Close
About
FAQ
Home
Collections
Login
USC Login
Register
0
Selected
Invert selection
Deselect all
Deselect all
Click here to refresh results
Click here to refresh results
USC
/
Digital Library
/
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
/
Urban teacher persistence: self-efficacy, affect, and values
(USC Thesis Other)
Urban teacher persistence: self-efficacy, affect, and values
PDF
Download
Share
Open document
Flip pages
Contact Us
Contact Us
Copy asset link
Request this asset
Transcript (if available)
Content
URBAN TEACHER PERSISTENCE: SELF-EFFICACY, AFFECT, AND VALUES
by
Elaine Anita Ige
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2012
Copyright 2012 Elaine Anita Ige
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES iv
ABSTRACT v
CHAPTER 1 1
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 6
Use of Terms 7
Review of Attrition Literature on Teacher and School Characteristics 9
Teacher Characteristics 9
School Characteristics 17
Motivational Constructs in Attrition Literature 18
Teacher Self-Efficacy 19
Affect, Mood, and Emotions 22
Expectancy-Value Theory 24
Mixed-Methods Studies and Teacher Motivational Characteristics 25
Quantitative Studies and Teacher Motivational Characteristics 27
Qualitative Studies and Teacher Motivational Characteristics 34
Summary 41
Research Question 42
CHAPTER 3: METHOD 43
Participants and Setting 44
Measures 45
Teacher Characteristics 45
School Characteristics 45
Teacher’s Sense of Efficacy Scale 46
Importance and Interest Questions 47
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Expanded Version 47
Structured Interview Guiding Questions 51
Procedure 52
Phase One-Quantitative Data Collection 52
Phase Two-Qualitative Data Collection 52
Data Analysis 53
Teacher Characteristics 53
School Characteristics 53
Motivation Variables 53
Structured Interview Responses 54
Limitations and Delimitations 56
iii
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS 57
Description of Participants and Schools 58
Quantitative Results 61
Correlations 61
Factor Analysis 63
Reliability of Scales 64
Multiple Regression 65
Analysis of Variance 67
Summary of Quantitative Results 69
Qualitative Results 69
Description of Interviewed Teachers 71
Teacher Self-Efficacy Findings 73
Efficacy for Classroom Management 73
Efficacy for Student Engagement 74
Efficacy for Instructional Strategies 75
Teacher Affect Findings 76
Findings for Importance and Interest 79
Importance 79
Interest 79
Qualitative Findings-Emerging Themes 81
Career Changers 81
Persist for a Variety of Reasons, with Challenges 82
Influence of Mentors or Role Models 88
Self-reflection 88
Summary of Results 89
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION 91
Findings from Quantitative Data 91
Self-Efficacy 93
Affect 94
Interest and Importance Values 97
Interview Themes 97
Implications for Practice 98
Implications for Research 100
Conclusion 101
REFERENCES 102
APPENDICES:
APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE PACKET 109
APPENDIX B: PANAS-X SCALES 115
APPENDIX C: STRUCTURED INTERVIEW PROTOCOL 116
iv
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Theory, Questions, and Instrumentation 43
Table 2: School Characteristics 59
Table 3: Teacher Characteristics 60
Table 4: Teaching Experience, in Years 61
Table 5: Intercorrelations for Self-Efficacy, Positive Affect, Negative Affect, 62
Importance, and Interest
Table 6: Factor Loadings for Interest-Principal Component Analysis with 63
Varimax Rotation
Table 7: Reliability of Scales 65
Table 8: Summary of Multiple Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting 66
Years of Teaching Experience (N=86)
Table 9: Means, Standard Deviations, and One-Way Analyses of Variance for 67
Years of Teaching Groups and Five Independent Variables
Table 10: Positive Affect Between Teachers of Grade Levels Second, Third, and 68
Fourth (N=80)
Table 11: Qualitative results, frequency of factors among six interviewed teachers 70
Table 12: Qualitative results, frequency and content of affect terms 70
v
ABSTRACT
The problem of teacher attrition was reviewed and a mixed-method study of
motivational characteristics for years of persistence in a teaching career was conducted.
Ninety-two second, third, or fourth grade urban public school teachers who taught for
five years or more were surveyed in order to gather quantitative data on the five
motivational characteristics of self-efficacy, positive and negative affect, and importance
and interest values for teaching as a career. Significant and positive correlations were
found between positive affect and each of the factors of self-efficacy, importance, and
interest. Importance and interest for teaching as a career were highly correlated. No
statistical significance was found for a multiple regression analysis for variance in
teaching years for the five motivational characteristics. No statistical significance was
found for ANOVAs for teachers who taught from 5-15 years compared to 16-41 years.
There was a significant difference for positive affect between 2
nd
and 4
th
grade teachers.
Six teachers from the sample were interviewed in the qualitative portion of the study and
four themes emerged from the interview data: 1) the persistence of second career
teachers, 2) persistence despite challenges, 3) the influence of mentors, and 4) the use of
self-reflection. This study has implications for administrators at the district and school
level, and for teacher training programs, which would potentially reduce teacher
recruitment costs and maintain continuity of educational programs for students, in an
effort to contribute to the retention of teachers in the profession.
1
CHAPTER 1
Teacher turnover is a major concern in education today (Boe, Cook, &
Sunderland, 2008). There is a need for teachers to continue to teach in order to provide
continuity in student learning and maintain school district hiring expenditures at a
minimum. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2003), a projected
student population increase of 5% between 2001 and 2013 will increase the elementary
and secondary student enrollment in the U.S. to 56,700,000. This increase reflects a
projected decrease of 2% in the Northeast region, to an increase of 13% in the West, with
the largest increases in Alaska (17%), Hawaii (16%), and California (16%). The increase
in student enrollment is followed by a need to increase the number of teachers by 5%
more nationwide. The impact of this need is heightened by the attrition rate of U.S.
teachers. Although one-third of teacher attrition is due to retirement (National
Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF, 2003), Ingersoll (2001)
identifies the hiring need as not primarily due to retirement or teacher shortages, but due
to large teacher turnover. Sufficient numbers of teachers graduate from certification
programs each year, but do they persist as career teachers, especially in urban school
settings that challenge their effort? According to the NCTAF report on teacher attrition
and retention (1997), there are enough teachers trained to initially fill the positions,
although the average U.S. attrition rate for teachers from the beginning of an
undergraduate teacher training program to the third year of teaching is 75%. In 2000, this
trend revealed that teacher leavers exceeded entrants by 23% (NCTAF, 2003). One in 5
new teachers leave the profession within 3 years of entry (Johnson & Birkeland, 2003), or
2
as cited by Zeichner (2003), at 30% for U.S. general education teachers and 50% for
teachers in urban schools. In fact, turnover rates are highest in urban schools, almost a
third higher than for teachers in all schools (Ingersoll, 2001). Large urban schools with
the highest percentages of poor and ethnic minority students have the highest teacher
turnover rates, the highest percentage of first-year teachers, teachers with less than 5
years of teaching experience, and the lowest percentage of veteran teachers (NCTAF,
2003). Regardless of school urbanicity, Shen (1997) identifies the negative results of
teacher attrition: causing concerns about the quality of the teaching force, disrupting
program continuity and planning, hindering of student learning, and increasing district
expeditures on recruiting and hiring. Despite the high teacher turnover, there remain
teachers who persist and continue as career teachers, and in challenging urban settings
which are characterized by high poverty, dilapidated physical environments, growing
bureaucracy, lack of funding support, and marginalization of racial minority groups
(Blanchett, Mumford, & Beachum, 2005).
The problem of teacher attrition had been examined through research by
analyzing data on teacher characteristics, school characteristics, certification programs,
induction programs, and teacher perception of issues surrounding school or district
characteristics. For example, Ingersoll (2001), in a summary of research on teacher
characteristics found that teacher turnover is related to teaching field. Special education,
science, and math teachers have the highest turnover rates. For teacher age, turnover
follows a u-shaped curve (Boe, Bobbitt, Cook, Whitener, & Weber, 1997; Grissmer &
3
Kirby, 1997), where younger teachers and teachers nearing retirement age have the
highest turnover rates.
School characteristics researched include geographic factors, student enrollment
totals, and the existence of challenging student behaviors. Student behavior is found to
be a significant variable for teachers who transfer to other schools or leave teaching
(Harrell, Leavell, vanTassell, & McKee, 2004).
Much of the literature on teacher attrition has focused on the variables of teacher
demographic characteristics and school characteristics. Teacher perceptions of why they
chose to leave the teaching profession were not elicited as frequently as demographic
information about teachers, or the characteristics of the schools where the teachers taught.
The research studies about teacher perceptions of why they chose to leave teaching
typically contained survey results of teachers who completed questionnaires about the
perceived level of the existence of a variable, such as teacher autonomy (i.e., Brunetti,
2001) or administrative support (i.e., Harrell, Leavell, vanTassell, & McKee, 2004). Few
questionnaire items asked for beliefs such as the importance value of being a teacher.
Some qualitative studies such as those of Stanford (2001) and Milner (2002) did uncover
teacher values, however the small sample sizes of these studies, ten and one respectively,
limit generalization to the teacher population. The lack of focus on teacher beliefs has
limited the research on teacher attrition to primarily teacher demographic characteristics
and school characteristics. Pajares (1992) lists fundamental assumptions that can be
made when examining teachers’ educational beliefs, including that individuals’ beliefs
strongly affect behavior, strongly influence perception, are instrumental in defining tasks
4
and organizing knowledge, and beliefs, especially when established early are difficult to
alter, in fact beliefs about teaching are well established for individuals prior to entering
college. If school districts desire to reduce teacher attrition, the knowledge of persistent
teachers’ beliefs and values can present an alternative focus for teacher recruitment and
retention. It is thought that the study of teacher beliefs and values can identify those
processes that form the core of what influences teachers to stay in the profession. These
values, along with the constructs of teacher self-efficacy, and teacher affect, could
provide a deeper understanding of teacher perceptions and attrition.
Selection and maintenance of goals has been examined through the process of
motivation. Although there are many varied terms and definitions regarding motivation
in the literature (Murphy & Alexander, 2000), motivation can be defined as one’s internal
state which arouses, directs, and maintains behavior (Woolfolk, 2004). Motivation is
inferred through behaviors such as choice of goals, effort, or persistence (Pintrich &
Schunk, 2002). Much of the literature on teacher turnover has focused on teacher
demographics and school characteristics, so the need for a study exists that examines
teacher motivational characteristics. This study, therefore, observed the motivational
variables of teacher self-efficacy, positive and negative affect for teaching as a career,
and importance and interest values for teaching, and their relationship to persistence in
the form of number of years a teacher has stayed in the profession.
The purpose of this study was to identify motivational variables of persistence for
public school teachers at high-poverty urban schools through a mixed-methods analysis
of the motivational variables of teacher self-efficacy, teacher affect, and importance and
5
interest values of teaching as a career. Self-efficacy is related to persistence in teaching
(Milner & Woolfolk Hoy, 2003), so measurements were selected to answer questions in
the area of self-efficacy. What are the teacher self-efficacy levels for sample groups
when compared by years of persistence? How does teacher self-efficacy compare with
positive affect, negative affect, importance and interest for teaching as a career? When
teachers are interviewed, do they relate their self-efficacy to their persistence in teaching?
In addition, as Sutton and Wheatley (2003) recommend the study of emotions in relation
to teacher persistence, questions were developed to measure the area of teacher affect for
teaching as a career. To what degree do teachers rate affect terms regarding teaching as a
career? Do teachers initiate affect terms when speaking about persistence in teaching as a
career? Lastly, the expectation of success and the degree of value for a task determines
the effort put forth on the task (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000), so questions were established
that examined the values of importance and interest. What levels do teachers assess for
the values of importance and interest for teaching as a career? Do teachers relate the
importance of teaching or interest in teaching as a career to their persistence? These
questions can be best answered both through quantitative and qualitative study, so
teachers were surveyed through questionnaires and interviews, in order to uncover the
relationship of the five motivational factors and teacher persistence.
6
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A review of literature on teacher demographic characteristics, certification and
induction programs, and school characteristics is first presented, then a focus on the
literature related to identifying motivational characteristics of persistent teachers is given
and organized into mixed-methods studies, quantitative, and qualitative studies. The
purpose of this literature review was to examine literature that identifies teacher and
school factors related to teacher persistence and attrition, as well as persistent teacher
motivational characteristics.
The research on teacher persistence was initially selected from peer-reviewed
journals from PsycInfo, ERIC, and USC Portal searches. The USC Portal selected from
Expanded Academic ASAP, Wilson Select Plus, Proquest, and Business Periodicals.
Search terms used were combinations and variations of the words teacher, persistence,
motivation, characteristics, attrition, retention, perseverance, commitment, emotion,
turnover, certification, and mentoring. In addition, searches were conducted using
researcher names, and of articles referenced from previously obtained articles. The
applicable articles fell into the years 1992-2010, and 61 articles were selected.
Applicability was determined by selecting frequently-cited articles on teacher retention
and attrition, U.S. Department of Education reports, and articles that contained related
terms to educational psychology concepts in the field of motivation. These concepts are
self-efficacy, social and monetary incentives, affect, emotion, mood, interest or intrinsic
value, importance value, utility value, consequences, and costs.
7
Use of Terms
The literature does not consistently use the term “persistent” to refer to a specific
amount of years that a teacher stays at one teaching position or in the field. Reference is
made to the specific amount of years a teacher has been teaching, with attrition rates. The
studies define teacher persistence in the field through the number of years in the field, for
example, Ghaith and Shaaban (1999) define beginning teachers as teaching less than 5
years, experienced teachers as teaching from 5 to 15 years, and highly experienced
teachers as teaching for more than 15 years. Attrition research was examined because it
focuses on why and which teachers stay in or leave the profession and in what amounts
and patterns. In a review of literature on teacher attrition in the U.S. and other countries,
Macdonald (1999) describes definitional and methodological problems in understanding
teacher attrition. First, a consideration of teachers who leave teaching voluntarily or not
should be made. Teachers leave, then return to the profession, or leave to teach in other
school settings such as in other school districts or states. Should they be considered in
the attrition rate? Should an uncredentialed teacher be counted? Attrition should also be
specified as to the subject areas and with the level of economic prosperity, as attrition is
context specific. Indeed, the data on special education teachers and U.S. regional student
enrollment differences reflect this concern. The attrition research methodology has
emphasized the collection of data at pre-specified points in time and many do not account
for movement within the profession. Some exceptions are in Hanushek, Kain, and Rivkin
(2004) and in Imazeki (2005). Hanushek, Kain, and Rivkin examined a state database of
Texas teachers and were able to analyze characteristics of teachers who transferred to
8
other districts compared to teachers who exited the teaching profession. Imazeki
proposed that many empirical studies of teacher attrition use a binary model where the
probability of a teacher leaving a district is estimated independently of a teacher’s
decision to transfer or exit the profession. Imazeki used a competing risks duration
model to uncover the separate probabilities of exiting out of teaching versus transfers
between districts. This approach found, for example, that if salaries are increased, exits
are reduced, but transfers are not reduced as the salary level of surrounding districts has
an effect on female transfers. This distinction is useful as a district may consider raising
salaries to keep beginning teachers from exiting the profession, but the district needs to
be competitive with surrounding school districts in order to keep females from
transferring to those districts.
Ingersoll (2001) additionally cautions the use of attrition statistics, stating that
much of the empirical research on attrition has emphasized those leaving the field, but a
large amount of teacher migration occurs, identifying those who transfer to different
schools. Ingersoll, using terms introduced in Bobbitt, Leich, Whitener, and Lynch (1994)
identified stayers, movers, and leavers to account for teachers who stayed in their school,
transferred to another school, or left the teaching profession, respectively. On a national
teacher attrition survey, the movers accounted for half the attrition rate. The impact of
the movers as well as the leavers is a concern for educators who desire to maintain a
stable, consistent, and effective teaching environment for students.
