework. For something to be considered a KMO gap,
the participant needed to imply or reveal that there was something lacking or missing within the
organization. These gaps were then analyzed using Clark and Estes (2018) gap analysis

40
framework to consider whether they fell within the category of a knowledge gap, a motivational
gap, or an organizational gap. The frequency (or the total number of participants that mentioned
the theme during the interviews) in which these specific factors were encountered has also been
recorded, as was the number of participants who indicated that these factors influenced their
decision to stay within the organization or field of education (see Table 3).
Table 3
Themes From Qualitative Interviews
Theme Alignment with
research
questions
KMO influence Typicality
(frequency)
Participants that
perceive
influence upon
teacher retention
1. Early career
teachers lack
understanding of
classroom
management/stu
dent behavior
intervention.
What knowledge
gaps influence
teachers’ desire
to remain with
the organization?
Procedural
knowledge
Seven out of 12 Seven out of 12
2.Teachers lack
understanding of
the importance
of parent
communication
in student
support.
What knowledge
gaps influence
teachers’ desire
to remain with
the organization?
Conceptual
knowledge
Six out of 12 Five out of 12
3. Teachers lack
understanding
that it is okay to
make mistakes,
especially within
the first few
years.
What knowledge
gaps influence
teachers’ desire
to remain with
the organization?
Metacognitive
knowledge
Six out of 12 Six out of 12

41
Theme Alignment with
research
questions
KMO influence Typicality
(frequency)
Participants that
perceive
influence upon
teacher retention
4.Teachers not
feeling valued
may influence
teachers to leave
the organization
or profession.
What
motivational
gaps influence
teacher
retention?
Intrinsic
motivation
Eight out of 12 Eight out of 12
5.Teachers not
receiving
positive
feedback/words
of affirmation
and recognition
from
administration
may influence
retention.
What
motivational
gaps influence
teacher
retention?
Extrinsic
motivation
Seven out of 12 Six out of 12
6.Teachers feel
society does not
respect or value
them; this causes
them to lose
confidence in
themselves as
professionals.
What
motivational
gaps influence
teacher
retention?
Self-efficacy Seven out of 12 Five out of 12
7. Leadership has
the greatest
influence on the
organizational
culture and
resources
provided within
the teacher’s
organization.
What
organizational
gaps influence
teacher
retention?
Organizational
resources
Ten out of 12 Eight out of 12

42
Knowledge Findings
Knowledge findings are related to Research Question 1: What knowledge gaps influence
teachers’ desire to remain with the organization?
Identifying the proper knowledge factors that may influence a teacher’s desire to stay
within the organization can assist California Valley Public Schools in accomplishing their goal
of improving teacher attrition rates. Clark and Estes (2008) stated the importance of knowledge
and skills in an organization achieving its goal. Again, there are many elements that might be
considered knowledge or skill. They might be in the form of information, job aids, training, and
education. In addition, other forms of knowledge such as one’s own metacognitive awareness
can be considered within this realm. The three knowledge themes captured during this study
were:
1. Early career teachers lack understanding of classroom management/student behavior
intervention strategies
2. Administration lacking in teaching concepts such as parent communication for the
sake of student support
3. A lacking in the understanding that it is okay to make mistakes; especially within the
first few years.
Theme 1: Early Career Teachers Lack Knowledge of Classroom Management/Student
Behavior Intervention
The first theme that emerged from the data was that there was a knowledge gap evident
within early career teachers (see Table 4), one of the most vulnerable groups influenced by
teacher retention (Borman & Dowling, 2008). Two of the questions asked within the study (see
Appendix B) attempted to uncover potential knowledge gaps that might be evident within

43
teachers who are within their first 5 years of teaching. For instance, one question asked, “What
aspects about being a teacher do you think are most important for teachers to know within the
first 5 years of teaching?” Among the 12 participants studied, seven indicated that classroom
management or student behavior intervention were among the knowledge gaps that early career
teachers may be lacking. In addition, these seven participants indicated they felt that this
knowledge gap contributed to a teacher’s desire to stay within the organization or the field of
education.
One of the participants, Diane, a teacher with 7 plus years of experience in first and third
grade, stated:
There was so much to learn as an early career teacher regarding classroom management
and student behavior intervention strategies; especially dealing with student behavior
these days. I just don’t think early teachers have the skills they need to deal with these
types of behaviors we see.
Another participant, Barbara, a teacher with more than 14 years of experience in K–5
special education and fourth grade, stated:
I just think teachers are ill-equipped coming out of teacher preparation programs. We
hear a lot about learning concepts, but not as much about how to deal with students who
are being so disruptive that you can’t even use those learning concepts. It is probably why
so many leave after a few years. I know I wanted to when I was new. And that was years
ago. Behaviors have only gotten worse since then.
Issues stemming from teachers not understanding procedural and declarative knowledge
of student behavior intervention strategies has been a topic of discussion within the field of
education (Ingersoll, 2001; Kukla-Acevedo, 2009). In addition, it has been connected to elements

44
that influence teacher retention, such as job satisfaction and burnout (Kukla-Acevedo, 2009).
The seven participants who indicated this knowledge gap all stated that they perceived student
behavior becoming worse within the classroom. Dave, a teacher with more than 8 years of
experience teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth grade English, stated:
The disrespect and bad behaviors have just become unreal in the last few years. I’m really
not surprised that we have a teacher shortage. After seeing the videos popping up all over
online of teachers being abused by students, it's kind of difficult to recruit people to the
field.
Four participants stated that there needed to be more emphasis from the school district on
equipping teachers with the knowledge of student/classroom behavior management strategies.
Julie, Debra, Janice, and Tim commented that behaviors were getting worse, especially since the
pandemic. Julie said:
Student behaviors are getting worse, in my opinion. In fact, I think they’ve really gotten
worse since the beginning of the pandemic. I’m not sure if it was a switch away from
autonomy that the kids were enjoying during distance learning, but many of us, especially
the new teachers, do not know how to deal with these kinds of behaviors.
Debra had a similar opinion:
I’m not sure what’s happened lately, but the students have been misbehaving more than
usual. I’m fearful that it’s going to push out the brand-new teachers coming into
education. … I’m barely capable of dealing with the distractions; I can’t imagine just
coming into the profession.
Janice and Tim noted they wished they had been better prepared to deal with classroom
behaviors. Janice noted,

45
It is kind of hard to imagine anyone with less than a couple of years teaching to want to
stay because of the disrespect from students. I think most of what I learned regarding
classroom management was through development trainings and on the job trial and error.
Really, with the growing discipline issues in the classrooms, this should be a focus when
going through teacher prep programs.
Finally, Tim wished he had stronger classroom management skills. Tim said,
I’m still waiting to develop stronger tools for classroom management. I think that I could
have been better prepared before I became a teacher. These students can be tough to deal
with. Especially if they don’t respect you.
Theme 2: Teachers Lack Understanding of Concepts Such As Importance of Parent
Communication in Student Support
Another theme that derived from the data was that there was a knowledge gap regarding
the importance of communicating with parents and guardians in a way that encourages and
fosters relationships that support students (see Table 5). Specifically, six of the 12 participants
indicated that this was an important knowledge component that may be lacking within the
organization. Five of the six felt this knowledge gap influenced a teacher’s desire to stay within
the organization or the field of education.
The relationship between the teacher and the parent or guardian of the student is an
important one. Studies have shown that healthy parent-teacher communication has a positive
correlation with a student’s social abilities and behavior when at school (Garbacz et al., 2015).
Given that student behavior is already a theme captured within this study, its connection to
parent-teacher communication may be beneficial. Closing the knowledge gap can by helping

46
teachers communicate better with parents or guardians may impact the experience that teachers
have with student behaviors that leads to teacher attrition.
A unique concept that came from this data point was that each of the six participants that
indicated this knowledge gap also indicated the importance of administration teaching these
concepts to their staff. Barbara stated,
I think that some teachers don’t understand the importance of communicating with
parents, or they don’t possess the skills necessary to communicate. Honestly, it is never
really taught in school or teacher prep programs. I wish we would have more in-house
trainings from administration on how we should be communicating with parents.
Similarly, Melissa said,
I think that one think majorly lacking for teachers is to know early within their teaching
career how important it is to build a relationship with the parents. A part of student
success hinders on building a support structure of parent/teacher partnership to help the
student succeed.
Three participants who indicated the presence of this knowledge gap mentioned that there
were much more parent communication skills needed during the unique and demanding
circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Janet, a teacher with more than 17 years of
experience in counseling, teaching seventh grade math, and as a resource teacher, said,
The pandemic caused so much more work for educators because we were accessible to
parents in the background at all times and we were expected to be tech-help; … asked us
to communicate much more with parents. This caught most teachers off guard and
showed how much training we need in these areas.
Scott and Rachel voiced similar opinions. Scott said,

47
In my opinion, we need to do more training with understanding parent-partnership skills.
I personally find it hard to talk to adults, but I can easily speak with kids. So, I have to
make it an intentional effort to work with adults and I know I could use more training in
that area honestly.
Rachel noted the importance of the parent-teacher relationship.
If students are going to be successful, there needs to be a relationship built between the
adults within the student’s home and their teacher. I think we all take this for granted
because most of our time is spent 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. working with kids all day and it
becomes tiring to write parents, but communication is key. I don’t think these
relationship strategies are taught to teachers enough.
Debra offered a solution for creating better parent-teacher communications,
If there is one area where I feel teachers can be better at, including myself, is to make
sure we are connecting with parents more and creating lines of communication. It would
be nice to have brainstorming sessions during staff meetings or PDs about how different
teachers go about doing this. That’s not being done at this moment.
This data aligns with the research already gathered indicating the compounding stress and
expectations experienced by educators due to the complexity of public education in the midst of
the COVID-19 pandemic (EdSource, 2021; Jotkoff, 2022).
Theme 3: Teachers Lack Understanding That It Is Okay to Make Mistakes as a Teacher,
Especially Within the First Few Years
The third theme drawn from the data collected through the qualitative teacher interviews
was the knowledge gap of the metacognitive awareness of the individual teacher to understand
that it is okay to make mistakes; especially within the first few years. Six of the 12 participants

48
indicated that teachers are too hard on themselves and try to live up to the unrealistic
expectations of those around them. Specifically, these six stated that teachers were not spending
enough time reflecting on their teaching practice, were striving to meet unrealistic expectations,
and did not understand that it was okay to make mistakes. All six indicated it was important for a
teacher to have these insights early in their career.
Krathwohl (2002) noted that metacognitive knowledge is the understanding of one’s own
cognition, and if teachers do not gain this self-awareness, they may burnout on teaching. Three
of the participants used the term “burnout” when speaking about the perceived consequences of
teachers lacking this metacognitive knowledge. Diane stated,
You see it all the time … people expect so much out of teachers and don’t realize all that
we do and the amount of work that we have to bring home. I think they just don’t really
understand or don’t take the time to understand. Either way, teachers are pressured to
believe that they have to meet all these demands. In reality, most of the expectation
placed on teachers is unreal, and if you don’t know that you’ll burnout trying to meet
everyone’s expectations.
Janice, a teacher with 10 years of experience teaching high-school science, stated,
I think teachers get to the point of burnout. Especially the ones just starting out. … It is
because they don’t know the amount of pressure that will be placed on them from parents
and administration, and they don’t know that they really can’t do everything everyone
asks of them. It is just impossible.
Stacey had similar thoughts:

49
Everyone has a point of burnout, and I’m not sure that people either realize that or if they
don’t know what that point is for them. But I do know that one way of burning yourself,
at least for me, is by assuming that everything needs to be perfect as a teacher.
According to Ingersoll (2001), teacher attrition is due to excessive teacher demands that
result in teachers reportedly feeling “burnout.” There are many unrealistic expectations placed
upon public educators today, and the COVID-19 pandemic has added to that list of expectations
(EdSource, 2021). One study participant, Tim, a teacher with 3 years of experience teaching
sixth and seventh grade English, said,
The pandemic took what was already a nightmare of expectations placed on teachers and
made it even worse with all of the flexibility we were constantly being asked to do with
things like online teaching and masking. No one really gave teachers a break, not even
teachers themselves. Teachers were even tempted to take on this extra workload without
realizing it is going to mentally and physically strain you.
Rachel noted that teachers “need to give themselves a break.” She said,
I think it is important for teachers to give themselves a break. I need to give myself a
break more than I do. We live in such a high-pressured society to be perfect as teachers,
but I’m not sure enough of us know that it is okay to make mistakes.
In a similar vein, Scott said,
There is a lot of pressure these days for teachers. There is demand from your principal,
from the state requirements, from parents, from the students themselves. There is literally
no way to please everyone. I’m still trying to understand that after 5 years. It will weigh
on you if you let it.

50
If teachers cannot grasp the self-reflective reality that they cannot meet unrealistic
demands and that they sometimes make mistakes, they may face burnout which may lead to
attrition. All six of the participants that indicated the possibility of this knowledge gap believed
that this influenced a teacher’s desire to remain within the organization or field of education.
Motivation Findings
Motivation findings are related to Research Question 2: What motivational gaps
influence teacher retention?
Identifying the motivational gaps that influence teacher retention may help the California
Valley Public Schools reach their teacher retention goals. Clark and Estes (2008) explained that
if knowledge tells individuals how to do something, motivation is what gets them going to do
that thing. Motivation can be seen through the three-fold lens of active choice (when someone
chooses to actively pursue a goal), persistence (not being tempted by distractions and continuing
in spite of those distractions), and mental effort (more mental effort equates to smarter work and
people who develop novel solutions). The value that an individual places on something drives
motivation. Specifically, motivation may take the form of self-efficacy (one’s own belief or
confidence in their own ability), extrinsic motivation (rewards, accolades, or avoiding
punishment), and intrinsic motivation (gratification from doing something that reflects personal
values or self-accomplishment). The following are the motivational themes that emerged from
the qualitative interviews.
Theme 4: Teachers Not Feeling Valued May Influence Retention
Eight of the 12 teacher participants stated that not feeling valued as an educator would
make them not want to be a part of their organization or profession. The eight teachers indicated

51
that when they do not feel valued as an educator, they do not feel proud to be a teacher. Tim
stated,
Sometimes it sucks being a teacher. I don’t think many people value or respect the
profession anymore. It makes it hard to show up to work as a professional when the
world around you doesn’t respect what you do.
Likewise, some teachers stated that the lack of feeling valued as a teacher might be due to
a growing national climate of negative attitude toward public educators. Melissa, a second and
third grade teacher with more than 8 years of teaching experience, stated, “I don’t think many
people aspire to be teachers anymore. It is probably because of the way our society increasingly
doesn’t value education and teachers.” Among the various ways mentioned in which they feel
valued, the participants stated that student success and positive parent feedback helped the
educator feel that what they do is important and making an impact. Dave stated,
It helps to know that what you do actually matters, that you’re actually making a
difference…. It makes dealing with the tough stuff a little easier. I can’t count how many
times I’ve wanted to quit because I wonder if people would even care if I left, either the
students or the parents. It gets hard sometimes.
Rachel said,
I used to love to teach. Yet sometimes it feels discouraging when the dedication and hard
work that educators put in aren't fully valued in our culture. It kind of sucks the joy out of
what I used to love to do.
Intrinsic motivation is the concept of feeling value through pride in what they do as a
professional because they believe that they are making a difference (Wigfield & Eccles, 1992).
This can be a dynamic motivation tool within the realm of education as many districts may not

52
be able to offer extrinsic motivators such as pay increases due to budget constraints. The eight
participants indicated the possibility of this intrinsic motivational gap also stated that this has an
influence upon a teacher’s desire to stay within the organization or the field of education. Janet
stated,
It can be frustrating. I often wonder after spending so much money on education and then
getting treated like I don’t know anything [from students and parents] if I went into the
right occupation. I definitely think teachers leave the profession because they are tired of
not feeling like what they do matters to people.
Barbara echoed Janet’s sentiments,
In our society, it is disheartening to observe how the value of education and the role of
teachers often seems overlooked. I think it is reflecting a larger trend that doesn't fully
recognize the dedication and impact educators bring to shaping the future of society.
Scott and Julie noted the lack of respect people have for teachers. Julie said, “People
definitely don’t respect the profession anymore and that kills me. The way our culture kind of
tosses us to the side as professionals is pretty hurtful and it makes me want to leave some days.”
Scott also talked about the level of disrespect aimed at teachers,
I’m almost certain that other people don’t have to deal with the level of disrespect we get
as teachers. We have degrees; most of us multiple degrees. We have certifications. But
the way society treats us, it is almost as if none of those things matter. It is hard to want
to be a teacher when you deal with that stuff.