9
Review of Attrition Literature on Teacher and School Characteristics
Teacher Characteristics
The examination of teacher characteristics has focused primarily on demographic-
type variables. Studies including age and gender show more attrition in younger (less
than 30 years old) and older (more than 50 years old) teachers (Ingersoll, 2001).
Turnover follows a u-shaped curve where younger teachers and teachers nearing
retirement leave teaching or move to other teaching assignments (Boe, Bobbitt, Cook, &
Whitener, 1997; Grissmer & Kirby, 1997). Males who start teaching when they are older
are more likely to leave compared to females who start teaching when they are older.
Imazeki (2005), in a dataset collected annually of all teachers in Wisconsin, found female
teachers to be less likely to leave the field of teaching if they teach at the elementary
level, or begin teaching at an older age, in fact, Marso and Pigge (1997) found female
teachers of a longitudinal study in Ohio to be more persistent than males. In addition,
Imazeki (2005) found female teachers more likely to leave if they had advanced degrees,
taught in larger districts, or were special education teachers. Kelly (2004) reported lower
attrition rates for males in the U.S. national data of the 1992 Teacher Follow-up Survey,
yet Shen (1997) found no gender differences in the same data. The difference in the
samples is that Shen did not include involuntary movers such as those who transferred
from their school due to school staffing actions, or those who left for health reasons,
caring for family members, or retirement, but no direct explanation is apparent from the
data.
10
For national attrition data, race was a significant factor in data showing that White
teachers leave from schools that have more racial minorities and Black and Hispanic
teachers have lower attrition rates in schools with greater Black and Hispanic student
populations (Hanushek, Kain, & Rivkin, 2004). Similarily, Imazeki (2005) reported the
subsample of male White teachers to be more likely to leave when the non-White student
school enrollment increased. Female non-White teachers were more likely to leave
unless they taught larger proportions of non-White students.
Variables related to teacher education level have been researched. A higher
attrition rate was found for teachers lacking certification (Kelly, 2004), yet when teachers
have advanced degrees they are more likely to leave, a finding found in a large dataset in
Texas (Harrell, Leavell, vanTassell, & McKee, 2004) and also for females with advanced
degrees in the study by Imazeki (2005). Marso and Pigge (1997) found teacher American
College Test (ACT) scores to not be related to teacher persistence, however, a
longitudinal study using state college entrance data ACT scores of Wisconsin teachers
found that teachers with higher ACT scores were more likely to leave within a few years
(Podgursky, Monroe, & Watson, 2004). There is strong research to support the high
attrition and transfer rates assigned to teachers in the fields of special education (Imazeki,
2005; Kelly, 2004; Stempien & Loeb, 2002; Ingersoll, 2001; Boe, Bobbitt, Cook,
Whitener, & Weber, 1997) and math or science (Imazeki, 2005; Podgursky, Monroe, &
Watson, 2004; Ingersoll, 2001), for both within state and national teacher samples.
Several studies have supported the effect of teacher salary on movers and leavers.
Macdonald (1999) reported that salary is cited as an influential factor, internationally. At
11
a national level, those with higher salaries were less likely to leave (Ingersoll, 2001;
Shen, 1997) and with a stronger effect for those new to teaching (Kelly, 2004). Within
different states, higher salaries were associated with lower attrition (Harrell, Leavell,
vanTassell, & McKee, 2004; Kelly, 2004) and teacher salaries in geographically adjacent
or nearby school districts is a factor for teachers leaving the lower salary school districts
(Imazeki, 2005; Hanushek, Kain, & Rivkin, 2004).
Wineberg (2006) focused on issues of measurement through examining how data
is collected from teacher preparation programs. It was found that from the 240
educational institutions that responded to their survey, there existed a wide variety of
procedures and definition of data that was collected. Some institutions counted teachers
who were part time substitute teachers and others did not include these graduates. Only
half the institutions tracked their graduates, ranging from follow-up after only 1 year up
to 20 years later. The assertion made by the author is that nationwide comparisons about
teacher retention are ineffective unless the data is sufficiently collected.
There have been some conflicting results for teacher attrition and retention rates
for alternative teacher certification programs versus traditional teacher certification
programs (Suell & Piotrowski, 2007). Feistritzer (2010) provides a definition of
alternative teacher certification programs as state-defined teaching certification for
individuals with at least bachelor’s degrees who do not necessarily have to complete a
college, campus-based teacher education program. The lowering of entry barriers and
recruitment of “untapped pools” of potential teachers, especially for teaching positions
that are difficult to fill is also a goal of alternative certification (Decker, Mayer, &
12
Glazerman, 2006). Zeichner and Schulte (2001) assert that the term alternative
certification has been used for programs that are indistinguishable from traditional
college or university programs, and Ng (2003), in a concern similar to Wineberg (2006)
confirms that there is little consistency in what is an alternative certification program, as
some are like “emergency certification options” and others are similar to 1 or 2-year
Master’s degree programs, yet typically may offer weekend and evening courses,
accelerated programs, on-the-job training, reduced financial costs, academic and social
support services, and assistance with, or minimizing certification standards. Swell and
Piotrowski (2007) further describe the programs to range from only 2 weeks of training
prior to being in a classroom to up to 2 years of classes, with three years of mentoring.
Agencies providing alternative certification programs may be school districts,
universities, teacher unions, or a business community. The National Center for
Education Information, a clearinghouse for information about alternative certification in
the U. S., has established 11 categories for alternative certification programs (Feistritzer,
1993). Despite concerns in defining what is an alternative certification program,
researchers have attempted to study attrition rates of participating teachers. Zeichner and
Schulte (2001) reviewed 21 different peer-reviewed studies on 13 different alternative
certification programs and found some programs cited retention rates of 73% to 82% of
their interns continuing after the program ended, however, their critique of this reporting
of data is that the 3 to 5 year time frame is the critical period for teachers leaving the
profession and data was reported before this period, so longitudinal studies should be
conducted before making conclusions. Nevertheless, the authors presented a summary of
13
their review and concluded that traditionally certified and alternative certification
elementary school teachers were more likely to remain in teaching when compared to
teachers that taught at higher grade levels, and, traditionally-certified math teachers were
more likely to remain as compared to math teachers with alternate certification.
Although alternative certification math teachers were more likely to leave, there was no
difference between types of certification for English teachers. Suell and Piotrowski
(2007) found studies that had conflicting results, and mention that mentors are an
important and essential part of most alternative certification programs. Rosenberg,
Boyer, Sindelar, and Misra (2007) found that 46% of their alternative certification
participants were midcareer changers to teaching, in fact approximately 27% of the 101
alternative certification programs they surveyed had between 71% to 100% of their
participants as midcareer changers.
Teach for America is a private organization that recruits recent college graduates
to teach in public low-income schools for a two-year commitment. Information is
provided on the organization’s website, www.teachforamerica.org. A five-week summer
training is conducted prior to the teaching assignment. The training consists of daily
teaching experience (one hour of instructing a small group, one hour of full class
instruction) and afternoon and evening classes. Any requirements for teaching in a
school district need to be met, such in the Los Angeles region, teachers need to be
enrolled in a credential program at a local university, which may have costs from $3,000
to $8,000 per year, which can be offset by Americorps grants of $4,725. According to
the information on the Teach for America website, many receive credentials after 2 years.
14
For math and science placements, a $2,000 Amgen Fellowship is presented after the
completion of the two years. Delay of payback of federal students loans is also provided,
and interest accrued on the loans for the two years of Teach for America service is also
100% paid by Americorps. Teach for America now invests approximately $20,000 per
year per corp member for development such as for the teacher support website (Sawchuk,
2009). Darling-Hammond, Holtzman, Gatlin, and Heilig (2005) examined Teach For
America participants in the Houston Independent School District and found high attrition
rates for Teach for America teachers for each of the recruitment years from 1996 through
1999, stating that after the second year of teaching, 57-90% of recruits left the school
district, and after three years, 72-100% left. The general finding was that the attrition rate
for Teach for America teachers was about twice that of non-Teach for America teachers.
Teachers have also received support through induction programs. Induction
programs show promise in retaining teachers. Smith (2007) describes induction
programs as those to help beginning teachers by assigning the teachers to master or
mentor teachers and states that there is a wide variety of requirements by state for
participation and funding of these programs. He reports that the dominant types of
induction programs are teacher mentoring programs. The programs vary from just one
initial meeting to a structured program with several meetings, from one year through a
couple of years. The data from the U. S. National Center for Education Statistics Schools
and Staffing Survey (SASS) and Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) from 2004, as well as
data from the Quality Counts report from Education Week were used to examine teacher
turnover from an organizational context. Eighty percent of beginning teachers in the U.S.
15
for 1999-2000 participated in formal teacher induction programs. It was found that
reduced turnover for beginning teachers was significantly associated with the strength of
a state’s standards, assessments, and accountability systems, as well as the requirement
for a state to have a mentoring program. Some states mandated matching beginning
teachers by grade, subject, or school, but this did not occur for all, in fact state mandated
funding for induction programs resulted in beginning teachers being matched with
mentors outside of their subject or grade level, for the middle-school level. It was found
that as beginning teachers had more preservice teaching experience, they were more
likely to be matched to a same field mentor. Smith’s conclusion is that there should be
monitoring of how the funds are allocated within the schools.
Ingersoll and Kralik (2004) conducted a review of research on the effectiveness of
induction programs on teacher retention and found general support for a positive impact
of mentoring programs on retention. They note that after review of 150 empirical studies,
only 10 studies met their criteria of adequate quantitative data, well-defined outcomes,
and comparison groups. They also noted that the mentoring programs differed in content,
duration, and delivery, so caution should be used in developing conclusions. Smith and
Ingersoll (2004) uncovered the additive effect of practices within teacher induction
programs for the positive effect on teacher retention through use of the SASS and TFS
data. They found four factors combined that had a statistically significant impact on
retention. These factors were having mentors in the mentees’ field, regular or supportive
communication from administrators, collaboration or regular planning time with teachers
teaching the same subject area, and participation in a seminar for beginning teachers.
16
Significance was also found if one of the following factors were added to the four factors:
participating in an external teacher network, a reduced number of preparations, and being
assigned a teacher’s aide.
Hobson, Ashby, Malderez, and Tomlinson (2009) define mentoring in their
review of empirical research as one-to-one support for newly qualified teachers (mentees)
by more experienced teachers (mentors), to assist the development of the mentee’s
expertise and induction into the context and culture of a school. They state that policy-
makers have required mentoring as a reason to encourage new teacher retention.
Mentoring has been shown to have both positive and negative implications on teacher
retention. The authors examined literature on mentoring of teachers in their first, second,
or third year of teaching and found the most common findings were related to emotional
and psychological support, which have implications for retention. Mentees have
benefited through improved self-reflection, increased confidence and self-esteem,
professional growth, reduced feelings of isolation, heightened morale, job satisfaction,
time management, and behavior management skills. Teachers have also derived benefits
from being mentors. The greatest amount of research on benefits has been on self-
reflection or critical reflection by mentors. Other areas in which mentors benefited were
in feeling less isolation, increased confidence, being more collegial, increasing
satisfaction and pride, being energized, and having more enthusiasm and commitment to
teaching. These benefits could have potential relationships to teacher retention. Factors
that had a negative contribution were that the mentees did not have sufficient trial-and-
error practice or did not develop theory while attending to issues such as classroom
17
management. There has been some evidence of lack of mentor social and psychological
support contributing to teachers leaving the profession. The authors conclude that more
attention should be given to the training and mentoring of tutors, and that experimental,
or quasi-experimental studies should be developed. Ehrich, Hansford, and Tennent
(2004) undertook a structured analysis of mentoring in their review of 159 mentoring
studies and summarized that the two most commonly cited positive outcomes for mentors
were in collegiality as in networking, or sharing ideas with colleagues, and reflection of
their own beliefs, practices, ideas, and values. The mentees’ most cited positive
outcomes were in the areas of support, empathy, encouragement, counseling, and
friendship. Assistance with teaching strategies, subject knowledge, and resources was
secondary. The primary negative outcomes for both mentors and mentees were a
frustration of lack of time to meet and a mismatch of mentor-mentee personality,
ideological beliefs, or expertise differences. Although the data on reflection was not
reported, some of these areas of interest have been shown to be linked to teacher
retention, as in planning time for mentors and mentees (Smith & Ingersoll, 2004).
School Characteristics
School characteristics have been studied in association to teacher attrition. Kelly
(2004) identified schools in the Southern and Western regions of the U.S. to have more
teacher attrition for public schools and, that rural schools have more attrition than urban
or suburban schools, but mainly due to school enrollment size. This is in line with the
identification of small private schools to have more attrition by Ingersoll (2001). It can
be argued that his information may be useful for planning at a national level, but it does
18
not negate the importance of urban and suburban schools and their hiring needs. There is
higher attrition in schools with poor building facilities (Buckley, Schneider, & Shang,
2005; Macdonald, 1999). Kelly (2004) reported that for public schools, larger enrollment
schools have lower attrition, and that the number of students assigned to a class has no
effect. Schools with low-academic achievement were found to have higher attrition rates
in Texas (Hanushek, Kain, & Rivkin, 2004) and challenging student behavior was a
factor for movers and leavers (Harrell, Leavell, vanTassell, & McKee, 2004; Kelly, 2004;
Ingersoll, 2001; Macdonald, 1999). Shen (1997) found that leavers were from schools
with more racial minority students, but when Kelly (2004) compared the attrition rates for
schools with predominately White students to schools in similar areas, schools with
higher minority enrollment had lower attrition rates. High-poverty schools have more
movers and leavers according to Johnson and Birkeland (2003), Darling-Hammond &
Berry (1999), and Shen (1997), however, Imazeki (2005) found that if an entire district
had a large high-poverty student enrollment, high-poverty was not a significant factor for
attrition from individual schools.
In summary, several teacher and school characteristics were found to be
associated to teacher turnover. Further inquiry into why or what influences these teacher
decisions to leave, move, or stay would enhance these findings.
Motivational Constructs in Attrition Literature
This review of teacher persistence literature seeks to examine the attrition data,
but in the manner of identifying the characteristics of those teachers who persist, through
identifying the internal, mediating psychological processes that interface with the social
19
and situational context of schools. Brunetti (2001) cites considerable research on the
high beginning teacher attrition rate and research on teacher burnout, and how the
research has neglected to identify the situation of large numbers of public school teachers
who are satisfied with their jobs and continue their commitment to students, with
enthusiasm for their work. It is the characteristics of these teachers that are sought,
specifically through motivational characteristics. Ingersoll (2001) discusses two decades
of research that support a strong correlation between teacher turnover and the individual
characteristics of teachers, but it is the perception of the teacher that is the context that is
considered in this study, as an insight into the values of a teacher that underlie and
influence teacher behaviors and decisions to persist as a teacher.
Teacher Self-Efficacy
One area of motivation is self-efficacy, which is one’s judgment of his or her
capabilities to organize and perform actions required to produce attainments (Bandura,
1997). A person’s beliefs in their efficacy influence their effort and perseverance
towards goals. Teacher self-efficacy is a teacher’s belief about their ability to affect
students, and teacher self-efficacy research reveals that teachers with high self-efficacy
work harder, persist longer at teaching challenges, have more enthusiasm, more
commitment to teaching, are open to new ideas, have greater levels of planning and
organization, have more resilience in the face of setbacks, are less critical of student
errors, work longer with struggling students, refer less for special education services, and
are more likely to stay in teaching (Milner & Woolfolk Hoy, 2003). Bandura (1997)
organizes self-efficacy into four sources that individuals use to obtain knowledge in order
20
to appraise their self-efficacy: mastery experiences, physiological and emotional states,
vicarious experiences, and social persuasion. A mastery experience is a perception of
success by an individual, and can raise self-efficacy levels. Perceived failure can lower
self-efficacy. For example, primary grade teachers were trained and coached on the
components of a classroom discipline approach called the Responsive Classroom (Rimm-
Kaufman & Sawyer, 2004). Results on measures of self-efficacy and skills mastered
indicated significant growth. Elating or anxiety-provoking physiological and emotional
states influence the sense of efficacy. According to Bandura, physiological states affect
self-efficacy through cognitive processing, which is affected by different situations.