53
Theme 5: Teachers Not Receiving Positive Feedback, Words of Affirmation, and
Recognition From Administration May Influence Retention
The next theme present within the data is associated with the concept of extrinsic
motivation yet connected to the previous theme of value. Seven of the 12 participants
interviewed stated that positive feedback, words of affirmation, and recognition from
administration motivated them as educators. Janet said,
I’m a pleaser. I'm a person that wants that. I want to feel needed. I want to feel, you
know, like somebody wants me for who I am and that I do a good job and I need to hear
praise. I don't need a big praise, but I do like to hear a little bit every once in a while, and
especially from my administrator.
Other teachers had similar responses. For instance, Janice stated,
I do feel motivated when my admin notices that I am employing strategies that are
learned within training and mentions it. It is important to feel acknowledged for using
those tools. However, I think admin could be more intentional about noticing those
moments and offering praise.
Elements such as positive feedback, words of affirmation, and recognition are all external
rewards received for work accomplished, and therefore can be understood as extrinsic motivators
(Wigfield & Eccles, 1992).
However, most participants who mentioned this theme also indicated that administration
was lacking in giving motivation through these tools. Janet said, “My administrator could do
better in offering more praise. Most of what teachers hear is criticism. Even though I think it is
meant well. But when all you hear is what you are doing is wrong, it gets tiring.” Of the seven
who mentioned this extrinsic motivational theme, six stated that this was a gap and an influential

54
factor in a teacher’s decision to stay within the organization or the field of education. Scott, a
teacher with more than 5 years of experience teaching eighth grade and high school math, stated,
Having an administrator who celebrates you is important. It makes you want to work for
them. I can’t honestly say that I feel celebrated by leadership where I am at, and it does
affect me feeling like I’m part of the team. … I do believe that this has influence on
whether or not a teacher wants to stay where they are. It does for me.
Debra and Diane voiced similar sentiments. Debra said,
I think maybe having teachers appreciated a little bit more by leadership would have a
big impact on whether teachers want to deal with a lot of the stuff that we do. I feel like
we don’t hear ‘thank you’ enough, so it makes a big impact when you do hear it and from
leadership.
Diane spoke about being valued by the people they work for.
I feel like everyone wants to feel like what they do is valued by those they work for. The
truth is that administration needs to be on purpose about this though. Like, you can’t just
treat your job as a leader like it is supposed to be just bossing people around. It should be
about encouraging the teachers that work for you. … This could be done a lot more
where I work.
Melissa stated,
Sometimes I don’t even know if I’m doing things correctly because I don’t ever hear
“good job” from my principal. It makes it hard to want to work for someone when you
don’t know if they think you’re doing a good job.
Barbara stated,

55
I think that not hearing recognition from your principal or other leadership is easily one
of the reasons why teachers leave where they’re at. I have left working for a school
before because I didn’t feel like anything I did was appreciated by my boss. I never heard
any form of praise from him.
Theme 6: Teachers Feel Society Does Not Respect or Value Them; This Causes Them to
Lose Confidence in Themselves As Professionals
This third motivational theme sheds light on the way that value influences motivation.
According to the data gathered from the qualitative interviews, seven of the 12 participants in
this study indicated that most teachers feel that American society does not respect or value their
profession, which causes them to lose confidence in themselves as professionals. Most of the
teachers interviewed discussed the frustrations of being asked to undergo tedious amounts of
education and credentialing while being treated as a “glorified baby-sitter” by some of those who
benefit most from the services of the teacher (e.g., parents, students, society in general). These
participants mentioned they perceive an overarching view of their culture that does not give
teachers the respect or adoration they deserve compared to what they do or what is demanded out
of them as professionals. Scott stated,
I really don’t think we get respect as teachers, from parents or students. It is getting worse
every year. I think that’s just how things are in our world right now. It makes you feel
like what you do is a joke.
Likewise, Janet said,
I can see things getting worse every year with the disrespect. Things were really bad after
the pandemic first hit and we came back to in-person education. Possibly some of the
disrespect is because kids went from being in charge of themselves to having to go back

56
to school and follow a routine. I think it also made our job appear less important to
parents. Makes you feel like what you do doesn’t matter.
These seven participants also stated that this perceived environment impacts the
confidence they have as educators. Dave said, “When you are asked to have multiple degrees to
get paid anything and then people treat you like a glorified babysitter, it's hard to take yourself
seriously or to believe in yourself as a professional.” Julie also mentioned being treated as a
babysitter.
I think some people think we’re nothing more than a convenient babysitter. They don’t
value education or those that teach it. Makes me wish I would have chosen a different
career at times; one where I actually feel like a professional.
Barbara said,
We all are given a hard time that we get summers off, but people don’t realize how much
work we bring home; how many of us prep during the summers. … It really hits your
self-esteem and confidence as a professional.
Finally, Diane stated,
We just get criticized so much as teachers, as if anyone can do our job and all of our
education and preparation doesn’t matter. With so much criticism, you start to wonder if
you’re even good at what you do.
This concept of an individual considering their own ability of doing something can be
understood as self-efficacy.
As previously highlighted, self-efficacy is influenced by how one interprets past
performance (Elliot et al., 2017). Yet, the interpretation that the individual adopts of that past
performance can also be influenced by verbal feedback or criticism from the world around them.

57
The data derived from this motivational gap shows that there is a relationship with the way their
occupation and efforts are interpreted and valued by the world around them and their selfefficacy. Finally, when asked if this motivational theme had any influence upon a teacher’s
desire to stay within the organization or the field of education, six of the participants indicated
that it did. Rachel, a teacher with more than 7 years of experience teaching first grade, stated,
I don’t think many young people grow up wanting to be teachers anymore. If I knew back
then what I know now, I’m not sure if I would have wanted to become a teacher. The way
others don’t value what you do can rub off on you and you start to not value it either. The
lack of respect is really bad and getting worse. It really is sad to tell new teachers about
more negative things regarding the profession than positive things. It makes it difficult to
recruit good teachers or to keep good teachers in the profession.
In fact, recent surveys noted there is a growing negative perspective American society is
having toward the field of education (Education Next, 2022; Pew Research, 2023). The
experience captured from teachers within this study of feeling a lack of support from society
aligns with recent surveys that show a decline in approval that public schools receive from
society.
Organizational Findings
Organizational findings are related to Research Question 3: What organizational gaps
influence teacher retention?
According to Clark and Estes (2008), it is important to identify organizational gaps as
they might hinder an organization’s ability to achieve its goals. Organizational gaps can be
understood as performance gaps within the organization that might be associated with a lack of
resources, an inefficient and ineffective organizational work process, or a hindering

58
organizational culture. Specifically, organizational gaps within education can be anything from a
lack of administrator support to a lack of trust developed within the organizational culture.
Understanding the organizational gaps at California Valley Public Schools may increase the
likelihood of the organization meeting their teacher retention goals. The following is the
organizational theme that derived from the qualitative interviews with the teacher participants.
Theme 7: Leadership Has the Greatest Influence on the Organizational Culture and
Resources Provided Within the Teacher’s Organization
The first organizational theme that derived from the qualitative interviews was in line
with the resources provided and the distribution of those resources to teachers. Ten of 12 of the
participants indicated that leadership had the greatest influence on organizational culture,
specifically in regard to resources provided to teachers for the sake of fulfilling their
responsibilities. Tim stated, “It is really up to our administrator to determine who goes to
professional development because there’s only so much money to go around on the
district.” This is significant in that research suggests that the more training a teacher receives,
especially in the first years of their career, the less likely they are to experience attrition (Leob et
al., 2012). Janet stated, “I honestly don’t know why some teachers get to go to trainings over and
over while the rest of us don’t ever get selected. It’s hard not to feel like there is a little bit of
favoritism going on.”
Melissa also spoke about administrator favoritism.
I think there is too much favoritism that administrators show to certain teachers over
others. As educators, we strive to create an environment where everyone's contributions
are valued based on their skills and dedication, rather than personal connections. When

59
favoritism exists between administrators and teachers, it can destroy any sense of fairness
and make teachers feel that they are not entitled to the same resources.
While she did not use the term favoritism, Stacey noted that some teachers get selected
for more opportunities than others.
My principle is a pretty difficult person to sit down with. They are even more difficult to
share recommendations with. I’m not sure why, but it’s as if they only hear suggestions
from certain teachers and not others as if some teachers get selected for various things
multiple times and others don’t.
If the administrator is one of the only individuals who can delegate the resources of
professional development, it may cause teachers to belief that leadership is using favoritism
among the teachers who feel they are being overlooked.
The administrator influence over resources was not limited to professional development,
it also encompassed other resources such as the use of teacher-paras or extra office supplies.
Barbara said,
I know that we only have so many extra helping hands on the school campus, but I feel
that the squeaky wheels get the grease when teachers complain loud and long enough to
our administrator. It creates an environment of nepotism.
The lack of resources can be a significant factor that influences teacher attrition (Borman
& Dowling, 2008; Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2019; Ingersoll, 2001). Asked whether
this organizational theme had any influence on a teacher’s decision to stay within the
organization or field of education, eight participants stated that they believed it did. Barbara said,

60
Yes, I believe it has a lot to do with a teacher’s decision to leave where they are at. I
know there are days when I feel like I want to leave because I don’t play the right games
other teachers play to get the resources I need.
Debra talked about equity in allocating resources.
Our principle provides us with resources, but I believe there is a lack of equal access for
each teacher. I’m not saying that every teacher needs the same resources each year, but I
do think that there should be more of an effort on the part of leadership to solicit needs
from each teacher and consider a more equitable approach.
Dave stated,
Yeah, I think the administration’s control over resources has a lot to do with teachers
leaving. I know a lot of teachers on the district who want to leave because they don’t
think the district, or their administrators give them the basic resources they need.
Julie talked about an organization’s culture and a teacher’s decision to leave or stay.
I don’t know if people realize how much an administrator shapes a school’s culture, but
I’ve seen in my short time as a teacher that this is definitely true. I have seen how other
teachers from different school sites get way more support and resources from their
principles. It just seems as if our administrator doesn’t work as hard as others to provide
that support that I see other teachers feel.
Janice noted that her administrator talks about a team culture but that does not reflect the
organization’s culture.
I would say that our leadership talks a lot about being a team, but I’m not too sure that
they actually make this a reality where I work. I see some teachers supporting other
teachers, but I think leadership could set the example more in this area.