Different individuals attend to their physiological states at varying levels and there is
variation in interpretation of the physiological states in self-efficacy judgments.
Vicarious experiences, which occur with models that an individual identifies with and
holds in high esteem can enhance self-efficacy, for example, Huebner and Meltzoff
(2005) studied the use of instructional videos of teachers for parents to use in order to
develop the quality of reading to preschoolers at home. The parents significantly
increased their skills in dialogic reading. Social persuasion, for example could involve
teacher interactions with students, colleagues, parents, and administrators. With social
persuasion, a climate to foster high or low self-efficacy can be developed through
positive communication about a teacher’s capability to perform tasks. In the form of
verbal persuasion, the greatest impact is when the person has some belief of being
effective through their actions; the positive statements are realistically possible. For
example, Stanford (2001) uncovered a theme of social persuasion for persistent teachers,
21
in the form of speaking to each other to give support after a challenging day. Related to
the area of social persuasion is the concept of social incentives. As opposed to tangible
monetary incentives, social incentives may be interactions that a teacher desires or is
motivated through, such as recognition at a staff meeting for raising test scores, or being
spoken of by parents as a teacher who is outstanding.
In addition, Bandura (1997) discusses that teacher self-efficacy is different across
different teacher tasks and subjects, so his Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale has subscales for
different areas. The areas are the efficacy to influence decision-making, influence school
resources, for instruction, student discipline, enlisting parent involvement, enlisting
community involvement, and creating a positive school climate. Tschannen-Moran,
Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy (1998) further explore these differences, summarizing research
into the description of personal teaching efficacy (PTE) of feelings of teacher
competence, and general teaching efficacy (GTE) related to self-efficacy as related to
external factors that teachers see as impacting their self-efficacy. A statement inquiring
into the degree of personal teaching efficacy is “if a student did not understand a math
concept, I am able to later teach the student so the concept is understood” and a statement
for general teaching efficacy is “teachers are limited in what they can do by the student’s
home environment”.
Bandura identifies one source of self-efficacy as physiological and emotional
states. The application of this area to teacher motivation is important but is not as
developed as other motivation constructs.
22
Affect, Mood, and Emotions
Affect has been used as a general term to include mood and emotions, while
mood and emotions have been generally defined as different, with mood referring to a
more diffuse state without association to specific content and emotions used in reference
to specific tasks, behaviors, or achievement, such as in the emotions of pride, shame, or
guilt (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). Pintrich and Schunk (2002) have identified research as
usually presenting mood as an independent variable whereas research on emotions
focuses on context and cognitive antecedents of emotional reactions, with emotions as the
dependent variable. Although the dimensions and structures of affect have been
described through different theories, Yik, Russell, and Barrett (1999) found that the 16
variables of four prominent theories fit into a two-dimensional integrated structure, on the
variables of activated-deactivated and pleasant-unpleasant. Activation refers to a sense
of mobilization or energy such as on the continuum of relaxation to excitement. Pleasure
is a summary of how one is sensing, such as on the continuum of what has been called
valence, approach-avoidance, or appetitive-aversive (Russell & Barrett, 1999). Russell
and Barrett also define a prototypical emotional episode as a series of goal-directed
subevents. An example is fleeing from a bear. One part of a prototypical emotional
episode is consciously accessible feelings termed core affect, which can vary in intensity
and can be described by the independent dimensions of activation or pleasantness. The
authors caution about using vague or undefined terms for emotions. Some samples of
core affect terms are tense, stressed, sad, fatigued, serene, elated, and excited. Sample
prototypical emotional episode terms are fear, surprise, disgust, sadness, and happiness.
23
One may feel fear from fleeing from a bear and then may feel stress when accessing core
affect feelings that have accumulated from situations that could not be controlled. An
affect system is considered when discussing evaluation, apart from core affect. Asking
how one feels now will assess core affect and over time a mood will be formed. Asking
about how one feels about something is evaluation. Over time, the evaluation becomes
an attitude, assessed by asking how one generally feels about something. Thus, asking
teachers about their attitudes about teaching is different than asking about their (core
affect) feelings at a point in time.
In a review of the literature on the emotional aspects of teacher’s lives, Sutton and
Wheatley (2003) discuss four components of emotions: appraisal (goal relevance,
congruence, and ego-involvement), subjective experience (mental state of emotions),
physiological change and emotional expression, and action tendencies (modulation and
regulation of emotions). The review generates many questions about teachers and
emotions, for instance, asking if the end result of weighing positive and negative
emotions results in teacher persistence, especially as life span research supports evidence
of less negative emotions during adulthood. Another question is if teachers who have
positive moods persist more, and if teachers can maintain positive emotions despite
difficulties, maintaining their level of self-efficacy. In discussion of the measure of
teacher emotions, the authors report a previous finding of how only 10% of a sample of
middle school teachers in their study spontaneously talked about love and caring of
students, but when given a list of emotions, 70% had love as a relevant emotion. The
reviewers conclude with suggestions for researchers to consider the multiple components
24
of emotions, the influence of cognition with emotions, and the importance of sensitivity
to culture and context. A suggestion is made to research the emotions of teachers who
vary by age, level, years of teaching, and in different contexts.
Expectancy-Value Theory
Wigfield and Eccles (2000) propose a model of achievement motivation with the
two central constructs of expectancy and value. In the expectancy construct, a teacher
may ask if they will be able to do a task, reflecting on past experiences, thoughts, and
goals, self-efficacy, and perceptions of task difficulty. The reflections are related to task
capabilities. The expectation of success and the degree of value for the task determines
the effort put forth on the task. The value construct reflects an individual’s beliefs about
reasons to engage in the task and a teacher would ask if they want to do a task, and
consider why they might do a task. Values can be specified as interest values,
importance values, utility values, and any associated consequences or costs surrounding a
task. Task values and expectancy will affect an individual’s choice, effort, and
persistence behavior. For example, in this theory, a teacher who has an expectation of
success in instruction and a high importance value for student academic achievement
would be expected to persist in instructing students to achieve. A teacher who considers
their career as a teacher may determine their expectancy for success, as well as reflect on
their interest for teaching as a career. A high expectancy for success and high interest
could result in greater persistence, in theory.
The literature on persistent teachers was examined for this study with these
constructs as a guideline for research that uncovered teacher characteristics, as labeled
25
through these motivational variables. Often, portions of surveys identified the
characteristics, and other times, especially in the qualitative studies, these variables were
recurring themes that motivated teachers described.
Mixed-Methods Studies and Teacher Motivational Characteristics
Brunetti (2001) gathered written questionnaire data from 169 high school teachers
in six Northern California high schools who collectively served students with a wide
variety of socio-economic status and varied ethnicities. The 106 surveyed teachers were
narrowed down to 28 teachers by selection of those who indicated they were willing to be
interviewed and marked that they Agreed or Strongly Agreed that they were satisfied with
their job. Those interviewed each had a minimum of 15 years of teaching experience.
The purpose of Brunetti’s Experienced Teacher Survey was to provide information about
a teacher’s satisfaction and motivations for remaining in the classroom, and select the
sample of highly satisfied teachers for interviews. The interviewed teachers stated that
they enjoy working with young people; they receive intrinsic value from teaching
students. In addition, they reported being rewarded by student success experiences,
which can increase self-efficacy for teaching. Teachers also described being
disappointed with student failures, most unwilling to let go of the responsibility for the
failure, or the goals to have the student succeed. Teachers also reported having a passion
for teaching (intrinsic value) and liking the excitement of the classroom (motivation from
positive affect). Autonomy, or the opportunity to have freedom and flexibility in the
classroom was an important factor to these teachers. Collegiality was also a strong
component of teacher motivators to remain in teaching, indicating a social persuasion
26
characteristic, however, this factor varied as less important to a degree with teachers
older in age. For the importance for serving society item, this was a strong area in terms
of the teacher’s effect on students. This item is related to the importance value a teacher
may have.
This study did not specify urban and non-urban school teachers and was limited to
high school teachers, mostly Caucasian. It is difficult to generalize the results to non-
Caucasian and elementary and middle school teachers. The survey is included at the end
of the article, useful for analysis of the specific items. The survey was piloted and tested
for sufficient reliability. The strength of this study is that the survey did identify several
motivational variables that persistent teachers possess.
Harrell, Leavell, van Tassell, and McKee (2004) mailed a survey to 2,388
individuals who received teaching certification from the University of North Texas
within 1995 through 2000. Forty-three percent of the surveys were returned and the
surveys asked for who remained in teaching, why teachers left teaching, what factors
would influence individuals to reenter teaching, and demographic variables, in order to
attempt to identify predictors of teacher attrition. The quantitative data from the Likert-
type scale questionnaire as well as the qualitative data from the open-ended survey
questions are summarized as these attrition factors: income, discipline problems, possibly
returning to teaching based on: increased income, more administrative support, an
improved workplace, and predictors of attrition as: little teaching experience, less than
$25,000 yearly income, and having a graduate degree. The reason cited regarding
administrative support is important. This is the area of social persuasion. The
27
relationship between teachers and administrators was a teacher-desired interaction, and a
theme that was found to be repeated in others studies in this review. The authors of this
study provide the survey items within the article and discuss how it was validated.
Although the survey examines few motivation variables, it is useful for identifying a
trend of desirability or importance to the teachers in the area of administrator contact.
Quantitative Studies and Teacher Motivational Characteristics
A study of job satisfaction of general education and special education teachers
was conducted that used a questionnaire that consisted of two job satisfaction indexes and
additional questions (Stempien & Loeb, 2002). The two indexes used were the
Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction Index and Life Satisfaction Index, known for assessing
psychological variables. Open-ended questions addressing what teachers liked about
their jobs resulted in three significant areas: working with the children (interest value),
observing the growth and progress of the children (interest or importance values), and
interacting with colleagues (social persuasion). The teachers ranged from 1 to 30 years
of teaching, and of the 116 returned surveys, the authors sought differences between the
regular education and special education teacher groups, and for the number of years
taught within each of these groups, but did not report data of job satisfaction as a whole
or through test items for the factor of years taught. This study is limited by the results
obtained from these White, middle class status teachers who returned the completed
surveys. These teachers were not representative of any other ethnicities, and did not
represent teachers of any urban nor rural schools, limiting how the results can be
28
generalized to other groups of teachers. The results of the open-ended questions provide
insight into what the teachers valued.
Shen (1997) quantitatively analyzed data from the United States National Center
for Education Statistics 1990-91 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS91) of 56,051
teachers and the subsequent 1991-92 Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS92) data on 3,612
teachers. Characteristics were examined for three groups of teachers, those who stayed in
the same school, voluntarily moved to another school, or left teaching by choice, between
1990-1992. The data were grouped on personal characteristics, school characteristics,
and teacher perception of school- and professional-related issues. Shen used five areas of
data for the teacher perceptions grouping. The first area was the perception that teaching
has more advantages than disadvantages, the second in regards to the perception of
influence over school-and teaching-related policy, then, if the administrators are
knowledgable of staff problems. The final two areas were if the teacher perceived a
match between their best qualified area of teaching, and, the perception of degree of
student deviant behaviors and lack of family support. The two areas of significance for
stayers were in the first three areas, of advantages, policy influence, and administrators.
The recognition that teaching has more advantages than disadvantages can be seen as a
basic weighing of values and costs surrounding teaching. The teacher’s perception of
influence over school- and teaching-related policy is an indication of internal attributions,
that is, that the teachers perceived themselves as influential in school policy decisions.
Shen included two motivational issues in the discussion of findings: appreciating
the intrinsic values of teaching helps teachers stay in teaching, and both empowering and
29
providing administrative support of teacher work (social persuasion) were found to be
positively related to teacher retention.
The strength of this study is in the use of a nationally representative sample,
increasing the generalization to the population, as opposed to studies that sample one
school district, or one teacher.
Ingersoll (2001) viewed teacher turnover from the perspective that education has
the needs of an organization that is characterized by having uncertain and non-routine
technology as well as dependence on member commitment and cohesion. These types of
organizations have more disruption from employee turnover, thus, there is more of an
effect on employee performance. Following this organization perspective, Ingersoll used
the SASS91 and TFS92 national teacher survey data as Shen (1997) did, but with a focus
on crucial employee turnover conditions: compensation or salary structure, administrative
support for new employees, workplace conflict and strife, and employee input
influencing policies. Ingersoll’s research has linked these conditions to employee
motivation, commitment, and turnover. In reporting results with statistical significance,
he found that younger (less than 30 years old) and older (more than 50 years old) teachers
are more likely to leave teaching, and that teachers in smaller schools leave at higher
rates. After controlling for these age and school size characteristics, all of the four
turnover conditions except salary were significant. More administrative support led to
less turnover, lower levels of student discipline were associated with less turnover, and
schools with higher levels of faculty decision-making influence and teacher autonomy
have less turnover. It was found that high-poverty public schools (with a poverty
30
enrollment of 50% or more) have higher turnover rates than more affluent schools (less
than 15% poverty enrollment). The attrition rate for the urban, high-poverty public
schools was reported at 14.4%, as compared to small private schools at 22.8%. This
large difference was due to the leavers, as the percentage of movers was approximately
the same.
This study has strengths in its systematic statistical analysis, first with descriptive
statistics on teacher attrition, migration, and retirement, then a multiple regression
analysis on teacher characteristics, school characteristics, and organizational conditions,
controlling for teacher race, gender, age, and teaching field, accounting for the likeliness
of younger and older teachers leaving. After the teacher characteristics and school
characteristics were controlled for, Ingersoll focused on the four organizational
conditions. The specific indexes are given to define each organizational condition. A
table of clearly defined definitions of measures is included by the author. It is from this
table that motivational characteristics of teachers can be identified. The teacher desire for
administrative support (social persuasion) and controllability through autonomy and
decision-making influence on school policy can be identified.
In a study on teacher commitment conducted in Israel by Fresko, Kfir, and Nasser
(1997), the authors reported survey results on 175 Israeli teachers who taught within a
span of 10 years after teacher certification. Of the nine variables (pupil grade level,
professional advancement, gender, cognitive ability, evaluation from teacher preparation
program, professional self-image, job satisfaction, years in teaching, and commitment to
teaching), only the job satisfaction questionnaire items as measured through intrinsic or
31
extrinsic satisfaction were found to have a direct relationship on teacher commitment.
Analysis of the components of intrinsic satisfaction (interest, initiative, advancement,
efficacy, purpose, and application of skills) supports evaluation of the self-efficacy, and
interest, importance, and utility value areas. The four components of the extrinsic
satisfaction areas (income, job security, work hours, and occupational prestige) can be
related to the utility value, monetary incentive, and social incentive areas. Although a
significant relationship to job commitment was found only in the intrinsic as well as
extrinsic job satisfaction variables, it was found that this only accounted for 10% of the
variance in commitment to teaching. Further research is needed to either further define,
and then test intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction variables, or to consider other factors
that account for the variance. As the years in teaching variable has been found to be an
attrition factor (Ingersoll, 2001; Marso & Pigge, 1997; Johnson & Birkeland, 2003) it is
interesting that it was not a factor in the path analysis model formed after a multiple
regression was conducted. Perhaps the range of years (10) was too low to be of any
predictive significance.
This study surveyed teachers on some motivational variables, which did relate to
teacher commitment, and, in turn, as the authors describe, are expected to influence job
turnover. There are some limitations; generalization to the country of origin, assuming
several differences between the Israeli and American teaching context, and the factor of
minimal years that the surveyed teachers taught (average at 6 years taught).
A longitudinal study of 551 midwestern U.S. teachers was conducted for seven
years following teacher preparation program candidates (Marso & Pigge, 1997). At the
32
end of seven years, 50% of the candidates were not teaching. This study examined
teacher American College Test (ACT) and Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS)
scores, gender, presence of teachers in their immediate family, parent education levels,
the time when the teachers formed a decision to have teaching as a career, their self-
reported assurance at certification of becoming a teacher, and choice of elementary or
secondary school education majors. A chi-square analysis was conducted and the
teachers who persisted and were teaching were associated with teacher gender, major,
assurance about becoming a teacher, and when they first decided to become teachers.
Female and elementary majors were more likely to be teaching, although this data may
have been affected by the fact that more males were secondary education majors.
Teachers who were almost certain or very certain about becoming teachers just after
teacher preparation were almost two times as likely to be teaching seven years later.
Finally, there was a significant difference between those that decided to make a career of
teaching after or before high school graduation, in favor of the early deciders, more of
whom persisted after seven years. This exemplifies the strength of interest value and
goals. Those who identified an interest and desire to teach prior to high school
graduation persisted more. The authors state how their research adds to evidence that a
candidate’s initial degree of assurance and timeliness of the decision to become a teacher
may be used as a predictor in teacher persistence. It is interesting that the candidate’s
self-ratings of effectiveness in teaching was not a significant factor. It would seem that
this factor and self-assurance are related to self-efficacy. The authors do not provide an
elaboration of the finding, nor provide the wording of the items on the questionnaire for
33
further analysis. This study can best be viewed in terms of the findings related to goals
and interest value.
Miech and Elder (1996) investigated the effect of motivation for service on
teaching persistence by focusing on the service ethic of teachers from a longitudinal
study (n=3,783) from 1962 to 1964, and, the U.S. National Center for Education
Statistics National Longitudinal Study (NLS) from 1972 to 1986 (n=724). Although this
study data is outdated, one finding is interesting. The authors identified “idealists” who
entered teaching with the service motivation; with the desire to impact society through
helping students through teaching. This desire reflects a teacher’s importance value for
teaching. It would seem a natural hypothesis that idealist teachers would persist in
teaching, yet the researchers found that for the NLS cohort, both idealist men and women
were significantly more likely to leave teaching than non-idealists. The authors attempt
to explain this finding by examining and controlling for many factors. First, idealists
leave teaching because it has not fulfilled their ideal expectation of how to contribute to
society. Next, money incentives were not a factor since teachers who made more money
were more likely to stay in teaching. Also, idealists did not leave teaching to be
administrators, nor because they were at disadvantaged schools, not based on teacher
commitment, family background, or status. Another finding is that idealist women
teachers were less likely to leave teaching while they were pregnant and raising young
children. The authors conclude with a call for follow-up research of service-oriented
teachers who do not leave teaching. This further research would focus on persistent
teachers who have a strong sense of service as an importance value.
34
Brookhart and Freeman (1992) conducted a review of research on characteristics
of entering teaching candidates. Although they did not specifically attend to teacher
persistence, they summarized the 44 studies in finding a consistent pattern of “intrinsic
sources of motivation, specifically having altruistic, service-oriented goals as the primary
reason for entering teacher candidates to report why they chose careers in teaching”
(Brookhart & Freeman (1992), p. 46). This finding could be helpful for teacher
recruiters, unfortunately it is not known if this is a characteristic associated with
persistent teachers, or perhaps the idealists that Miech and Elder (1996) describe, who
leave the profession due to the inability to teach as they have idealized. A study of
persistent teachers could uncover this intrinsic and importance value aspect of teaching,
and a longitudinal study could determine if this motivation remains with the teacher
throughout a lengthy career. The authors identify seven themes in their review, and three
of the seven are motivational variables, the importance of this service-oriented
fulfillment, self-efficacy (confidence), and social incentives, described as the chosen
view of the nurturing and interpersonal aspects of teaching as more important than the
academic aspects. The researchers suggest that future studies provide for deeper
understanding of teacher motivations, as well as for the area of self-confidence. Some
specific suggestions include using more qualitative methodology, improving instrument
reliability and validity, and uncovering historical trends rather than static teacher profiles.
Qualitative Studies and Teacher Motivational Characteristics
Johnson and Birkeland (2003) conducted a longitudinal study of 50 teachers in
Massachusetts, interviewing stayers, movers, and leavers, for the teachers’ first three
35
years out of a teacher preparation program. Twenty-eight teachers continued teaching
after three years, but the authors discovered that the group was split into nearly half with
those who were satisfied with their roles and those who were not satisfied with their
roles. When accounting for dissatisfaction, several factors emerged: exhausting
assignments, intimidating Principals, lack of collegial support, poor curriculum and
discipline policies, and lack of parental involvement. With these dissatisfactions, why
would teachers persist? The authors describe a teacher’s explanation as an importance
value variable; that the teacher told of staying because of her definite commitment to the
kids. When the authors summarized the interview data on the most weighted factor for
teachers deciding to stay, transfer, or leave public school teaching, the strongest factor
was whether the teachers thought they would be effective or not with the students. This
effectiveness, or variable of teacher self-efficacy is a factor in teacher persistence. The
authors continue to describe a theme of the perception of the differing professional
cultures in the teacher’s schools. They found the professional cultures of schools to be
focused on the veteran culture, novice teachers, or else as an integrated culture. In
veteran-oriented schools autonomy is emphasized and in novice-oriented schools the new
teachers were at the center of the culture. There was greater satisfaction and likelihood
for teachers to remain in public schools after their first year teaching in the integrated
cultures where teacher collegiality and collaboration is emphasized. This satisfaction is
an indication of the motivational characteristic of social persuasion, and the presence of
this variable with teacher persistence. The limitations of this study relate to the selection
of the qualitative methodology. While the authors did support their observed themes with
36
other research studies, the extent of the generalization to the population is not known.
The authors include extensive interview protocols in the appendices and this is helpful in
developing further research studies.
In a case study of a European American high school English teacher (Milner,
2002), the theme of social persuasion emerged. The teacher had taught for 19 years in an
affluent suburban high school in the Midwest, selected due to researcher proximity and
access and teacher experience, willingness, and ability to reflect and articulate on her
teaching. The teacher spoke of crisis situations where she questioned her teaching
effectiveness, yet never considered leaving teaching. This finding leads to consideration
of possible motivational characteristics of persistent teachers that are present across
situations. What maintained the teacher’s persistence? This teacher described how she
would recall social persuasion in the form of verbal positive feedback from colleagues
and positive notes and letters from students and parents. The notes and letters would
point out her good skills as a teacher. The teacher specified how she gained confidence
because of the content of the notes and letters. This study contributes in its identification
of the social persuasion variable for this teacher who was able to persist, with the
presence of social persuasion.
The case study research approach on teacher persistence was continued, but in a
setting of a veteran teacher in an unsupportive environment (Milner & Woolfolk Hoy,
2003). Although not specified as the same school, the African American teacher taught
in a high school described with the same attributes as the Milner (2002) study. The
purpose of this study was to understand the relationships between a teacher’s self-
37
efficacy and persistence. The authors selected the teacher based on willingness and
ability to reflect and articulate her experience, and the fact that she was a minority teacher
in a school with only three African American teachers. This teacher had a Ph.D. degree
and spoke about experiences of collegial isolation and stereotype threat, where she felt
aware of her ethnic difference and the stereotypical lower status associated with her
ethnicity. Stereotype threat is the risk possibility of confirming for oneself widely-known
negative stereotypes of one’s group (Steele & Aronson, 1995). She did lose confidence
but spoke of reflecting on being inspired by the respect she felt by students and parents,
communicated through direct contact and phone calls. She recalled past mastery
experiences with students as well as past experiences such as completing her doctoral
degree, in order to counteract low confidence situations. The colleagues’ social
persuasion (negative) was a factor affecting the teacher’s self-efficacy, yet she reacted to
it by recall of positive mastery with experiences, still within the self-efficacy domain. In
addition, the teacher spoke about the importance value of wanting to have her teaching
make a difference and how she constantly reminded herself that the reason for her
teaching was for her students. In this study the negative social persuasion was a factor
for increasing the teacher’s persistence, with other variables. Stereotype threat was also
present, but not a debilitating factor at the time. Although this and any other single case
studies have weak generalization, the information can be further developed in subsequent
research with greater sample size and quantitative methodology.
Stanford (2001) used a grounded theory approach to inductively identify five
patterns that emerged in her qualitative study of 10 persistent teachers in poverty-stricken
38
Washington, DC urban schools. The most prominent pattern for teachers that persevered
was the importance value area of making a difference in the children’s lives and in
commitment to the community so the students could have success. The teachers were
also asked about job satisfaction, and the interest value areas that emerged were in
expressing creativity and opportunity for learning. Job satisfaction was also expressed in
being able to participate in decision-making.
When teachers responded to a question about what they liked about their school, a
pattern was found in appreciation of colleagues. After challenging days, teachers would
speak to each other to gain support, in the form of social persuasion. In addition, a
dominant form of social persuasion for the teachers was the teachers’ church
communities. Stanford further discussed the relationship between the teachers’ beliefs
and desires in making a difference in the lives of children and that these teachers who had
persevered had identified a meaningful purpose for their work. This meaningfulness is
akin to value that a teacher places on an area. Participation in the high value areas would
lead to persistence as individuals engage in what they value. The relationship between
the teachers’ importance values, interest values, and degree of social incentive was not
determined. A larger sample size and statistical analysis would add to the meaning of the
patterns that were found.
Firestone and Pennell (1993) developed a framework for assessment of the effect
of differential incentive policies on teacher commitment. They theorized that the
psychological states of knowledge of results, meaningfulness of work, and responsibility
mediate work characteristics and commitment. In addition, individual and environmental
39
moderator variables exist between work characteristics and psychological states. In their
definition of teacher commitment, they relate the attachment to the goals and values of
the organization, and one’s role in bonding and identification to the object, which takes
on meaning and importance. In this manner, one exerts considerable effort for the good
of the object, or persists. They continue to specify that objects of commitment vary so it
is important in educational research to determine the multiple commitments of teachers.
The researchers also link the voluntary nature of commitment to intrinsic motivation.
Education is a field that requires spur-of-the-moment decisions, so deep commitment and
the adoption of specific values is required. In the research on working conditions and
commitment, it was found that intrinsic incentives are especially important in teaching.
Teaching also has a high degree of maximal task identity where the job is more
meaningful when individuals can identify with the whole job from beginning to end.
Maximal task identity contributes to commitment. In addition, teaching is relatively high
in task significance as it greatly impacts the lives of others. This is the variable of
importance value. In examination of teacher autonomy, the authors state how autonomy
allows teachers to identify the ways that their own work contributes to student learning
and the school, so autonomy allows teachers to attribute success to themselves. Although
the research is mixed on the relationship between degree of autonomy and commitment,
the research does show that when autonomy is threatened, teachers become dissatisfied
and burnout occurs. In addition, teachers isolate themselves in order to maintain
autonomy. The researchers recommend that the commitment, autonomy, and the factor
of collegial relationships be examined. This is an important suggestion as in the eight
40
studies in this literature review that identify the variable of social persuasion of teachers
(collegiality) and autonomy as a factor, only one study has both together as desired by
teachers.
Teacher participation, administrative feedback, and collaboration are other areas
linked to commitment. When teacher participation in strategic decision-making occurs,
commitment to the decisions is enhanced because teachers understand how strategic
decisions affect intrinsic incentives. The relationship between teacher and Principal is
important, as in administrative feedback, which must be meaningful and given when
teachers have a degree of autonomy. Teacher collaboration contributes to commitment,
however, more so in developing group solidarity versus improving instructional skills.
The individual moderator variable that the reviewers propose as influential to
psychological states and commitment can be described as the motivational characteristics
of teachers. They discuss how some teachers have interest in participation and others do
not. These are the value variables that could be identified in persistent teachers. They
conclude with a suggestion to explore the relationships that interact and depend on
individual characteristics.
In conclusion, motivational factors were identified in the studies in consideration
of teacher persistence. Goals, costs, positive affect, and utility value were each found to
be identified once. Other less mentioned areas were autonomy, and social persuasion in
interaction with an administrator. The research, regardless of methodology uncovered
predominant motivational teacher characteristics in the areas of interest value,
importance value, social persuasion in interaction with teachers, and in self-efficacy.
41
Only one article (Brookhart & Freeman, 1992) identified all four predominant areas.
Other studies were limited by examining or uncovering only one or a few characteristics.
One study included one variable pertaining to emotion. This perhaps supports Sutton and
Wheatley’s (2003) research indicating a need for researchers to consider if they have
queried teachers about their emotions, or a need to critically examine the research
methodology for the area of teacher affect. Although the factors were collectively
identified, the relationship to years of persistence cannot be clearly specified. The studies
varied greatly in the description of the length of time a teacher taught. Only portions of
questionnaires addressed motivational characteristics. No single questionnaire probed
teachers in all the areas.
Summary
Some literature exists that examines factors related to teacher motivation to
persist in teaching, however, a gap remains in assessing the importance or interest values
that teachers have for teaching as a career. The relationship of these values to length of
teaching career has not been researched extensively, as well as the relationship of affect
to persistence in teaching. Urban settings have conditions that challenge teachers, yet
with these conditions some teachers continue to persist. Research is needed to identify
the motivational characteristics of these persistent teachers so it can be used to maintain
teachers in urban schools and ultimately provide more experienced teachers and program
continuity for students.
42
Research Question
The research question developed from this literature review is: What are the
motivational characteristics of persistent teachers in high-poverty urban schools?
43
CHAPTER 3
METHOD
The purpose of survey research is to collect information directly from individuals
(Fink & Kosecoff, 1998). This study asked teachers to reflect on judgments about their
teaching self-efficacy, their affect related to their teaching career, and their values. The
use of written questionnaires allowed collection of data immediately and privately. First,
data was collected through self-administered questionnaires, then, additional data was
obtained from a subsample of teachers through structured interviews. Table 1 outlines
the theory, questions, and instrumentation for the study.
Table 1
Theory, questions, and instrumentation
Theory Questions Instrumentation
• Self-efficacy is related to
persistence in teaching (Milner &
Woolfolk Hoy, 2003)
• What are the teacher self-efficacy
levels for sample groups when
compared by years of persistence?
• How does teacher self-efficacy
compare with positive affect,
negative affect, importance and
interest for teaching as a career?
• Do teachers relate their self-efficacy
for teaching to their persistence in
teaching?
• Ohio State Teacher Efficacy
Scale
(TSES) (Tschannen-Moran &
Woolfolk Hoy, 2001)
• Structured Interview Questions
7-10
• Asking one how they feel about
something is evaluation, and
evaluation becomes an attitude
(Russell & Barrett, 1999)
• There are many questions in the
area of teacher emotions that are
recommended to be studied, some
in relation to teacher persistence
(Sutton & Wheatley, 2003)
• To what degree do teachers rate
affect terms regarding teaching as a
career? (60 possible affect terms
listed)
• Do teachers initiate affect terms
when speaking about persistence in
teaching as a career?
• Positive and Negative Affect
Schedule – Expanded (PANAS-
X) (Watson & Clark, 1994)
• Structured Interview Question
13
• The expectation of success and
the degree of value for a task
determines the effort put forth on
the task (Wigfield & Eccles,
2000)
• What levels do teachers assess for
the values of importance and interest
for teaching as a career?
• Do teachers relate the importance of
teaching or interest in teaching as a
career to their persistence?
• Questions taken or adapted from
the Brayfield-Rothe Job
Satisfaction survey (Brayfield &
Rothe, 1951) and TSES
• Structured Interview Question 6
44
Participants and Setting
The theoretical population for the study is second through fourth grade public
school teachers in high-poverty U.S. urban schools. The study population was second
through fourth grade public school teachers in a southwestern U.S. urban school district.
This study does not include novice teachers who have taught for less than 5 years, but
includes persistent teachers who have taught for 5 years or more. Turnover has been
identified through the attrition literature as following a u-shaped curve (Ingersoll, 2001),
with novice and veteran teachers having the highest attrition rates. The three groups of
novice, mid-career, and experienced teachers have been defined by researchers in varying
years of experience, such as less than 5 years, 6 to 30 years, and more than 30 years
(Kelly, 2004), less than 5 years, 5 to 20, and more than 20 by Shann (1998), and less than
5 years, 5 to 15, and more than 15 by Ghaith and Shaaban (1999).