61
Diane talked about the difference between two principals she has worked with.
I have worked for two principals; they have both been very different. What I appreciate
about my current principle is that they provide a lot of feedback and give out a lot of
accolades. However, I do feel that they sometimes create a culture of competition, and it
feels as if teachers compete for those compliments. It doesn’t create a very supportive
work environment.
Organizational Assets
I found that some of the gap themes were perceived as assets within California Valley
Public Schools. Specifically, the themes shown to be organizational assets were a culture of trust
and support from the administrator when the teacher is dealing with the students’ parents or
guardians.
Organization Asset 1: Creating a Culture of Community
The first organizational asset is: A culture of community that a teacher trusts and a
culture that supports each other (teachers willing to help each other out) are the most important
factors in a teacher’s decision to stay where they are. The first organizational theme that came
from the qualitative interview data dealt with the organizational culture. According to the data,
seven of the 12 participants indicated that feeling support and trust within their organizational
culture, or feeling “community,” was extremely important to them when considering leaving
where they are currently teaching. All seven participants who felt this way stated that this culture
of trust and support was most important with their administrator, but it was also almost as
important with co-workers.
An organizational culture where teachers can trust administrators and their co-workers is
important because it fosters relationships that make teachers feel empowered and supported

62
(Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2000). Diane stated, “If it weren’t for my co-workers and
administrators being there for me, in and out of the classroom, I don’t think I would be
here.” Dave said,
I feel that I can trust the people I work with to have my back, and that is an important
factor when considering whether I want to continue teaching or not. … I haven’t found
that in many other places I’ve worked.
Building a culture of trust within an organization can help employees feel they belong in that
organization.
A word used seven times among the participants was the term “belonging.” In fact, this
concept of teachers feeling that they belong and have healthy relationships among their peers is
important in the field of education. For example, a substantial research base provides evidence
that staff cohesion and community are related to student engagement and achievement (Bryk et
al., 1993; Bryk & Schneider, 2002; Johnson et al., 2005; Little, 1982; Louis & Marks, 1998).
According to Bryk and Schneider (2002), the quality of relationships and the trust between
teachers, and between teachers and students, predicts student achievement. Seven participants
indicated they believed that it had an influence on a teacher’s decision to stay within the
organization or field of education.
Organization Asset 2: Supportive Administration is Vital for Teacher Success
The third organizational theme that derived from the data gathered from the qualitative
teacher interviews dealt with the support relationship perceived between the administrator and
their teaching staff. Eleven of 12 participants stated that having supportive administration is vital
for teacher success. The different examples mentioned to describe what this type of support
looked like ranged from an administrator who backs a teacher in their interactions with parents to

63
an administrator who takes on a more formal role as mentor. Stacey, a teacher with 2 years of
experience teaching second grade, said,
Admin support with parent communication helps me want to stay in the profession, but it
isn’t the end all. However, I think overall administration support like parent
communication does make a teacher want to stay in the classroom as it makes you feel
like you’re part of a team.
Likewise, Tim stated, “Admin support is necessary for a teacher to succeed. Local school
culture is so important, because it is the actual reason why I am deciding to stay in teaching.”
The data gathered from the qualitative interviews makes it appear that support from the
administration may be the most common theme mentioned among all of the participants. Diane
said, “You can feel support by admin or not supported as if you never do anything correct. Good
leadership can help a teacher feel valued.” According to Ingersoll (2001), adequate
administration support for teachers is not only important for teachers feeling valued in their
roles, but it may be linked to better retention. Considering the importance of the role that
administration plays in providing teacher support might assist California Valley Public Schools
in meeting their retention goals. Eleven participants indicated administration support had an
influence on a teacher’s desire to stay within the organization or field of education.
Summary
Chapter Four discusses the themes that emerged from qualitative interviews with teachers
employed by California Valley Public Schools. This study identified seven themes that may be
influential factors contributing to CVPS’s ability to meet its teacher attrition goal of decreasing
from 10% to 8% of teachers leaving the district every year. Keeping in line with the Clark and
Estes (2008) gap analysis framework, this study uncovered themes that aligned with influences

64
that would fall within the realm of knowledge/skills gaps, motivational gaps, and organizational
gaps. Some of these gaps overlapped, such as a knowledge gap of early career teachers needing
to learn important classroom management skills to navigate student behavior, but there might be
an organizational gap present simultaneously that keeps these teachers from getting the training
they need because they have not built the relationship necessary with the administrator to be
chosen to go to professional development.
Specifically, the seven KMO influences that emerged were declarative/procedural
knowledge, conceptual knowledge, metacognitive knowledge, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic
motivation, self-efficacy, and organizational resources. It became apparent from the majority of
the interviews that the teacher participants within this study valued the influence that the
administration has upon the school. In fact, the theme of administration support was the most
widely referenced theme within the responses of the participants. In every instance, most
participants who indicated a theme also felt that this theme had an influence on a teacher’s
decision to stay within the organization or the field of education.

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Chapter Five: Discussion
The purpose of this study is to provide recommendations based on the data reported
within the previous chapter from teachers employed by the organization regarding potential
factors that may influence teacher retention. In order to evaluate the potential gaps that may
contribute to the problem of practice, a Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis model has been used
for the framework of study. This approach investigates the possible knowledge, motivation, or
organizational factors that may be present within the organization which may be responsible for
influencing teacher retention. This section includes a discussion of the findings, and it highlights
three recommendations for practice informed by the data that address the research questions for
the study. Finally, this section will conclude with recommendations for future research.
Findings
This study uncovered potentially significant KMO factors that may be influencing
California Valley Public School’s ability to meet their teacher retention goals. In regard to
knowledge factors, the data revealed that there may be a knowledge gap for early-career teachers
with student behaviors and classroom management, especially since this may be linked to other
literature stating the connection between student behavior and teacher retention (Borman &
Dowling, 2008; Ingersoll, 2001). The frustration captured from the participants in this study and
their belief that student behaviors have gotten worse since the pandemic is in line with the
literature stating that teachers around the nation are experiencing these same struggles
(EdSource, 2021; Jotkoff, 2022).
The motivational gaps revealed within this study indicated that there may be a lack of
positive feedback, appreciation given, and motivational support from administration. These
things are needed if teachers want to feel motivated to stay within the organization. Motivational

66
gaps fall into distinct categories of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation but implementing any of
them provides the potential of inexpensive solutions for employee engagement and retention
strategies in a public organization that is limited fiscally. According to the data from this study,
75% of the participants stated that feeling valued by the organization and the leadership within
the organization was important to them and believed that it had an influence upon teacher
retention. These data coincide with the research literature that points to the importance of feeling
valued as an employee (Bakker et al., 2007; Cortini et al., 2019). Specifically, this literature
suggests that “feeling valued” may cause someone to flourish or be more engaged at work
(Bakker et al., 2007; Cortini et al., 2019; Hone et al., 2015).
The organizational gaps revealed within this study emphasized the role of the
administrator within the organization. in the gaps outlined the way the administrator might act as
a gatekeeper to organizational resources such as professional development or in the many ways
the administrator provides support to staff. These data may indicate that there may need to be a
change in the way that organizational resources such as professional development are allocated
amongst the staff. The participants within this study indicated that the types of administrative
support that were most important to them were actions like an administrator providing hands-on
guidance with how to deal with an upset parent. These findings align with research literature that
noted the lack of administration support as a major reason for teacher attrition (Alliance for
Excellent Education, 2014; Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2019).
Limitations and Delimitations
I anticipated several limitations and delimitations in the outline of the study. One of those
limitations was that the data reported in the interviews may not be fully truthful due to
participants fearing repercussions from sharing negative comments about the organization or

67
administration. One final limitation considered was the limited number of participants in the
study that may have raised concerns about the reliability of the study. The qualitative research
design of this study presents natural limitations due to the large amount of transcript work
required (Gibbs, 2018; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
I addressed limitations in various ways. The limitation of a lack of truthfulness within
responses was addressed through ensuring the participant of data security, confidentiality of
responses, and a private interviewing environment. In addition, because I was a substitute teacher
and not a supervisor within the organization at the time of the study, there were not any
positionality issues present that would hinder a truthful response from the participant. The
participation of teachers from various schools throughout the district assisted in providing
multiple unique perspectives regarding the problem of poor teacher retention. Likewise, the
limitation of a small participation sample size was addressed through the recognition that, while
the interview process only allowed for so many participants, it did provide the opportunity to dig
deep into the meaning and understanding a teacher has regarding the problem of practice in order
to create potential solutions for the organization to close KMO gaps.
Recommendations for Practice
These recommendations are directed toward district leadership, including individual
campus administration as these will be the individuals who have the power to enact these
measures. However, other stakeholders are considered, as participation from teachers and parents
will be necessary to accomplish particular recommendations.