Schools categorized as high poverty schools were used for the sampling frame,
defined through the federal guideline of having at least 75% of the students qualifying for
the federal Free and Reduced Lunch program. The qualifying percentages were obtained
on the website for the state education department.
The sample was all teachers who completed the questionnaire and met the criteria
of being a second, third, or fourth grade teacher who had taught for 5 years or more.
Approval to conduct research was obtained from the one school district in the study, then
school Principals were contacted in person or by telephone. All 13 schools that were
contacted agreed to participate and a date for the researcher to come to each school site
was made. It was anticipated that some teachers within a school would decline to
45
participate, and ultimately 95 teachers completed the questionnaire. The final sample
consisted of 92 teachers as two questionnaires completed by fifth grade teachers and one
by a special education teacher were all omitted. Teachers for six of the 92 questionnaires
had not marked any items on the Teacher Information page, although all other parts of the
questionnaire packet were completed.
Measures
A packet of self-administered questionnaires was used to measure teacher self-
efficacy, teacher affect, and teacher values about aspects of their teaching. A cover sheet
for the three questionnaires was used and a section for teacher demographic information
was included. The last page of the packet was an invitation to participate in the interview
phase. Questionnaire packet details are in Appendix A. Specific measures are described
below.
Teacher characteristics. Teacher characteristics were obtained through a self-
report Teacher Information page in the questionnaire packet. Teachers were asked to
complete information on gender, race, grade level taught, certification, and number of
years taught.
School characteristics. School characteristics of grade levels taught at the school,
percentage of students qualifying for the federal Free or Reduced Lunch Program, student
enrollment size, ethnic minority enrollment, and academic achievement level (Federal
Adequate Yearly Progress) were obtained through the website for the state education
department.
46
Teachers’ sense of efficacy scale. This questionnaire, the TSES, is also known as
the Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale (OSTES) and is designed to measure a teacher’s
judgment of capabilities. Reliability and validity studies are described in Tschannen-
Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001). The development of the TSES was based on the need
to develop a self-efficacy scale that measured both personal competence and a context-
based evaluation of self-efficacy for a task in terms of resources and constraints a teacher
may consider. It expands on the subscales of the Teacher Efficacy Scale developed by
Bandura (1997) through adding more contexts, such as assessment of students. The
samples for the reliability and validity studies were of inservice and preservice teachers.
Only results of studies using inservice teachers will be described here, as the study
sample is of inservice teachers. The factor analysis for the 12-item short form resulted in
a reliable three-factor structure of efficacy for instructional strategies, efficacy for
classroom management, and efficacy for student engagement. The alpha scores are .86
for instruction, .86 for management, and .81 for engagement. In addition, all items
loaded on one factor after a principal-axis factor analysis was completed, so one total
score could be used meaningfully, as well as three separate scores. The reliability for the
total TSES score was .90. Construct validity was determined by correlations with other
self-efficacy measures. The correlations between the TSES-Short Form total score and
Rand study question 1 and question 2, and GTE and PTE of a shortened form of the
Gibson and Dembo Teacher Efficacy Scale, were all significant at the p<0.01 level. (See
Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy (2001) or Gibson & Dembo (1984) for descriptions
of the Rand study and Gibson and Dembo Teacher Efficacy Scale). Four categories of
47
data can be obtained from the TSES; total TSES level, efficacy for instructional
strategies, efficacy for classroom management, and efficacy for student engagement.
Importance and interest questions. The importance and interest questions were
measured through a seven point Likert scale. Questions are taken or adapted from the
Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction survey (Brayfield & Rothe, 1951) and the TSES.
Brayfield and Rothe (1951) developed their Index of Job Satisfaction to assess how
participants feel about their jobs. The survey consists of 18 items on a 5-point Likert
scale. A reliability coefficient of .87 was found for the test items by the authors in a
study of office employees. Validity was supported by comparison to the Hoppock survey
of job satisfaction, with a correlation of .93 between the Hoppock and Brayfield scores on
a sample of adults with occupations from clerical jobs to managers, and professionals.
The Brayfield-Rothe Index of Job Satisfaction has been used to measure teacher attitudes,
for example by Stempien and Loeb (2002) and Wu and Short (1996).
Positive and negative affect schedule – expanded version. Watson, Clark, and
Tellegren (1988) initially constructed the 20-item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule
(PANAS), which measures positive and negative emotions, suitable for use over eight
different time frames. Differential temporal directions can ask subjects how they feel or
felt for the present moment, today, during the past few days, during the past week, during
the past few weeks, during the past month, during the past year, and in general or on the
average. Internal consistency ratings were obtained for these temporal instructions for a
sample group of university students, university employees, adults, and psychiatric
patients. The coefficient scores for the subgroups based on time frame, sample groups,
48
and positive affect generally ranged from .83 to .90 for positive affect and .85 to .90 for
negative affect. Reliability was essentially unaffected by time frame and population
(student, adult, or patient). In addition, the correlation between the Positive Affect and
the Negative Affect scales is low, ranging from .05 to .38, again generally unaffected by
time frame. The two dimensions of positive and negative affect were found to account for
half to three-fourths of mood term variance (Watson, 1988).
The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Expanded Version (PANAS-X) is
increased to 60 affect terms organized by General Dimension, Basic Positive Emotion
Scales, Basic Negative Emotion Scales, and Other Affective States. The two higher order
scales of General Dimension, which are Positive Affect and Negative Affect, measure the
valence of the mood descriptors. The three Basic Positive Emotion Scales, four Basic
Negative Emotion Scales, and four Other Affective State Scales provide an assessment of
the content of the mood descriptors (the distinctive qualities of an individual affect). The
60 words and phrases of the scale can also be used for content assessment. The three
Basic Positive Emotion Scales are Joviality, Self-Assurance, and Attentiveness. The four
Basic Negative Emotion Scales are Fear, Hostility, Guilt, and Sadness. The four Other
Affective States are Shyness, Fatigue, Serenity, and Surprise. A breakdown of the words
and phrases that make up each of these scales is shown in Appendix B.
An analysis of the PANAS-X scales (Watson & Clark, 1994) obtained high
correlations, ranging from .90 to .95 for the affect terms composing the positive affect
scale, across 10 different time frames and three different samples (undergraduates and
adults), and high correlations for the affect terms composing the negative affect scale
49
across the different time frames and samples, at .92 to .95. Discriminant construct
validity was examined through correlations between the positive and negative affect
terms. Negative affect terms had low correlations with positive affect terms, from -.02 to
-.28 and positive affect terms had low correlations for negative affect terms, at .00 to -.16,
so the PANAS-X scales maintain construct validity for assessing positive affect as well
as negative affect. This data was obtained via self-report; the study participants indicated
the affect terms themselves.
Construct validity was evaluated in a study conducted by Watson and Clark
(1994) using peer-ratings from groups consisting of five college dormitory peers and
another with dating partners, in order to examine the accuracy of self-report data
compared to peer-report data. Correlations between self-report of affect terms and peer
report of affect terms were analyzed. It was acknowledged that the literature supports
that there exists stronger agreement between individuals and their observers for visible
behaviors, compared to self-report of affective experiences that are felt but not overtly
seem, so the authors suggested that the validity for General Positive Affect as well as for
General Negative Affect should be expected to only be in the moderate range. They
considered the correlations between the self-ratings and peer-ratings as adequate, at .48
for General Positive Affect and .36 for General Negative Affect, in the peer ratings study,
and at .35 for General Positive Affect and .21 for General Negative Affect in the dating
study, with both correlations significant at the p<.05, two-tailed level. The correlations
for positive compared to negative affect in all comparisons of self-ratings versus peer-
ratings in the two studies was low, at -.03 to -.13, so there is support from the studies of
50
discrimination of positive versus negative affect. Cohen (1988) suggests r values of .30
to .49 or -.30 to -.49 to be a medium value, so the authors r value of .21 suggests only a
small correlation and the other r values suggest only medium values, but they do preface
the results with the expectation of “moderate” range results because of the difference
between the self-report of experiences and the peer-observation of visible behaviors.
This low reliability should be considered if a study relies on both observations by others
of affective behavior as compared to self-report of affective behavior.
Watson and Clark (1994) also found that there were few consistent gender
differences, with no significant gender differences for general Negative Affect, general
Positive Affect, Attentiveness, Surprise, and Sadness. Some gender-related differences
were found to be of moderate significance, for women as higher on Joviality and men as
higher on Guilt and Shyness. Consistent gender effects were that men score higher on
general Self-Assurance, Serenity, and Hostility.
A factor analysis by Watson and Clark (1994) of the 60 mood terms for six time
frames was completed to determine how the positive and negative mood terms clustered
by factor. Eight factors were found. Fifty-three of the 60 terms were found to load on
only a single factor and from this analysis the authors determined seven affect scales to
exist (Fear, Sadness, Guilt, Hostility, Shyness, Fatigue, Surprise) and an eighth factor was
labeled Positive Affect. The researchers continued to refine the positive mood terms
from the eighth factor by expanding the set of positive mood terms and conducting a
principal component analysis with varimax rotation. Terms which did not clearly load on
a factor were eliminated and and additional scales were identified (Joviality, Self-
51
Assurance, Attentiveness, and Serenity). Internal reliabilities for each of the scales were
found to range from .74 to .94, after analyses were performed for eight different time
frames.
The authors examined the external validity of the PANAS-X for measurement of
long-term affect differences in individuals. Two samples of undergraduate students were
retested after two months, and reliability values of .64 and .70 were found for Positive
Affect and .59 and .71 for Negative Affect, all significant at the p<.01 level. In a
different study the authors retested a group of undergraduates after 56-99 months and the
reliability dropped to .42 for Positive Affect and .43 for Negative Affect. It was noted
that all the students graduated from the university at the retest time, perhaps an event that
could influence the change in scores. Given these scores, caution would be
recommended when using the scores as time passes.
For this study the directions were modified for the PANAS-X to ask teachers to
indicate general feelings and emotions about teaching as a career. The 60 items were
rated on a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 as very slightly or none at all and 5 as extremely. Mean
scores for General Dimension Positive Affect, General Dimension Negative Affect, and
60 individual affect terms were obtained from the PANAS-X administration.
Structured interview guiding questions. The structured interview guiding
questions were designed to inquire into the experiences of teachers as related to the
research question. The interview protocol (see Appendix C) is adapted from Brunetti
(2001), with deletions of the areas related to being a high school teacher. Although all
the questions could elicit responses related to any of the motivational variables, questions
52
7-10 are related to sources of self-efficacy, question 13 is related to affect, questions 5-10
inquire into importance values, and question 6 is about interest in teaching.
Procedure
A sequential explanatory strategy was used for data collection, suited for the
purpose of the use of qualitative data to assist in the understanding of quantitative data
results (Creswell, 2003). Quantitative data was collected from June, 2007 to January
2008, and, qualitative data was collected in August, 2008.
Phase One-Quantitative Data Collection
Identification of schools with the participant and setting criteria was established,
then schools were contacted by phone and invited to participate in the study. District and
school site approval was obtained and a date and room at the school site was scheduled
for questionnaire completion. The researcher administered the questionnaire through
reading the cover page directions. Most questionnaires were collected immediately and
in some cases where teachers requested more time, a pre-addressed envelope was given
to the teacher to ensure return to the researcher.
Phase Two-Qualitative Data Collection
Six teachers were selected for structured interviews based on willingness to be
interviewed. Nineteen teachers indicated an interest in being interviewed through
completing the invitation to be interviewed on the last page of the questionnaire packet.
These packets were collated in a random order and teachers from the top six were sent
emails inquiring about interviews. If a teacher declined or there was no response, then an
additional email was sent, until six teachers were scheduled for interviews. Eight emails
53
were sent in all. The six teachers had a range of nine through 36 years of teaching
experience and this represented potentially different responses based on different years of
experience, so selection was stopped. A tape-recorded interview was conducted with
each teacher by the researcher in August, 2008 in elementary school classrooms. The
structured interview questions were used as a guideline for the interview. Interviews
ranged from approximately 30 minutes to 60 minutes long. The interviews were
transcribed by the researcher
Data Analysis
The demographic information, TSES ratings, PANAS-X ratings, and teacher
value question results were analyzed using PASW Statistics 18.0 for data input and
calculations.
Teacher Characteristics
Frequencies for teacher gender, ethnicity, teacher certification, and grade level
taught were first created for the group as a whole.
School Characteristics
Information was identified for school enrollment size, levels taught at the school
site, ethnic minority enrollment, percent of students eligible for the federal Free and
Reduced Lunch program, and academic achievement for each school site.
Motivation Variables
Descriptive statistics were used to provide information on the factors of total
teacher efficacy, positive affect, negative affect, interest for teaching, and importance of
teaching.
54
A factor analysis was administered to determine the validity of the interest
questions and consider which questions should be used in further analysis.
The reliability of scales used was conducted in order to determine internal
consistency for the intended measure of teacher self-efficacy, teacher positive and
negative affect, and interest for teaching as a career.
A multiple regression was performed for the dependent variable of years of
teaching with the factors of self-efficacy, positive affect, negative affect, importance, and
interest questions.
One-way ANOVAs were calculated for a dependent variable of years of teaching,
split into two groups based on a comparison by Ghaith and Shaaban (1999) of
experienced teachers who have taught from 5 to 15 years and highly experienced teachers
who have taught for more than 15 years, for years of teaching, with each of the
independent variables of self-efficacy, positive affect, negative affect, importance, and
interest questions. In addition, differences between grade levels were examined for each
of the independent variables.
Two items on the interest scale are negatively worded and were reverse scored
prior to calculations.
Structured Interview Responses
Structured interview recordings were transcribed by the researcher and responses
were sorted by marking the interview transcript with codes to match each interview
question. The last interview question is open-ended so topics that teachers initiated were
matched to interview questions or noted as a new topic. Responses that were related to
55
persistence in teaching were identified, for example a teacher’s statement was included if
she either directly answered a question about teacher persistence, or if a statement was
made where the teacher attributed persistence to an area, for example, a teacher initiated,
“So I guess maybe that’s why I never burnt out on teaching because I always try
something different every year.” Comparisons to quantitative data areas were made. The
interview transcript was read and highlighted for teacher self-efficacy comments in the
areas of teacher efficacy for instructional strategies, classroom management, and student
engagement, statements about interest and importance values related to teaching as a
career, and affect terms from the PANAS-X as related to persistence in teaching, as well
as for additional affect terms. Attention was made in consideration to possible bias of
what Miles and Huberman (1994) consider issues of representativeness, availability, and
weighting when interpreting qualitative data, for example, “triangulation” by data source
(how many teachers shared the same views) and method (quantitative and qualitative)
were considered, as well as possible bias toward the enthusiastic and articulate teachers
compared to the less articulate ones. In the later case, interview data was marked for
content of responses and actual affect terms spoken, rather than researcher interpretation
of a teacher displaying facial expressions such as of “joy” in teaching. Coding reliability
was checked through having two individuals who completed doctoral level coursework in
qualitative research identify affect terms related to teaching as a career in transcripts for
two different interviews. Coding reliability was adequate as in each case the researcher
identified 13 terms whereas each of the other readers identified 12 terms after matching
coding results for each transcript.
56
Limitations and Delimitations
This study relies on teacher self-report through questionnaires. Self-report is
subject to errors such as in recall or selective non-response. The measure of affect has
not been validated specifically for teachers’ emotions about teaching as a career, and
some importance and interest questions have not been formally studied for reliability and
validity. The structured interviews are limited in how well the results can be generalized
to the population, due to the nature of the case study design, which inquires in depth
about individuals.
The delimitations of this study are in the focus on second through fourth grade
teachers, in urban high-poverty public schools in the southwestern part of the U.S.
Second through fourth grade teachers were sampled, with fourth grade as the upper grade
limit to control for differences at separate school sites; each single site has all three grade
levels. The design is to accommodate the fact that different school districts group the
grade levels in different configurations, such as in Intermediate school configuration
which has only fifth through eighth grades, however, this limits the population that the
results of this study can be generalized to. The sample grade level starts at second grade
in consideration of the teacher variables that may be influenced by the pressure of state
and Federal testing requirements that start at the second grade level. Public urban high-
poverty schools were selected because it is this context that is in need of research and
enhancement in terms of teacher retention, among other factors. Teacher attrition occurs
in rural school districts and in communities without poverty, however, these areas are not
the focus of this study.
57
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS
This study examined motivational variables of persistence for public school
teachers at high poverty urban schools through responses to a written questionnaire that
identified levels of teacher self-efficacy, teacher affect, and importance and interest
values of teaching as a career. In addition, teachers were interviewed in order to identify
themes in the area of teacher persistence. It is hoped that the results of this study
contribute to the knowledge of teacher beliefs and values that may influence teachers to
stay in the profession.
The sample will be described then quantitative data will be reported. A
correlation between variables and results for the factor analysis of the interest questions
will be presented. Next, reliability of the TSES, Interest, Positive Affect, and Negative
Affect scales is discussed. Results from a multiple regression analysis of the years of
teaching and the five factors are presented. Last, ANOVAs for comparison between
teachers who have taught from 5 through 15 years, and teachers who have taught for
more than 15 years or more are summarized for the five factors of teacher self-efficacy,
positive affect, negative affect, importance, and interest.
Finally, the qualitative results from the teacher interviews will be given, with
descriptions of the teachers who were interviewed, results in the area of self-efficacy,
affect, importance and interest for teaching as a career, then a presentation of four
themes: 1) persistence by second career teachers, 2) persistence despite challenges, 3) the
influence of mentors, and 4) acknowledgement of self-reflection.
58
Description of Participants and Schools
The characteristics of the schools participating in the study will be described
providing the grade levels that are taught at the schools, student poverty levels, general
and ethnic minority enrollment, and the federal academic progress of each school. A
breakdown of current grade level taught, gender, certification, ethnicity, and years of
teaching for the 92 teachers will be presented. Finally, descriptions of the six teachers
who were interviewed will be provided.
Written survey packets of questionnaires were distributed by the researcher at
meetings for 13 elementary school sites in a southwestern United States urban school
district of 35,000 students.
Two schools contained grades Kindergarten through eighth grade and 11 schools
contained grades Kindergarten through fourth grade. Poverty levels per school site as
measured through the percentage of students qualifying for the federal Free or Reduced
Lunch Program were from 79% to 92.9%. Student enrollment at different schools ranged
from 284 students up to 1,034 students, and most students were ethnic minorities, from
94.2% to 100% for schools. The 2008 Federal Adequate Yearly Progress was not met for
69% of the schools, indicating inadequate academic progress for one or more subgroups
within each of those schools.
Table 2 outlines the school characteristics.
59
Table 2
School characteristics
School Grade % Free or Student % Ethnic Met Federal
Levels Reduced Lunch Enrollment Minority AYP* for All
Program Enrollment Components
1 K-4 92.2 562 99.8 no
2 K-4 81.6 938 99.6 no
3 K-4 86.3 796 98.7 no
4 K-8 85 948 99.2 yes
5 K-4 83.3 492 99.6 no
6 K-4 92.9 1,034 99.6 no
7 K-4 88.5 733 99.2 no
8 K-4 82 556 94.2 no
9 K-8 81 754 99.9 yes
10 K-4 87 284 100 yes
11 K-4 88.6 597 98.8 yes
12 K-4 90.1 774 99.4 no
13 K-4 79.5 621 97.3 no
* Adequate Yearly Progress for 2008
Ninety-two questionnaires were completed. A breakdown of teacher
characteristics for current grade level taught, gender, ethnicity, and certification of
teachers is shown in Table 3. The number of teachers who taught grades 2, 3, and 4 were
approximately equal. Eighty percent of the teachers who did indicate their gender was
female, with 20% male. All 87 teachers who marked their certification marked that they
were full-time credentialed teachers. The bulk of the teachers identified themselves as
Hispanic (70%), then, Caucasian (9%), Asian or Pacific Islander (3%), Native American
60
(1%), and Other (7%), with the remainder as non-respondents. Years of teaching ranged
from five to 41 years, with 43% of the teachers indicating 12 or more years of teaching.
Table 3
Teacher characteristics
Characteristic n %
Grade Level Taught
Second 26 28.2
Third 31 33.6
Fourth 28 30.4
No Response 7 7.6
Gender
Male 17 18.5
Female 67 72.8
No Response 8 8.7
Ethnicity
Asian or Pacific Islander 3 3.3
Hispanic 64 69.6
Native American 1 1.1
Caucasian 8 8.7
Other 7 7.6
No Response 9 9.8
Certification
Full-Time, Credentialed 86 93.5
No Response 6 6.5
The six teachers who were interviewed were selected from those responding to
the printed invitation to be interviewed that was on the final page of the questionnaire. A
description of these teachers will be given in the qualitative results section below. Table
4 displays details for years of teaching.
61
Table 4
Teaching experience, in years
Years of Teaching n Years of Teaching n
5 5 22 2
6 3 23 2
7 2 24 1
8 5 25 3
9 13 26 3
10 16 27 2
11 5 28 1
12 3 30 3
13 3 31 1
15 2 32 1
18 3 33 1
20 3 36 1
21 1 41 1
No Response 6
Quantitative Results
Correlations
The relationship between the variables of teacher self-efficacy, positive affect,
negative affect, importance, and interest was examined through the Pearson product-
moment correlation coefficient. Results are displayed in Table 5.
62
Table 5
Intercorrelations for Self-Efficacy, Positive Affect, Negative Affect, Importance,
and Interest
Measure M SD 1 2 3 4 5
1. Self-Efficacy 86.97 9.79 --
2. Positive Affect 3.90 .61 .45
**
--
3. Negative Affect 1.87 .71 -.29
**
-.25
*
--
4. Importance 6.47 1.01 .17 .44
**
-.12 --
5. Interest 6.38 .75 .25
*
.45
**
-.17 .82
**
--
**
coefficient is significant at p<.01 level
*
coefficient is significant at p<.05 level
Positive and significant correlations were found between positive affect and self-
efficacy, as well as with interest and importance. The relationships are of medium
strength per Cohen (1988). Other significant correlations are of small strength with the
exception of interest and importance. Positive affect and negative affect are significantly
correlated such that as positive affect scores increase, negative affect scores decrease.
Self-efficacy and negative affect are significantly related, as self-efficacy scores increase
as negative affect scores decrease. Self-efficacy and interest show a significant and
positive relationship. Importance and interest are of a significant and large strength.
Variance can be determined in order to observe overlap between variables. Importance
and interest share 67% of the variance, so importance helps to explain 67% of the
teachers’ scores on interest.
63
Factor Analysis
A factor analysis was completed in order to determine the validity of the nine
interest questions and to identify the factors that emerged for use in further analysis. The
strength of the intercorrelations among the items was determined through the presence of
many values greater than .3 on the correlation matrix, the Kaiser-Meyer-Oklin value at
.835, and the Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity value reaching significance. Results from the
principal component analysis after a Varimax rotation are listed in Table 6.
Table 6
Factor loadings for interest – Principal Component Analysis with Varimax Rotation
Factor loading
Item 1 2
How interested are you in classroom instruction? .868
How much does teaching arouse your curiousity? .851
In general, how interesting is teaching as a career to you? .850
How interested are you in classroom management? .712
My job is usually interesting enough to keep me .586
from getting bored.
I am often bored with my job. .554 .437
How interested are you in student engagement? .533
64
Table 6 (Continued)
I feel that my job is no more interesting than others .836
I could get.
It seems that my friends are more interested in their jobs. .315 .643
After factor extraction, two components reached eigenvalues greater than 1, with
component 1 explaining 45.7% of the variance and component 2 at 12.2% of the
variance. The item “I feel that my job is no more interesting than others I could get.” did
not load on the first component after the Varimax Rotation, so this item was excluded
from further quantitative calculations. Two other items had loadings on both the first and
the second component, so these items were excluded from further calculations in order to
maintain the measurement of component 1, which will be labeled “interest”.
Reliability of Scales
The reliability of the scales used was conducted to determine internal consistency.
Results are displayed in Table 7. An initial reliability conducted for the nine Interest
questions resulted in a Cronbach’s Alpha value of .787. The Corrected Item-Total
Correlation value was .186 for one question, “I feel that my job is no more interesting
than others I could get.” This low score supported the decision to omit the question from
further calculations.
65
Table 7
Reliability of scales
M SD Cronbach’s Alpha
TSES 39.6 5.6 .874
6 Interest Questions 38.2 4.5 .842
PANAS-X Positive Affect 39.6 5.6 .867
PANAS-X Negative Affect 18.1 6.4 .877
The values are all greater than .70, sufficient to support adequate reliability levels.
The TSES reliability is comparable to the reliability of .90 established through studies by
Tschannan-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001). After omission of the three interest
questions, the remaining six questions yield adequate reliability, at .84. The PANAS-X
results are comparable to results by Watson and Clark (1994) of .83-.90 for positive
affect and .85-.90 for negative affect, for different time frames and sample groups.
Multiple Regression
A simple linear regression was conducted for the five factors of self-efficacy,
positive affect, negative affect, importance, and interest in order to examine how much of
the variance in the dependent variable, years of teaching, could be explained by these five
independent variables. Table 8 displays the results of the multiple regression.
66
Table 8
Summary of multiple regression analysis for variables predicting years of teaching
experience (N = 86)
Variable B SE B β t p
Self-Efficacy -.134 .114 -.152 -1.172 .245
Positive Affect .705 1.969 .050 .358 .721
Negative Affect -.646 1.434 -.053 -.451 .653
Importance of Teaching .344 1.569 .044 .219 .827
Interest in Teaching -.910 2.314 -.079 -.393 .695
R
2
=.022, Adjusted R Square=-.041, F=.348
Multicollinarity was examined through Tolerance values on the PASW output.
Low Tolerance values (near zero) indicate a high correlation with other variables. The
Tolerance level is sufficient for self-efficacy, positive affect, and negative affect, at .747,
.646, and .894, respectively, and are low for importance and interest, at .317 and .313,
respectively. The Pearson correlation between importance and interest is .818, and
Tabachnick and Fidell (2007) refer to correlations of .90 and higher as problematic, as
singularity and multicollinarity develop. Singularity indicates that the variables are
redundant such that one of the variables is a combination of two or more variables.
Statistical significance was not found for any factors in the multiple regression analysis
so it cannot be determined that a significant relationship exists between years of teaching
and the independent variables.
67
Analysis of Variance
A one-way between groups analysis of variance was conducted to explore the
impact of years of teaching for each of the five factors of self-efficacy, positive affect,
negative affect, importance, and interest, across years of experience for the group of
teachers from 5 through 15 years compared to teachers who have taught for more than 15
years. The sample was split into two groups based on a comparison of experienced
teachers who have taught from 5 through 15 years and highly experienced teachers who
have taught for more than 15 years, based on a split by Ghaith and Shaaban (1999). No
statistically significant differences were found between the two groups of teachers for any
of the variables. The results are displayed in Table 9.
Table 9
Means, standard deviations, and one-way analyses of variance for years of
teaching groups and five independent variables
5-15 Years 16-41 Years
Variable N M SD N M SD F df p
Self-Efficacy 57 87.79 9.56 29 85.59 10.85 .931 (1, 84) .337
Positive Affect 57 3.92 .66 28 3.92 .44 .002 (1, 83) .966
Negative Affect 57 1.84 .64 28 1.90 .82 .132 (1, 83) .717
Importance 55 6.45 1.23 29 6.52 .87 .06 (1, 82) .808
Interest 56 6.38 .84 29 6.39 .58 .008 (1, 83) .928
68
Analysis of the means plots for the two groups on the five factors shows a
direction of a decrease in scores for self-efficacy as well as positive affect as years of
experience increases, and an increase in scores for negative affect, importance, and
interest as years of experience increase.
In order to determine if the sample had differences on the five factors between
second, third, and fourth grade teachers, ANOVAs were created. Analysis between
males and females was considered, however, the difference in the quantity of males and
females in the study sample was too great for a valid analysis. There was one statistically
significant difference between different grade level teachers on the factor of positive
affect. The results are displayed in Table 10.
Table 10
Positive affect between teachers of grade levels second, third, and fourth (N=80)
N M SD F p
Between Groups
2
nd
, 3
rd
, 4
th
80 3.91 .60 5.55 .006
Post Hoc Tests
2
nd
– 3
rd
.209
2
nd
– 4
th
.004*
3
rd
– 4
th
.217
* The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level
A Tukey’s Post Hoc analysis was completed and there was a statistically
significant difference between positive affect for second grade and fourth grade teachers.
Examination of means shows fourth grade teachers to score higher than second grade
69
teachers on positive affect. Effect size was high, calculated using eta squared, at .13, so
the strength of the association between a second grade teacher or a fourth grade teacher to
positive affect is strong, with the grade level accounting for 12% of the variance between
means for second and fourth grade teachers.
Summary of Quantitative Results
Teacher persistence through years of teaching was measured through results of
questionnaires that identified levels of teacher self-efficacy, teacher affect, and
importance and interest values of teaching as a career. The results of the multiple
regression for the years of experience and five factors were not statistically significant,
nor were the results of the ANOVAs for years of experience and the five factors. One
analysis between positive affect of teachers for grade levels second, third, and fourth
grade resulted in a statistically significant difference.
Qualitative Results
Qualitative results for the areas of self-efficacy, affect for teaching as a career,
and importance and interest for teaching will be given and the six teachers who were
interviewed will be described. Finally, four themes will be presented: 1) persistence by
second career teachers, 2) persistence despite challenges, 3) the influence of mentors, and
4) acknowledgement of self-reflection.
The frequency of teacher-initiated statements about motivational characteristics
during the interviews is listed in Table 11. The frequency is based on the number of
teachers who discussed the listed category.
70
Table 11
Qualitative results, frequency of factors among six interviewed teachers
Category Subcategory Frequency
Low Self-Efficacy for Classroom
Management
4
High Self-Efficacy for Classroom
Management
4
High Self-Efficacy for Student
Engagement
6
Self-Efficacy
Low Self-Efficacy for Instructional
Strategies
4
Importance For Teaching as Career 1
For Students 3
For Staff Development 1
Interest
For the Learning Process 1
Career Changers 4
Persisted with Challenges 6
Positive Influence of Mentors 4
Practice Self-Reflection 4
The affect terms that the teachers volunteered in their interviews are listed in Table
12. Some terms were used several times, such as five times for “discouraging”. Both
positive and negative terms were apparent in the teachers’ statements.
Table 12
Qualitative results, frequency and content of affect terms
Category Subcategory Frequency and Content of Affect Terms
Positive Affect 17: proud (2x), enjoy (2x), love (2x), fortunate (2x),
wonderful (2x), exciting, joy, enthusiasm, surprise, happy,
accomplishment, good, memorable, stimulating, lucky,
encouraging, rewarding
Affect
Negative Affect 17: discouraging (5x), challenging (3x), horrific (2x),
tired, sad, dread, disheartening, difficult, frustrating,
cynical, mad, annoyed, worry, irritable, angry, upset,
distressed
71
Description of Interviewed Teachers
The teachers that were interviewed presented a variety of perspectives. Leslie, a
Caucasian teacher, currently teaches third grade. She has a Master’s Degree in Education
and has been teaching for 16 years in classes ranging from first grade through fourth
grade. She is also the current coordinator for Gifted and Talented Education at her
school, is the third grade P. E. teacher, and in one of her first years of teaching had been
assigned to teach a bilingual classroom, although she only speaks English. Throughout
her interview she discussed both the positive and negative experiences that she had over
the years, with an emphasis on taking an interest in each student and developing close
relationships with the families out of the classroom since she lives three miles from her
school.