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Recommendation 1: Provide Early-Career Teachers with Formal Mentorship to Minimize
Knowledge Gaps
Numbers show a U-shaped curve for the age/experience years of a teacher and turnover,
indicating that teachers experience turnover more early in their career and then again as they
approach retirement (Ingersoll, 2001). Novice teachers, those who have fewer than 5 years of
experience, are nearly 1.5 times as likely to depart from the field of education and over two times
as likely to transfer to another teaching location (Kukla-Acevedo, 2009). Filling in the
knowledge gap through formal mentorship may help. Research has suggested that as teachers
receive more training and experience, particularly in the form of mentorship, their performance
improves substantially, especially within the first few years of their career (Leob et al., 2012).
Likewise, inexperienced teachers who have established relationships of trust through mentorship
relationships with administrators or experienced teachers have been linked to lower risks of
experiencing attrition (Ingersoll, 2001).
Recommendation 2: Implement Local Teacher Appreciation Program to Minimize
Motivational Gaps
The recommendation provided here is given in much more detail than the other two
recommendations, as this one may be the recommendation that meets the needs of teachers
feeling valued, feeling administrative support, and feeling confidence or self-efficacy.
Specifically, the extrinsic motivation of teachers feeling valued by administration was a
significant finding within this study. Therefore, attention should be given to provide
recommendations that serve to alleviate these extrinsic motivations from within the organization.
In addition, the literature states that almost 82% of teachers feel that many in society do not
understand or appreciate the challenges they face as educators or how hard educators work to

69
meet those challenges (EdSource, 2021). This was in line with the feelings of most of the teacher
participants represented within this study. This recommendation is to implement a local teacher
appreciation program to minimize motivational gaps. Teachers receiving appreciation can have a
positive effect upon their life, job satisfaction, and job performance (Cortini et al., 2019). In
addition, implementing a local teacher appreciation program that allows teachers to feel
encouraged by the local administration, co-workers, parents, and students may contribute to a
teacher’s intrinsic motivating factors such as the feeling of flourishing, health, and well-being
(Kostenius & Bergmark, 2016).
Recommendation 3: Institute Training Procedures Using the Kirkpatrick Evaluation
Model
Implementing the training program and keeping it accountable to meeting the
organizational goals will be done using the Kirkpatrick evaluation model (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). The Kirkpatrick evaluation model is a four-level evaluation, assessment, and
accountability tool that is used within personnel training and development. The four levels of the
Kirkpatrick model are results (Level 4), behavior (Level 3), learning (Level 2), and reaction
(Level 1). Traditionally, this model has been approached backwards from level four to one as
this places the most important element of results at the beginning in an effort to make sure that
all other levels focus toward the organizational goal of results.
Level one of the model focuses on the reaction of the students, or the customer service
element of training and instruction. It asks whether students enjoyed the training, felt that the
training was valuable to their job, or if they found it engaging. While this monopolizes much of
what consists of assessments in training and development, it does little to demonstrate the overall
effectiveness of the training (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). However, this level of

70
assessment is still beneficial as it can help identify if the training was viewed as being applicable
or valuable to the students.
The second level of learning shifts focus from customer service toward the assessment of
whether actual intended skills, knowledge, attitudes, or commitments were acquired as a product
of the training. At this level, it is important to not only identify the skills and knowledge gained
from the training, but to assess whether necessary attitudes and commitments were also obtained
in that these elements can reveal if these new skills and knowledge are worthwhile within the
workplace. In addition, this level is concerned with the assessment of whether confidence
increased as a result of the training, as this can create a context where the student feels that they
have a good grasp of how to use that new knowledge.
The third level of the model, which focuses on behavior, asks if the skills and knowledge
are implemented on the job in a way that helps the organization complete its desired results. This
level is concerned about the context and culture of resources enable the student to apply the new
knowledge or skill. Required drivers are often implemented as an effort to create accountability
and incentive for the new skills or knowledge to be adopted as desired changed behavior within
the workplace (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). These drivers help reinforce or encourage
students to continuously apply the new knowledge or skill in a way that results in the desired
organizational effect.
Finally, the fourth level focuses on results and evaluates the overall effectiveness of the
training in producing the results that the organization has set out ahead of time. The results upon
which an organization decides is a process that can be years in the making. However, it is
essential within the Kirkpatrick model that there is a clear understanding of what the
organization is hoping to achieve as an end result of training. In reality, whatever this desired

71
result may be, it should align with the organization’s purpose and mission. In other words, asking
why the organization exists is important to understanding how the training can bring about an
effect that will help that organization achieve its goal or mission. A useful tool at this level is the
leading indicators, such as critical behaviors observed being adopted over a brief period of time,
which can aid an organization in assessing if it is on track to reaching its desired results
(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
The importance that is found in this model stems from the trend of organizations
implementing training with little or adequate investigation on whether the specific nature of the
training was what was needed to help the organization meet its goals. The Kirkpatrick
framework (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016) provides levels of accountability for ensuring that
training is effective or appropriate for what the organization hopes to accomplish. In addition, it
serves as a guide in creating behavioral enforcement measures that assist in making sure that
learned skills, knowledge, and attitude are reinforced and encouraged. These guidelines can help
keep the training relevant and fresh in the minds of the learner as they act out the new desired
behaviors. Without the Kirkpatrick framework, the return on equity can become ambiguous and
difficult to assess. However, the Kirkpatrick model provides a structure through which an
organization can better understand the overall effectiveness of training programs and their ability
to help the organization achieve its mission or goals.
Recommendation 4: Involve Stakeholders With the Greatest Ability for Organizational
Change
The stakeholder group at the epicenter of power to achieve change are the administrators
throughout the various schools within the California Valley Public Schools. These stakeholders
hold the most power of change because they are involved in the accountability binary

72
relationship with teachers and hold the power to enact intentional programs to increase
appreciation for their teachers. The role of the administrator is important due to their
involvement in being the most meaningful person within the workplace extending this form of
extrinsic motivation to teachers. In addition, they hold a unique relationship position, often
acting as a liaison between the teachers and the parents/guardians of students. As the sentiment
from American society is growing increasingly negative toward public education, the role of the
administration as “liaison” between the general public and the teacher is paramount to encourage
this extrinsic motivation of showing appreciation to teachers and changing perceptions of the
public (Education Next, 2022). This unique position can be a tactical advantage when looking for
opportunities to encourage parents/guardians and students to communicate appreciation to
teachers. The stakeholder group of administrators have power, influence, and position to fulfill a
SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely) sub-goal in an effort to increase
appreciation for public educators.
The organizational problem for the California Valley Public Schools is the low rate of
retention of quality public educators possibly due to the lack of appreciation for teachers by
administrators. Therefore, a practical SMART sub-goal is that by the end of the 60-day
appreciation training program, the administrators of the California Valley Public Schools will
increase the teachers on the district’s overall perception of feeling appreciated by 15%.
Identifying the administrators at the center of accomplishing this sub-goal recognizes that this
group sits within the director position for teachers. This makes the investment in the
accountability binary significant for administrators, and value can be communicated to them
through various perspectives regarding the epistemological need to pursue this sub-goal.
Likewise, the administrator is one who can be involved in both the process and outcome

73
accountability of the program (De Langhe et al., 2011). This involvement allows the program to
stay on track through benchmark assessments and meetings to make sure that administrators
continue to be engaged in showing appreciation on a weekly basis, as well as making sure that
the end and larger goal of increasing appreciation results in teacher retention.
From an ontological accountability perspective, the administrator is seen within the
educational culture as the individual responsible for ensuring a positive work environment where
educators feel that they have the support that they need to offer dynamic and high-quality
education to their students. There are expectations that the administrator is the leader of the
organization who can drive the climate of an organization toward one that is quick to show
appreciation to its workers and intentional about making sure that there are opportunities for all
stakeholders to communicate appreciation to educators. This expectation as a leader within
society places an informal level of accountability upon administrators to ensure that they are
leaders whom people want to follow. These epistemological and ontological accountability
considerations make administrators the logical choice as the stakeholder group at the epicenter of
power that allow for this SMART sub-goal to be achieved within California Valley Public
Schools.
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators
As previously stated, the mission of the organization is that it exists to grow a community
of engaged learners connecting to future opportunities through innovative education, which is
accomplished through developing, valuing, and retaining a high-quality diverse educational
team. Therefore, increasing value and appreciation for educators, potentially leading to an
increase in retention of teachers, is ultimately the primary focus and goal of the training program.
The leading internal indicators will be a perceived increase of educators feeling supported by

74
their administrator, that their work as educators is valued by their administrator, that teachers feel
more a part of their organization’s team that is headed by the administrator, and that teachers feel
less likely to leave the organization.
Table 4 highlights the leading indicators that will signify that the administrators are on
track to reaching the intended result.
Table 4
Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes
Outcome Metric(s) Data collection method(s)
External outcomes
As administrators increase
their appreciation
communicated toward
teachers, parents and
students may also begin to
adopt similar practices of
showing appreciation to the
teacher.
The frequency of a student or
guardian within the
particular teacher’s class
showing appreciation
increases.
Solicit testimonies during
weekly meetings from
teachers regarding
appreciation shown to
them.
By demonstrating the value
of teachers, administrators
may have an impact upon
students or adults to begin
considering teaching as
being a worthwhile
occupation.
More students begin to show
interest in becoming a
teacher within the district,
while there is an increase
in applications for
vacancies within the
district.
Job fair surveys from students
can be used to gather a
general understanding of an
interest in an educational
career.
Number of increased
applications for educational
vacancies can be gathered
from HR.
Internal outcomes
Teachers feel support by their
administrator for being able
to provide quality
instruction and
student/guardian
engagement.
Teachers identify their
administrator as one of the
biggest resources for
accomplishing their job.
Survey or interview teachers
every 2 weeks to assess how
valuable they feel their
administrator’s support is to
their success as teachers.