Cynthia is a Caucasian teacher who has been teaching for 36 years. She has
taught at the same elementary school her entire career, at all levels from Kindergarten
through fourth grade, and currently teaches fourth grade. She described how she has
observed the ethnic enrollment of the school change from lower income White, Native
American, and African American students to Cambodian students who arrived from war
refugee camps, to the current Hispanic population. She spoke softly yet very candidly
about the diminished status of the teacher, about the negative impact of the federal No
Child Left Behind legislation, and the inadequacy of special education. She was the
teacher union representative for many years and discussed about how she led with
confidentiality and respect and with a good relationship with all 10 of the administrators
that she has worked with. Cynthia talked about her image as a strict teacher, and about
72
the students and families who continue to maintain their relationship after they leave her
classroom. She spoke with pride about being nominated two times for Who’s Who in
America.
Aurora is a Hispanic fourth grade teacher who has taught for 13 years, at different
levels from Kindergarten through high school. She attended schools in the district herself
and talked with interest about her special activities such as being the school
representative for the Spelling Bee and a coordinator for a program that guides students
from the elementary school level through enrollment in college. Aurora focused on the
cultural aspects of her students.
Corrine is a Hispanic fourth grade teacher who has taught for 18 years. She spoke
with vitality, demonstrating with enthusiasm her classroom philosophy of full
engagement and maintaining a sense of urgency for learning in the classroom. She
admitted that she is perceived as a very strict teacher and discussed with empathy the
immigrant students who know little English, as she immigrated to the United States from
Cuba as a child. She described herself as patient, loving kids, very hard working, and
also expects her students to work hard. She demands that there exist a mutual respect in
her classroom between teacher and student.
Michelle is a fourth grade Caucasian teacher who has taught for nine years in
either a third or fourth grade classroom. She spoke positively of her experiences about
having students with different spectrums, from students with learning disabilities to gifted
students. Michelle is asked to participate in other school roles and is currently on the
yearbook and math committee. She spoke with a passion about working with her grade
73
level team, about improving state test scores, and revealed details about how her grade
level team helps each other based on the needs of the students.
Ana is a Hispanic teacher who teaches in a Spanish primary language classroom.
She started out in education as an instructional aide and then was hired with an
emergency credential. She volunteered that she now has a regular education credential, a
bilingual credential, an administrative credential, a reading specialist credential, and a
Master’s Degree. She also worked in the school district as a Reading Coach and then
returned to the classroom by choice. She has a unique situation as she started with her
class when they were in first grade, then continued to be their teacher through second,
third, and now, fourth grade. She described how she is very close to the families of her
students and how she took to heart the suggestion that the teacher is the bottom line in
educating the students. Ana welcomes challenges and views them as a way to motivate
herself in teaching.
Teacher Self-Efficacy Findings
Three areas of teacher self-efficacy that were measured through the TSES are
classroom management, student engagement, and instructional strategies. The results
from the teacher interviews were examined for these three areas.
Efficacy for Classroom Management
The teachers discussed in their interviews both low and high self-efficacy for
teaching. The low self-efficacy was indicated when three teachers spoke about their first
year or first few years of teaching and how their classroom management was weak,
described as “treading water” by Leslie, or as Cynthia described it, “I was kind of
74
winging it.” Cynthia is concerned because the time to discipline a few students takes time
away from the teaching and learning in her classroom. Four teachers said they developed
their current classroom management skills and had learned a lot. Corrine has been
teaching for 18 years, yet she talked about the last five years where she has improved her
skills in student discipline from a colleague, saying, “Mr. Gamboa really taught me a lot
about discipline and I’ve really have come to realize that the crux of it all is really the
discipline, because without the discipline you really can’t teach.”
Efficacy for Student Engagement
One portion of student engagement is about teacher self-efficacy in assisting
families in helping children, and in the interviews four teachers spoke about the different
parent responses they receive, saying that there are “peaks and valleys” or that the parents
don’t understand the difficult road their child is on, oppose what the teachers say, or that
there is difficulty changing parent values such as those reflected in when the parents take
their children early out of school or the students are frequently absent on Fridays.
Michelle talked about the “mind set” of the parents when she spoke about a mother who
did not believe that her daughter was capable of going to college. All six teachers who
were interviewed spoke with enthusiasm about their stories of how they helped students
believe in themselves and how they motivated low interest or low performing students to
be successful and proud of themselves. Leslie said that it’s probably her favorite thing to
“hook them and get them to, to want to do it, and want to become really proud of their
work and that’s probably my favorite thing.” Aurora talked about how the most
rewarding thing is when the students can think on-their-own and become independent of
75
her, run the class by themselves, and come up with their own ideas for projects. Corrine
states, “I think it’s really in me to want to see a child rise up to something that they could
never think they are capable of. She gives examples of two students who were “total
failures” last year who are doing “okay” now, and talks about having kids understand that
they can make themselves learn…they believe it, they really believe it”. She talks about
how she teaches them to rise up to academic expectations and they do perform to her
expectations.
Efficacy for Instructional Strategies
Cynthia included in her interview that she feels she can’t teach because the
academic expectations outlined by NCLB are not developmentally appropriate for
children. She continued that she isn’t addressing all the curriculum areas and that she
feels she cannot meet the needs of students who do not qualify for special education.
Aurora also volunteered that she’s still learning about students with learning disabilities
and autism and Corrine talked about how she is flexible when she needs to be and
changes her teaching methods when appropriate. Leslie related her reflection on use of
alternative teaching strategies. She likes to be aware of where the student is so she can
reteach, slow down, or fill-in-the-blanks. She said that she reflects on what she did and
changes things, saying, “I guess that’s why I never burnt out on teaching because I
always try something different every year.” The interviewed teachers persisted to the
level of success for their students.
76
Teacher Affect Findings
All six teachers spoke using both positive and negative mood descriptors, some as
used in the PANAS-X and other terms as well. Teachers spoke about their careers
positively and negatively, and at times, after they spoke about negative aspects, they
countered with the positive aspect of the situation.
Both Leslie and Corrine spoke about being proud. Leslie spoke in general about
how last year was one of her proudest after a “family sort of feeling” had developed in
her classroom, and Corrine talked about how it gives her a lot of pride to see kids who are
complete “failures” turn their lives around completely. Other positive affect terms that
teachers expressed were exciting, joy, enthusiasm, surprise, and happy. Corrine describes
how the past year was exciting since she was able to teach the same group of students for
third and fourth grade and how it is a joy to inspire kids, stating, “…it gives me great joy
to inspire kids to really think.” Leslie said that teaching really became exciting to her
after the first three years, since she was then able to focus on teaching and not on
classroom management, nor having to develop understanding on what is a realistic
lesson. She said that although her first year of teaching was challenging, she had a lot of
enthusiasm and a lot of wanting to teach, saying, “you know I didn’t have a first clue
about how to do anything, but one thing I had was a lot of enthusiasm and I had a lot of
wanting to do it.” Michelle talked about being excited about a teacher science education
inservice week and about being happy with her career, “But I don’t think of not being a
teacher. I never think I don’t want to be a teacher anymore or looking for a new career. I
think I’m happy where I am”. In addition, Aurora talked about how what the students
77
can do surprise her. Teachers also spoke positively about teaching, using terms not
included in the PANAS-X. Positive terms that came up regarding teaching as a career
once each are: accomplishment, good, memorable, stimulating, lucky, encouraging, and
rewarding. Terms that came up twice are: enjoy, love, fortunate, and wonderful.
Teachers volunteered times when they felt the positive emotions, for example, Leslie
taught in a difficult assignment in South Central L.A. and spoke about how it was
shocking to see the students’ lack of vocabulary and experiences, but stated, “I did feel a
strong sense of accomplishment”.
Teachers spoke with only a few negative affect terms that are identified in the
PANAS-X, for example, Ana said, “I thought (sigh), I’m really tired of first grade…I was
ready to just move on into something else and challenge myself.” Ana shared how she
was tired of being in the classroom after seven years, so she had sought to become a
Reading Coach in the school district. Leslie discussed how sad she felt about teaching as
a profession, asserting, “it’s sad you know I think that more people would stay in the
profession if they were treated better and you know the pay was better.”
Other negative affect terms that were not used in the PANAS-X were initiated by
the teachers during the interviews. Eight terms that were mentioned once are: dread,
disheartening, difficult, frustrating, cynical, mad, annoyed, and worry. Two teachers
used the word horrific and three teachers used the word challenging. Five of the six
teachers used the word discouraging, in the context of different parts of the teaching
career, as related to parents for Leslie, for poor student behavior for Cynthia, in general
for the profession for Michelle, and relation to administration and red tape for Aurora and
78
Corrine. Aurora talks negatively about administrative decisions for spending money,
“I’ve no control over, I mean that’s discouraging.” Corrine says, “These things are really
discouraging.” when talking about how being on the school social committee fulfills the
requirement for her state-mandated teacher evaluation as an adjunct duty, but having a
tutoring program after school does not qualify.
Teachers who volunteered positive terms when speaking about teaching at times
began by speaking about a negative situation, then spoke about the positive, for example
Corrine talked about her students who began as failures and then became successful, or
Leslie described difficulties with classroom management for the first three years of
teaching, then the period immediately after, elaborating, ”that’s when I felt, when I
became really, really motivated because I didn’t have to spend time on that kind of stuff,
I just really focused on teaching and that’s when it became really exciting to me”.
Teachers were very forthcoming when talking about the negative parts of their
teaching career. The negative terms they used were varied and strong, such as the term
“discouraging”, or as Corrine describes her first year of teaching, “in retrospect it was
horrific.” Ana was “really tired of being in the classroom”, left teaching and then
returned seven years later. In conclusion, the data on affect suggests that the teachers in
this study have more positive then negative affect about their careers as teachers, as well
as experiencing other affective states, of serenity, surprise, and fatigue. Some teachers
also indicated that they strongly feel irritable, angry, upset, and distressed about teaching
as a career. When teachers described their feelings, they spoke about positive and
79
negative mood states, and at times added the positive part of a negative situation. The
teachers were able to stay positive, despite having negative experiences.
Findings for Importance and Interest
Importance
When the teachers were interviewed, the question about importance elicited
responses about what the teachers view as the important responsibilities as a teacher.
Leslie and Ana responded that it is important for teachers to know the students in terms
of the academic levels that they are currently functioning at, Corrine and Ana spoke
about how it is an important responsibility for teachers to make sure the classroom time is
productive for learning, but only Ana elaborated on the importance of her position as she
asserted, “it always comes back to me because I am the bottom line.”
In conclusion, when questioned, teachers rated teaching to be an important career
to themselves, and although teachers spoke about many important components of
teaching, only one interviewed teacher elaborated about the importance of teaching as a
career.
Interest
Three teachers said that what makes teaching interesting is the students. They
mention with interest students that have challenging behaviors. Leslie answers that what
draws her into teaching is when kids are really unmotivated and have behavior problems
as “those I always consider my challenges and to get them some way to hook them and
get them to, to want to do it, and want to become really proud of their work and that’s
probably my favorite thing.” Cynthia responded that it’s the children, “charming ones
80
and challenging ones”, and that she has developed some very good relationships and also
memorable relationships with students over the years, and added, “I’d have to say the
students I mean they’re why we get up in the morning and why we come back the next
day.” Aurora sees as interesting “the kids with special needs, from autism to dyslexia.”
The teachers mention the challenges in teaching, as in the interview data about the
affect terms. They talk about student behavior and about teaching students with special
education needs.
Two other aspects of teaching that teachers stated as interesting are the area of
staff development and the learning process. Michelle spoke with excitement about staff
development in science where she increased her knowledge about geology, “I find that
encouraging when you get more…it motivates you.” and “I would go on my own time for
social studies, because I think I need more California history, anything that I feel like I
could use, I would go, without pay.” Ana indicates, “the learning process is very
interesting because I notice that you can apply it to other things…many of the things that
apply to how children learn can be the same way adults learn.” After being asked about
factors that influenced continuing to teach, Michelle and Ana replied that it is learning
about the content of what they teach as well as in learning new instructional methods.
In summary, the teachers in this study recognize the importance and interest
values of teaching as a career. Interest was characterized by the areas of student
engagement, students with different needs, staff development, and the learning process.
81
Qualitative Findings – Emerging Themes
Six teachers were interviewed and four themes emerged as related to persistence
in teaching. This study examined the motivational characteristics of persistent teachers
and analysis of the interview data revealed four themes, first, of career changers, as four
of the teachers did not initially choose teaching as a career. Second, teachers continue to
have urban school challenges, have considered leaving the classroom, and stay for a
variety of reasons. Third, the teachers recounted the positive influence of mentors or role
models, and last, teachers engaged in self-reflection.
Career Changers
Four of the six teachers did not initially plan to have teaching as a career.
Michelle and Corrine were in business in private industry and Aurora and Cynthia
switched during mid-college to teaching as a career. After 20 years in private industry
with “a wonderful company, it was a wonderful salary”, Corrine’s first teaching
assignment was “a terribly difficult class…the ones the teachers wanted to not
teach…very challenging children so I had a challenging year…in retrospect it was
horrific…but the one thing I had was a lot of enthusiasm.” Cynthia, who “has never
thought of leaving teaching”, talked about her switch to a career as a teacher, “but I don’t
regret that though, because the degree that I had the first time, I did what I wanted to
learn, so I think I became a better teacher.”
This suggests that career changers may be more persistent in teaching as they
have considered or experienced other careers and actively chose to teach. In addition,
82
they did not choose teaching as a default; they had successful prior career choices, but
they instead chose to teach.
Persist for a Variety of Reasons, with Challenges
When asked about their experience of teaching in an urban school, teachers
identified challenges such as the students’ lack of vocabulary, experiences, discipline,
and English language skills. In addition, students or families had a low level of school
importance, such as a parent of one of Michelle’s students who did not believe that their
child could aspire to go to college, which for Michelle was “really an eye opener”.
Although challenges were mentioned, they were often followed by positive comments,
such as having a strong sense of accomplishment about seeing student growth or knowing
that although students may not have a lot of academic experience, they have other gifts,
as Corrine discloses what she tells her students, “We all have talents, but the talents
measured in schools are certain talents, like math and reading, but a lot of times you have
gifts you are not even aware that you have.” Corrine has empathy with immigrant
students who do not know English because she has a similar background. The teacher
descriptions of experiences show that these teachers who persist are not without
challenges, yet they continue to teach.
Most of the teachers spoke about difficulties during their first years of teaching.
A variety of challenging experiences were volunteered, as if they were recent
occurrences. “The first three years I was just kind of treading water…and try to learn
classroom management…plan realistic lessons”, recalled Leslie, and then Cynthia, a 38-
year veteran teacher:
83
First of all when you come into the profession you’re not really prepared for the
profession. I’ll say that. I mean I took all my methods and all that. I came in, I
was going to use all the theories I was taught, but when you come into a
classroom with 20 or 32 different bodies, they come with 32 different
experiences, baggage, minds, the theory is not going to help. You’ve got to have
a blanket discipline plan, you’ve got to get to know the children.
Cynthia continued to comment on challenges such as how the school day is shorter now
compared to when she started teaching and the impact of the federal No Child Left
Behind with “more on our plate” and the resulting pacing which is “too much for the
teacher and definitely too much for the children.” She added that the first year was the
most trying and, “I didn’t want to act like you don’t know what you are doing.” Aurora
discussed how she did not have administrative support and didn’t “know better at the
beginning” but is now “politically aware of why and what’s going on.” Lastly, Corrine
says she, “changed a lot in the way I handle discipline.” She discusses how she taught
whole language reading with everything in themes all day and now it’s a standards-based
curriculum, which is “much more difficult. It’s much more challenging, so yeah, very
different.”
The detail that these teachers had in recollection of their first years of teaching
reflects the impact these years had on their careers as teachers. The important fact is that
despite the rough beginnings, they are still teaching.
Teachers were asked what has influenced their decision to continue as a
classroom teacher, as well as if they had ever considered leaving the classroom. They
spoke at length about four reasons; 1) knowing they can make a difference despite
challenges, 2) their colleagues, 3) how they continue to learn, and 4) the children.
Cynthia spoke about how teaching has been challenging and how it has changed over the
84
years, with most changes in the area of discipline, about the children not having “a sense
of values, a sense of morals, a sense of manners” and how she kept on teaching because
she knew that she could make a difference saying, “This is the career I chose… I could
see that I could make a difference in a major way with education, so I entered it and made
it my career, and I’ve had no thoughts of ever leaving.” Michelle described many
challenges, yet, when asked about the possibility of stopping teaching, said, “No, no, I
think because it’s my second.” It is interesting to note that both of these teachers chose
teaching as a second career.