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Outcome Metric(s) Data collection method(s)
Teachers perceive that their
work as teachers is valued
by their administrator.
Teachers communicate that
they believe their
contribution is recognized
by their educational
leadership.
Survey or interview teachers
every 2 weeks to evaluate
their belief as to whether or
not their work is celebrated
adequately by their
administrator.
Teachers feel more a part of
their organization’s team
that is headed by the
administrator.
Teachers see themselves as
an essential part of their
team and to themselves
being a part of
accomplishing the
organization’s mission.
Survey or interview teachers
every 2 weeks to consider
whether or not they perceive
a collaborative and team
environment within their
local school.
Teachers feel less likely to
leave the organization.
Teachers do not predict or
foresee themselves leaving
the organization due to not
being appreciated or
valued.
Survey or interview teachers
every 2 weeks to assess the
likelihood of them leaving
the district or occupation due
to a lack of appreciation.
Level 3: Behavior
Critical Behaviors of Administrators. The first critical behavior of the administrator
will be to communicate appreciation in meaningful ways to their subordinates. The term
“meaningful” can be understood by communicating appreciation in a way or language that has
importance or value to the receiver (Chapman & White, 2019). In training administrators in
meaningful ways to communicate appreciation to their teachers, teachers may feel that the
methods used are unique to the individual and genuine.
The second critical behavior of the administrator will be to communicate appreciation to
teachers methodically and spontaneously. The frequency and spontaneity of communication
demonstrates to all teachers on the team that showing appreciation is important to the
administrator and the organization. These behaviors of the administrator are those that are
necessary if the result of an increase in perceived appreciation is going to be achieved.

76
Table 5
Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation of Administrators
Critical behavior Metric(s) Data collection
method(s)
Timing
Administrator uses the
meaningful methods
of communicating
appreciation to
teachers (i.e., gifts,
acts of service, time,
and words of
affirmation).
Administrator uses
unique method of
communicating
appreciation to each
individual teacher
based on that
teacher’s
communication
profile.
Weekly meetings
between teacher and
administrator where
the administrator can
survey or interview
teachers to
understand whether
or not teachers felt
appreciation was
communicated to
them in their unique
appreciation
language (time can
be spent here helping
the administrator
better understand
how use the right
method for each
teacher).
The unique
communication
will be expected
by the
administrator to
each teacher at
least once a week
during the 60-
day program.
Administrator will
communicate
appreciation to
teachers methodically
and spontaneously.
Administrators will
ensure that all
teachers are
appreciated based on
their unique
appreciation
language once a
week, and that they
spontaneously
communicate
appreciation at least
three more times
during that week to
any teacher of their
choosing (cycling
through all of their
teachers during the
60-day period).
At the beginning of
each week for the 60-
day period, the
administrator will
create a plan for
communicating
appreciation to each
teacher. This plan will
be revisited by the
administrator to
ensure that the
communication was
made to every teacher
and that there were
three additional
spontaneous elements
of appreciation
communicated to an
educator.
Once a week for
60 days

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Required Drivers. There are many required drivers, highlighted in Table 6, which will
aid in rewarding, reinforcing, monitoring, and encouraging the critical behaviors that will result
in meeting the organizational goal (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). The superintendent will
have the role and responsibility of implementing and monitoring specific drivers that will help
produce the desired administrator critical behaviors.
Table 6
Required Drivers to Support Administrators’ Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing Critical behaviors supported
Reinforcing (K related)
Provide administrators with
appreciation-based theory
research and literature to
reinforce the value of this
practice.
Ensure that literature is
accessible and made
available at the beginning
and throughout the 60-day
program; intentionally
pointing to the availability
of this literature during
weekly emails sent out to
the administrator from the
district.
Critical Behavior 1
Critical Behavior 2
Provide administrators
appreciation language
training.
This will be required at the
beginning of the 60-day
program, and the content
of the training will be
made available throughout
the 60 days.
Critical Behavior 1
Encouraging (M related)
Provide administrators with
a district appreciation
committee made up of the
superintendent and all
administrators of the
district in an effort to
encourage ongoing use of
training.
Bi-weekly meetings lasting
throughout the 60-day
appreciation program
Critical Behavior 1
Critical Behavior 2

78
Method(s) Timing Critical behaviors supported
Provide administrators with
resources (literature to
share, communication,
and rewards/awards) from
the district in order to
create an appreciation
emphasis at their local
schools.
At least one week of teacher
appreciation during the 60-
day period
Critical Behavior 1
Critical Behavior 2
Rewarding (M related)
The superintendent should
provide administrators
with an award to give the
administrator who
demonstrated the most
consistent use of the
appreciation training with
their educators.
An award will be given out
at the end of every 2 weeks
during the 60-day program.
Critical Behavior 1
Critical Behavior 2
Provide administrators with
recognition within school
communications/newslette
rs for efforts of
appreciating educators.
At least once a week Critical Behavior 1
Critical Behavior 2
Monitoring (O related)
Provide administrators with
a report from the
superintendent regarding
various appreciation
efforts across all
campuses.
An email from the
superintendent to all
administrators once every
2 weeks
Critical Behavior 1
Critical Behavior 2
Though there are epistemological accountability relationships evident throughout the
many drivers listed. Administrators must see the value of implementing such a program within
their own schools and have an epistemological accountability relationship with the district and
the teachers that encourages and reinforces the administrator’s unique role as the stakeholder
who is most effective in enacting change. This can be done by celebrating the administrator who

79
is exemplary in their implementation and management of an appreciation program within the
local school. These celebrations can take place through newspaper articles, selection for subjectmatter interviews, and educational magazine submissions that provide notoriety to the individual
administrator.
Organizational Support. The organization can foster a perspective within its
administrators that values the overall purpose and importance of appreciating teachers. This can
be done by the implementation of a half-day training that focuses on the unique language of
appreciation that each individual speaks and the importance of communicating all the different
forms of appreciation if it is to be meaningful to its recipient (Chapman & White, 2019). In
addition, funds might be allocated to campuses in the district who commit to implementing
intentional appreciation programs that center around celebrating the diverse group of highquality teachers that will be responsible for creating innovative education and engaged students.
Finally, the district can provide positive-reinforcement by recognizing individual schools who
have achieved an increase in the appreciation/retention scores at the end of the 60-day program.
Level 2: Learning
Learning Goals. Several knowledge dimension elements are essential for administrators
to gain from this training and program to perform the critical behaviors. Borrowing from Bloom
Taxonomy terminology from Anderson and Krathwohl (2001), the factual knowledge gained is
that the term “appreciation” means to recognize and communicate the value to someone for who
they are or for what they contribute (Chapman & White, 2019). In addition, there is the factual
knowledge that receiving appreciation from leadership is an essential component of feeling
valued and that one belongs in an organization (Kostenius & Bergmark, 2016). The conceptual
knowledge to be gained is that appreciation can be communicated in different methods that have

80
different values based on the recipient (Chapman & White, 2019). Likewise, conceptual
knowledge is obtained through the understanding that when organizations show appreciation on
a consistent basis individuals are less likely to break ties with them (Williams & Bartlett, 2015).
Procedural knowledge to be learned is the ability to communicate the different
appreciation languages of acts of service, gifts/rewards, time, or words of affirmation in several
ways to educators with different preferences. Finally, the administrator will understand the
metacognitive knowledge of realizing that even though they have a preferred method of
receiving appreciation, or that they may not need appreciation very often, the administrator has a
different perspective and worldview than their teachers.
Program. The district will implement an appreciation program to support the
achievement of the administrator learning goals. This appreciation program will consist of
formal training and ongoing support and drivers to educate administrators across the district in
unique approaches and methods of communicating appreciation that is meaningful to their
teachers, while also teaching concepts that enforce the importance of communicating
appreciation to employees on a consistent basis.
The appreciation program will be a 60-day program, consisting of formal training
delivered to administrators within the first week. The training to be used is The Five Languages
of Appreciation in the Workplace material written by Chapman and White (2019). This training
highlights four ways that individuals communicate appreciation to each other, and that each of
these methods holds different importance and value based on the specific person receiving the
appreciation. These tools help guide the administrator in understanding that not all ways of
communicating appreciation are created equal and that this varies depending on the unique

81
individual. These resources will be made available at the district office or through the district
website throughout the 60-day program.
Assessments will be given to all teachers after the initial training and collected the
following week to capture their unique appreciation language(s). These assessment responses
will be made available to administrators of the teacher to assist them in completing the critical
behavior of providing meaningful communication of appreciation. The administrator will be
expected to use this information to communicate with each of their educators at least once a
week. A plan for uniquely expressing appreciation will be made by the administrator at the
beginning of each week. The administrator will record these interactions throughout the week
and provide a completion report to the district office with at least one detailed experience shared.
In addition to the once-a-week requirement of sharing meaningful appreciation to every
educator, the administrator will be encouraged to demonstrate at least three more spontaneous
acts of appreciation. This may look like simply taking a moment to recognize someone in a
meeting immediately after hearing of an accomplishment.
The district or the superintendent participate in the program by providing research-based
literature during weekly communication, assessment forms to evaluate ongoing progress, and a
bi-weekly appreciation committee headed by the superintendent to encourage continued
participation in the program. The administrators will be instructed to provide formational
assessment through the weekly solicitation from their teachers regarding the teachers feeling
supported by their administrator, that their work as teachers is valued by their administrator, they
feel more a part of their organization’s team that is headed by the administrator, and they feel
less likely to leave the organization. This can be gathered through one-on-one interviews, group
interviews, or a short Likert rating assessment.

82
At the end of the 60-day program, an assessment will be given to the administrators to
evaluate if they feel more confident now than they did at the beginning of the program in
showing meaningful appreciation, in addition to assessing an increase in the frequency of
appreciation given compared to before the training.
Evaluation of Learning Components. The evaluation of the components of learning,
such as declarative knowledge, procedural skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment can be
found in Table X. These evaluations consider various aspects such as whether administrators can
define appreciation and the various appreciation languages from The Five Languages of
Appreciation in the Workplace (Chapman & White, 2019), recognize the importance of showing
appreciation within the workplace, develop familiarity with these concepts to the point of use,
and their personal commitment level of ensuring that these learning elements are transitioned
into critical behaviors. See Table 7.
Table 7
Evaluation of Appreciation Program Learning Components
Method(s) or activity(ies) Timing
Declarative knowledge “I know it.”
The administrator can define appreciation.
Administrators are asked to “teach-back” the
basic concepts of training at the end of the
training.
Time to teach on appreciation can be given to
administrators at the end of the initial firstweek training.
The “teach-back” portion can also be used
when the administrator gives a brief
overview of the appreciation language
questionnaire that teachers will fill out in the
second week of the program.
The administrator can articulate the four
unique methods of communicating
appreciation.
Assessment given to administrators at the end
of initial week of appreciation training

83
Method(s) or activity(ies) Timing
Assessment given at the end of initial week
of appreciation language training.
The administrator can also briefly teach these
concepts to teachers before they fill out the
appreciation language questionnaire.
Procedural skills “I can do it right now.”
The administrator is fully equipped to begin
communicating meaningful and increased
appreciation to educators.
Administrators have the tools and support
available to fully implement the program.
This should be asked by the district at the
conclusion of the first week of training.
The administrator is familiar with the
different ways that each of the four
appreciation languages can be
communicated practically.
Role-playing during the training is a way to
practice this real-world tool.
This can be practiced and assessed during a
role-playing exercise during the initial week
of training.
This can also be practiced at the bi-weekly
meetings with the superintendent and other
administrators.
Attitude “I believe this is worthwhile.”
The administrator understands the impact of
the lack of appreciation on retention levels.
Ongoing literature made available throughout
the program
Brought up as a sharing point at bi-weekly
meetings of all administrators and
superintendents
The administrator recognizes that showing
appreciation is in line with the
organization’s mission to value and retain
high quality teachers.
This can be evaluated during bi-weekly
meetings of all administrators by asking
for testimonials of the impact of the
program.
Bi-weekly meeting with all administrators and
superintendent
Confidence “I think I can do it on the job.”
The administrator believes that they have a
grasp of the concepts at a level that they
can begin to provide methods of uniquely
communicating appreciation that resonates
with their teachers.
Role-playing during the training.
This can be practiced and assessed during a
role-playing exercise during the initial week
of training.
This can also be practiced at the bi-weekly
meetings with the superintendent and other
administrators.
Commitment “I will do it on the job.”
The administrator has invested the training
into the life of the organization and is an
The weekly completion reports sent to the
district will assess this, but a follow-up

84
Method(s) or activity(ies) Timing
active part of participating with required
drivers and developing critical behaviors.
The administrator fully completes weekly
completion reports, which demonstrates a
seriousness to participating in the effort.
assessment after the program may recognize
if there is still commitment and buy-in after
the initial 60-day push is over.
Level 1: Reaction
The elements of engagement, relevance, and customer satisfaction are taken into
consideration to determine how the administrators will react to the learning event. Table X
highlights the components to measure reactions to the program. Specifically, the evaluation is
concerned with whether the administrator found the training material and program to be
interesting, if it kept the administrator engaged, if the information provided was applicable to the
job and context of the administrator, and if the overall program was of high quality or
administered effectively from a customer service perspective. See Table 8.

85
Table 8
Components to Measure Reactions to the Program
Method(s) or tool(s) Timing
Engagement
Did the administrator find the
material interesting?
An informal inquiry can be done after the first two days of the
training to understand how to formulate the material in a
way that increases the engagement and attention of the
participant.
A formal training assessment can be given out at the end of
the training to gauge overall engagement levels.
Did the training material keep
the administrator
engaged?
An informal inquiry can be done after the first two days of the
training to understand how to formulate the material in a
way that increases the engagement and attention of the
participant.
A formal training assessment can be given out at the end of
the training to gauge overall engagement levels.
Relevance
Is the information received
during the program
applicable to the
organization?
In addition to an informal inquiry at the midway point of the
first week of training, interviews can be set up with
administrators at the midway point of the program to assess
the value and relevance of information.
Does the administrator see the
training being worthwhile?
A midway point and end assessment can give time for results
to develop in order for administrators to understand if the
training was applicable or worthwhile.
Customer satisfaction
Did the administrator find the
program to be of high
quality and administered
effectively?
While it is important to ask for feedback during the program
to correct elements such as distractions or frustrations for
implementing, an end of program survey that is given a few
weeks after the program is completed may provide insight
as to the lasting impact of the training program.
Would the administrator
suggest any changes to the
instruction,
implementation, or
curriculum of the program?
While it is important to ask for feedback during the program
to correct elements such as distractions or frustrations for
implementing, an end of program survey that is given a few
weeks after the program is completed may provide insight
as to the lasting impact of the training program.

86
Evaluation Tools
Immediately Following the Program Implementation. The evaluation tools used
immediately following the program implementation is a Likert Scale assessing Levels 2 and 1 of
the program (Appendix C). Specifically, it evaluates both the beginning and the program
completion to determine administrator learning from the beginning to the end of the program.
This approach is done instead of a pre and post survey so as to inundate the participants with too
many surveys. Using the Likert Scale, the administrator is assessed on whether they picked up
important Level 2 learning as well as whether the material was adequate and relevant.
Delayed for a Period After the Program Implementation. Valuable information can be
gathered after some time has passed from completion of the program/training (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). There are times when a charismatic instructor can be so engaging during the
program or training that it is difficult to assess at that moment if the information being delivered
is applicable or is effective. All four levels of the Kirkpatrick model are evaluated in the delayed
assessment found in Appendix D. This Likert Scale survey will be administered 60 days after the
conclusion of the program to assess its value through the lens of results, behavior, learning, and
reaction. Precisely, it attempts to understand the overall value of the program and its
effectiveness in meeting the stakeholder goals and mission success.
Recommendation 3: Create a Local Student Behavioral Support Team to Minimize
Organizational Gaps
Educators state that the most influential reasons why teachers are leaving the profession
during the pandemic is that teachers are experiencing burnout caused by the teacher shortages
already affecting schools and a perceived increase in poor student behavior (Jotkoff, 2022). The
challenge of poor student behavior combined with a lack of resources to manage behavior have

87
been shown to be major contributors of stress experienced by teachers, as well as being a cause
of teacher job dissatisfaction (Kukla-Acevedo, 2009). Providing teachers with a local student
behavioral support team through the means of floating administrators and paras within the
classrooms that have more classroom management issues may provide an organic organizational
resource that alleviates the teacher’s feeling of being alone and helpless to address the problem
(Borman & Dowling, 2008).
Recommendations for Continued Organizational Practice
As mentioned, there were some findings from the data where I did not see the expected
results. Specifically, the data revealed that California Valley Public Schools excel in having
cultures in which teachers feel they belong and are a part of a community. The recommendation
would be to continue to foster this environment of inclusivity within each of the schools, as the
data indicated this was an influential factor to teachers’ decision to stay within their school or
field of education. Multiple teachers within the study mentioned that it was important to them
that the teachers they work with were supportive of each other both professionally and
personally.
The other asset theme indicated by the data gathered within this study was that teachers
felt they had administrative support when interacting with parents/guardians of students and that
this was influential when considering staying within the organization or field of education. The
recommendation would be to encourage administration throughout the district to continue to
provide such support to their teachers. In addition, specific administrators who emulate this asset
can be celebrated throughout the district to encourage other administration to provide the same
support for their teachers when they interact with parents.

88
Future Research
The findings highlighted in this study show several areas that might be considered for
further research in regard to factors that might influence teacher retention. The review of
literature regarding the topic reveals that much more data is needed on how the COVID-19
pandemic has affected teacher retention or factors that influence teacher retention, such as
student behavior. Both the data of this study and the literature on teacher retention indicates that
teachers perceive student behavior has become worse since the beginning of the pandemic
(EdSource, 2021; Jotkoff, 2022). However, more robust scientific research must be conducted
and data must be uncovered before one can say that student behaviors are perceived to be worse
across most of the teachers within the field of public education, and whether that perceived
increase has any impact upon a teacher’s decision to leave the organization or field of education.
Comprehensive studies that evaluate the impact of how the nuances of the pandemic impacted
teacher retention might benefit California Valley Public Schools and the critical stakeholders that
rely upon its services.
Additional future research regarding the topic of teacher retention might be to compare
teacher retention numbers between rural vs. non-rural districts. The comparison between rural
and non-rural districts might also include evaluating the impact of the KMO factors highlighted
within this study for a district that is not within a rural area. There might also be future research
that compares teacher retention numbers between each school site within the district.
Conclusion
The issue of teacher attrition is one that is a growing problem in California and across the
United States. Therefore, it is important to understand the potential factors that might be
influencing teachers to leave their schools or the profession altogether. The perspectives captured

89
within this study allow teachers to have a voice on why they would or would not leave where
they work or the field of education. Specifically, this study captured the voice of the teachers as
they speak to what knowledge, motivation, or organization gaps might be keeping teachers from
wanting to stay.
This study suggests that teachers care about feeling appreciated and valued for what they
do within society in the face of adversity such as poor student behavior and managing pandemic
mandates that were placed upon them. Education is an asset that is important to the health and
future of any society that wishes to succeed, and the educators that make this possible should be
celebrated. The issue of teacher retention within the United States needs to be addressed and
resolved or the future of education in this country will suffer. Results of this study address the
negative patterns that are present within K–12 education today in America and provide evidence
that much can be done to allow U.S. schools to compete for the best and brightest applicants.
Application of the recommendations in the study will aid the school district and its stakeholders
in reaching its teacher retention goals.

90
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Appendix A: Interview Protocol
Thank you for agreeing to participate in this study. The purpose of this study is to
examine the factors associated with teacher retention and attrition within California Valley
Public Schools as part of the requirements for the research component of my dissertation and
problem of practice. The interview should take about 45–60 minutes. This study has been
reviewed and cleared by the IRB at the University of Southern California. All personal
information including your name, other identifying information, and answers will be kept strictly
confidential and will not be shared. As a participant in this study, you will only be identified by a
pseudonym. Your participation is voluntary, and you may refuse to answer any questions you do
not wish to answer. Additionally, you may elect to remove yourself from the study at any point.
If you have any questions about the study, you can reach me at ajxxxx@usc.edu. Do I have your
permission to record this interview? Is it okay to begin with our questions?

96
Appendix B: Interview Questions
1. Can you tell me about your teaching career? (Ice breaker/background demographic
question)
2. Can you tell me why you wanted to enter the teaching profession? (Ice
breaker/background demographic question)
Transition: The literature indicates that organizational culture is related to teacher retention.
Teacher retention refers to the ability of the organization to keep the teacher within the school in
which they are currently employed. I would like to ask you a few questions on the culture within
the district and at your current teaching location.
3. What three words would you use to describe the culture of the school you currently
work for? Could you please explain why you selected those words? (Organizational
question/sensory question)
4. In your opinion, what are the biggest influences on the culture of the school in which
you currently teach? (Organizational/opinion question)
• In what ways specifically would you say this influences the school culture, if
at all?
• How do you think this might influence a teacher’s desire to stay within the
organization or field of education, if at all?
Transition: Now I would like to move into talking about your interactions with leadership
within your organization.
5. How, if in any ways, does leadership provide you with resources that you may need
to be successful as a teacher? How do you think this might influence a teacher’s
desire to stay within the organization or field of education, if at all?

97
6. How, if at all, does your organization assist in providing practical teaching knowledge
to teachers early in their carriers? How do you think this might influence a teacher’s
desire to stay within the organization or field of education, if at all?
7. In your opinion, what are some of the motivational challenges, if any, a new teacher
(with less than 5 years of experience in teaching) might face at your current school
site? How do you think this might influence a teacher’s desire to stay within the
organization or field of education, if at all?
8. In your opinion, what are some of the motivational challenges, if any, a senior teacher
(with more than 15 years of experience in teaching) might face at your current school
site? How do you think this might influence a teacher’s desire to stay within the
organization or field of education, if at all?
9. What, if anything, does your organization or leadership do that motivates you the
most as a teacher? How do you think this might influence a teacher’s desire to stay
within the organization or field of education, if at all?
10. What makes you feel confident about your own teaching if anything at all?
11. How do professional development/resources provided by the school help you feel
more confident about your teaching, if at all? How do you think this might influence a
teacher’s desire to stay within the organization or field of education, if at all?
12. What aspects about being a teacher do you think are most important for teachers to
know within the first 5 years of teaching? How do you think this might influence a
teacher’s desire to stay within the organization or field of education, if at all?

98
13. Would you please explain how professional development and ongoing training help
you excel in teaching, if at all? How do you think this might influence a teacher’s
desire to stay within the organization or field of education, if at all?
14. In what ways do you think these resources help with your understanding of what
quality teaching practices look like? How do you think these might influence a
teacher’s desire to stay within the organization or field of education, if at all?
Closing: Those are all the questions that I have for you. Is there anything you would like to
ask me? Is there anything that I should have asked you concerning teacher retention that I did not
ask you? Again, thank you for agreeing to participate in this study. The information you shared is
valuable to understanding teacher retention and attrition.

99
Appendix C: Immediate Evaluation Instrument Levels 2 and 1
Level 2 Survey questions—Likert Scale
Declarative knowledge: “I know it.”
The administrator can define appreciation and
the four unique methods of communicating
appreciation
I understand more about appreciation now
than I did at the beginning of the program.
I understand the four appreciation languages.
Procedural skills: “I can do it right now.”
The administrator is familiar with the
different ways each of the four appreciation
languages can be communicated practically
I perform the different appreciation languages
with my educators.
I practice the methods for each one of the
appreciation languages with my educators.
Attitude: “I believe this is worthwhile.”
The administrator understands the impact of
the lack of appreciation on retention levels.
I believe that showing appreciation is
important for my organization’s ability to
meet its mission.
I believe that showing appreciation is
necessary for retention.
Confidence: “I think I can do it on the job.”
The administrator believes that they have a
grasp of the concepts at a level that they can
begin to provide methods of uniquely
communicating appreciation that resonates
with their educators.
I am confident that I can perform this
appreciation training on the job.
Commitment: “I will do it on the job.”
The administrator has invested training into
the life of the organization and is an active
part of participating with required drivers
and developing critical behaviors.
I am committed to using this training while on
the job.
Level 1 Survey questions
Engagement
Did the administrator find the material
interesting?
I found the material and program information
engaging.
Relevance
Is the information received during the
program applicable to the organization?
I believe the information provided during the
program was relevant to my organization.
I believe the information provided during the
program was applicable to my role.

100
Appendix D: Delayed Evaluation Instrument Levels 4, 3, 2, 1
Level Survey questions—Likert Scale
Level 4: results
Increased appreciation levels for educators from
administration
I practice the skill of appreciation with my
teachers more now than before my
training.
Level 3: behavior
Administrators increase in frequency of showing
appreciation.
Administrators increase in meaningful
appreciation communicated.
I notice I am more aware to show
appreciation to my educators now than
before the training.
I have made meaningful appreciation a
daily part of my management style.
Level 2: learning
Administrators understand the importance of
communicating meaningful appreciation and
the various forms.
I feel confident in the material delivered
throughout this program.
I feel I can reteach these appreciation
concepts to my team.
Level 1: reaction
What elements can be altered within the training
to make it more meaningful and engaging?
I believe the training was relevant to my
job.
I believe the program was beneficial to
my organization overall.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Silva, Adam Joseph (author)

Core Title An evaluation of teacher retention in K-12 public schools

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Degree Conferral Date 2023-12

Publication Date 01/16/2024

Defense Date 08/28/2023

Publisher Los Angeles, California (original), University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag appreciation,education,OAI-PMH Harvest,self-efficacy,teacher retention

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Moore, Ekaterina (committee chair), Canny, Eric (committee member), Ott, Maria (committee member)

Creator Email ajsilva@usc.edu,silvafam2007@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC113804854

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