Collegiality was discussed as a support, as Michelle said, “when one is
overloaded with something we try to help that person”. She continued later to talk about
the team, “We’re not perfect. We get mad at each other, like we’ll get annoyed, but
usually we just go and tell them, and I think we have a trust relationship like that.” She
elaborates, “we have very different teaching styles, which is weird, cause you’d think that
we’re all the same, but we’re not. I think the good thing is we feed off each other’s
weaknesses and strengths”. Corrine spoke of camaraderie as a support and Cynthia spoke
of what keeps her coming back, noting, “it’s your colleagues”. Corrine has an
opportunity to change from a full classroom of fourth grade students to teaching a third
grade classroom with substantially less students, and states, “I always tell my colleagues,
I say if not for them, I would request third grade. I only stay in fourth grade really
because I love my fourth grade colleagues.” This comment supports the strength of
collegiality as a motivating factor.
85
The concept of the adult as a lifelong learner emerged as a theme after teachers
were asked what has influenced their decision to continue teaching. Cynthia states, “It’s
stimulating, too. I mean you learn things every day and new strategies to get the
curriculum across to your children.” Corrine spoke positively about how she has evolved
from learning from her colleagues. Leslie described staff development trainings she
attended and how she felt motivated when she had more knowledge, saying, “I felt that
was encouraging because you know you get it helps, it motivates you I think.” She
continued to discuss staff development, “I would go on my own time for social studies,
because I think I need more California history, anything that I feel like I could use, I
would go, without pay.” Ana spoke about personal growth through learning to conduct
an author study with her students and stated, “motivating me is also challenging myself.”
The teachers spoke about learning at different levels, of how to teach, the content of what
they are teaching, and just personal growth.
The students were mentioned as an influence in persistence as a classroom
teacher. Immediately after the interview was completed, a former student of Cynthia’s
came into the classroom to visit. Cynthia had given detailed comments about different
students who struggled when they were her students, and that they return to visit her. She
stated, “They come and go and like I said I wish there were more success stories but I’ve
had a few and they’re the ones that keep me going.” She continued to talk about a
student who moved to Texas and had come to visit her and tell her that he will be
graduating from high school this year, saying, “That happened just the other day. He was
visiting from Texas, so those are the moments. You don’t know when they are going to
86
come, but when they come, that’s why I do this.” Later, she continued, “again, it’s the
children that keep you coming back.”
Corrine speaks about the influence of the children for continuing to teach, saying,
“I think it’s really in me to want to see a child rise up to something that they could never
think they are capable of…you have a kid who actually turns it around, and turns it
around completely, and it gives me a lot of pride to see that.” During this interview an
older former student came into the classroom to visit Corrine, in fact, four of the five
teachers who were asked about their relationship to students recalled maintaining ties
outside the classroom and for several years after the students left the classrooms. After
Cynthia’s interview ended a former student came in to the classroom to visit her. Aurora
stated that relationships with her students are very important, and, “I have relationships
with my classes for years, even in college.” She recalled that she had this kind of
relationship with her teachers and that’s why she came to teach in the district she
attended as a student. Cynthia spoke about attending the graduation for a former student
who was the valedictorian, and how the student spoke about her in his graduation speech,
and Michelle had a classroom wall filled with photos of special occasions she attended
for her students, such as christening ceremonies and proudly talked about the events. The
teachers provided a variety of influences on persistence in teaching and each factor was
not exclusive to single teachers as some teachers provided more than one reason to
continue to teach.
Teachers were asked if they considered leaving the classroom and what occurred
to change their minds. Two teachers had monetary considerations. Leslie said she
87
needed more money as a single parent of two children, but decided, “I really, really enjoy
what I do, I really do, so it’s really hard pressed for me to quit that and jump into
something else because I really love what I do.” Corrine only considered leaving
teaching when she heard that her daughter could attend a local private university tuition-
free if she worked there, so she started looking online for jobs but realized she would
have to know more about computers and then stopped the process. In the first case the
loss of a preferred activity, teaching, overcame a possible financial gain and in the second
case the absence of training deferred the teacher from leaving teaching.
Three of the teachers have not considered leaving teaching, Michelle saying that
she has not thought of stopping teaching because it is her second career, Cynthia saying
how this is the career she chose, and Aurora stating, “No, it’s not in the future, it’s just
that I’m hesitant now because I don’t think it’s a step up.” It is interesting to note that
these three teachers had made career changes into teaching.
Ana left teaching after seven years for a consultant role as a Literacy Coach in the
school district. She returned to the classroom after two years and talked about why she
wanted the change, “I had just had to challenge myself. I need to continue to do
something different and that’s what kept me in the, in my career.” She also spoke about
possibly teaching at the Intermediate or high school level, and of selling real estate as
well, but not for a monetary gain, describing how she would “take a cut, a big cut in
money” if she were to change to a career in real estate. She brought up the desire to have
change possibly within teaching as well as not within teaching as a need to keep her in
her career.
88
Influence of Mentors or Role Models
Five of the six teachers were quick to identify mentors who had a positive
influence on their teaching career. Mentors included past college professors, current and
past teacher colleagues, a teacher’s seventh grade teacher, and a mentor assigned for a
reading training. Leslie and Ana volunteered that their mentors taught them self-
reflection, Ana stating that her mentor, “made me a very reflective teacher, which I
wasn’t, I wasn’t, sometimes I didn’t realize, I didn’t know why I was doing the things I
was doing.” Ana just completed mentoring a beginning teacher and explained how the
beginning teacher said that this teacher “helped me to reflect on things that I would do,
why I do that”, continuing, “instead of just giving her the answers, so I guess what I
learned I passed on to her.”
It was clear that these teachers valued their experiences with mentors or role
models as they recalled these individuals who influenced their careers as teachers.
Self-reflection
Michelle spoke about self-reflection, “You always question yourself, you always
wonder if this is the best way to do this.” Ana spoke about how she was mentored and
“became a very reflective teacher”, and is now passing on this skill to a beginning
teacher. She adds that she is always reflecting on what she is doing so she can maximize
so there is “no down time” in her classroom, saying, “I always question it, and I say it’s
never the child’s fault; it always comes back to me because I am the bottom line.”
Leslie discussed how she always reflects on what she did, how she can do
something better and changes her teaching, asserting, “So I guess maybe that’s why I
89
never burnt out on teaching because I always try something different every year.”
Leslie’s statement opens the possibility of a relationship between self-reflection and
teacher persistence.
In conclusion, the four themes that emerged from the teacher interviews
contribute to the knowledge of characteristics of persistent teachers. These teachers were
openly willing to talk about their difficulty in their beginning years as a teacher, and how
they continue to have challenges. They also provided some reasons for continuing to
teach, for Michelle it’s that she chose to teach after having a different career, for Leslie
it’s trying something new every year, and for Cynthia it’s her colleagues and the children.
Summary of Results
Ninety-two second, third, or fourth grade urban school district teachers completed
written questionnaires about their beliefs on self-efficacy, affect about teaching as a
career, importance of teaching, and interest for teaching. Six teachers from this group
were interviewed for motivational characteristics about teaching. Pearson product
correlations were analyzed and several significant correlations were found. A factor
analysis assessing the validity of the interest questionnaire was used to exclude three of
the nine interest questions. Reliability was determined to be sufficient for the scales. No
statistical significance was found after a multiple regression analysis for variance in years
of teaching was completed for the factors of self-efficacy, positive affect, negative affect,
importance of teaching, and interest in teaching. ANOVAs for each of the factors were
conducted for teachers who taught from 5 through 15 years compared to 16 through 41
years, and no statistical significance was found. ANOVAs comparing different grade
90
levels were completed and statistical significance was found between second and fourth
grade teachers on the factor of positive affect, with fourth grade teachers indicating
higher positive affect for teaching. Four themes emerged from the teacher interviews in
the areas of persistence of second career teachers, persistence despite challenges, the
influence of mentors, and acknowledgement of the use of self-reflection.
91
CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION
The purpose of this study was to enhance the body of knowledge in the area of
teacher attrition in order to address the problem of teachers leaving the profession at high
rates, as cited by Zeichner (2003) at 50% for teachers in urban schools. This research
examined the motivational characteristics of persistent teachers in high poverty urban
schools through data collection of self-efficacy, affect, and important and interest values.
A mixed-methods approach was applied in order to first quantitatively identify the factors
that the teachers share in the areas of study, then further inquire into factors through
teacher interviews in order to enhance the initial data. One statistically significant result
was found in the area of positive affect, and several themes were identified from the
teacher interviews.
Findings From Quantitative Data
It cannot be determined from the results from the multiple regression that a
significant relationship exists between the variables as measured through the surveys
used in this study. The dependent variable, years of teaching, did not vary based on the
factors of self-efficacy, positive and negative affect for teaching as a career, the
importance of teaching, and interest in teaching. The possibility of problematic statistical
analysis is a consideration for this multiple regression analysis. Although multicollinarity
did not appear to be violated as the Tolerance levels were sufficient, a consideration of
singularity between the variables of importance and interest is a factor as the Pearson
correlation for these two factors of .818 is near the maximum level of .90, which will
92
effect statistical calculations. In addition, the sample size for this multiple regression
analysis is near a minimum requirement as suggested by Cohen (1992). The significant
correlation between some of the independent variables may show that there may exist
between these variables only a few factors to be examined when researching motivational
variables and persistent teachers. For example, interest and importance are highly
correlated, so one may indicate the other, or it is possible that a third factor may indicate
both variables. Significant correlations between independent variables are not desired in
regression analysis. These correlations can be diminished through stepwise or
hierarchical regression analysis, however, the sample size of this study is too small for
these analyses.
The results of the ANOVAs did not determine differences between the two groups
of teachers based on years of teaching experience. The motivational factors measured did
not significantly differ between the groups. Johnson and Birkeland (2003) did uncover a
split in their group of persistent teachers. Half of the teachers were satisfied and the
others were dissatisfied, yet they all continued to teach beyond three years. It could be
possible that the teachers in this present study also have characteristics that are associated
with leaving teaching, such as low self-efficacy related to student discipline problems, yet
continue to teach as the dissatisfied teachers continued to teach. It should be considered
that there are many factors related to teacher turnover, as specified in the literature
review, and this study measured only some of the factors. Ingersoll (2001) found that
there is an additive affect for factors related to teacher turnover and it cannot be
determined from this study where the examined variables fit into the numerous teacher
93
turnover factors. This study also measured the beliefs of teachers who are currently
teaching and it is not known if they will continue to teach or leave teaching at any time.
Self-Efficacy
The teachers in this study were the “stayers”. Descriptive statistics between the
groups in this study did not yield significance, however, examination of the qualitative
data show that teachers continued throughout their teaching careers despite their stated
lack of skills in student discipline at current and past times in their careers. Ingersoll
(2001) found that lower levels of student discipline problems are associated with less
teacher turnover, and in this case it appears that the persistent teachers who were
interviewed had concerns about problems in student discipline. The teachers spoke about
the support they received to develop skills. Corrine spoke of how a same grade level
colleague had assisted her the past five years in enhancing her skills in student discipline.
This development can lead to mastery, which per Bandera (1997) leads to high self-
efficacy. Social persuasion and collegiality were identified as Corrine spoke about her
interaction with the colleague to raise her skill level in student discipline, in fact, Corrine
has made a choice to teach in fourth grade with a greater class size, rather than change to
an easier assignment in a grade with less students because as she says, “I love my fourth
grade colleagues.” Hobson, Ashby, Malderez, and Tomlinson (2008) found that most of
their findings of the benefits of mentoring were related to emotional and psychological
support. Corrine and other interviewed teachers spoke about the mentoring role in
student discipline and other areas that colleagues and university instructors had provided
and how this positively influenced their careers. Johnson and Birkland (2003) described
94
how half the stayers in their study were dissatisfied, and one concern was in the area of
discipline. The existence of these dissatified stayers show that there are some teachers
with concerns in the area of student discipline who do persist. The teachers also spoke of
how continuing to learn was a reason to continue their careers as teachers. This
continued learning as well as knowing they can make a difference despite challenges are
reasons the teachers stated that contributed to their persistence in teaching.
In the area of Self-Efficacy for Student Engagement and Instructional Strategies it
is interesting to examine the interview data to see the process of how teachers have
reached this level. The teachers were actually seeking the students with difficulties, as
Leslie says it’s her “favorite thing to hook them”, and Corrine states, “I think it’s really in
me to want to see a child rise up to something that they could never think they are
capable of.” Regarding adapting instructional strategies, Leslie talks about how she
“never burnt out on teaching because I always try something different every year.” These
teachers not only persist longer at teaching challenges and work longer with struggling
students as Milner and Woolfolk Hoy (2003) describe their teachers with high self-
efficacy, they appear to desire these challenges. They seek the challenges and persist, so
in theory they see themselves to have some expectancy of success. These success stories
the teachers shared are evidence of their effectiveness, as in the teachers in the study by
Brunetti (2001) where teachers reported being rewarded by student success experiences.
Affect
The ANOVA between the two groups of persistent teachers did not result in
statistical significance for each of the variables of self-efficacy, negative affect, and the
95
importance and interest for teaching as a career, however, there was a difference between
grade levels for positive affect of second and fourth grade teachers, with the fourth grade
teachers having a higher level of positive affect. In the district where the sample was
drawn, most of the elementary schools are in a Kindergarten through fourth grade
configuration. An examination of what fourth grade teachers are responsible for teaching
and of the characteristics of second versus fourth grade students does show some
differences. The second grade students are still learning to read, and the fourth grade
students should have learned the skill of reading adequately enough to use it to learn from
content area textbooks. Fourth grade students, being older, could have a larger gap than
second grade students in terms of missing skills or could be considered as more
challenging to learn as there is more content for the teachers to teach. It would seem that
the fourth grade teachers may have less to be positive about. The interview data may
uncover some reasons that 4
th
grade teachers have higher positive affect. Fourth grade
teachers may be viewed as “senior” to the lower grades. Perhaps collegiality forms as the
fourth grade team develops together as leaders. Corrine talked about how she has such a
great fourth grade team of teachers that she has declined teaching a lower grade with less
students, which would be an easier teaching assignment. Ana was a fourth grade teacher
who left a first grade classroom in order to “challenge” herself, and now is happy to teach
fourth grade. The interviewed teachers spoke about how they have weathered through
the difficult experiences and their success stories, as the teachers in the study by Brunetti
(2001) who reported about being rewarded by their student success stories. This success
leads to mastery and as the challenging experiences are encountered and success occurs,
96
the teachers can expect to succeed with future challenges, therefore having a positive
outlook. Perhaps the second grade teachers do not have as many challenges as fourth
grade teachers, thus, less experience to demonstrate mastery for any skills to be
developed for teaching. Three of the fourth grade teachers who were interviewed spoke
about being mentored by their grade level colleagues and success in development of
teaching skills as well as the emotional and psychological support that Hobson, Ashby,
Malderez, and Tomlinson (2008) discuss could be the factors that led to persistence.
Sutton and Wheatley (2003) raised questions from their review, asking if teachers
can maintain positive emotions despite difficulties. The interviewed teachers did tell of
difficulties in several areas such as in student discipline, administration, and working
with parents. They spoke about being sad, tired, and used the terms horrific,
discouraging, and frustrating. Despite expressing their negative feelings about their
careers as teachers, these teachers expressed themselves with the terms proud, exciting,
joy, enthusiasm, surprise, and happy. Indeed, the teachers in the study by Stanford
(2001) acknowledged that they spoke to each other after challenging days and continued
to teach in their urban, poverty-stricken school.
The area of teacher affect is one with many opportunities for research. This study
represents an initial attempt to study the affect of teachers, but the accurate measurement
and identification of affect, and affect for what areas of teachers and teaching need to be
developed, then further questions researched, such as what is the role of teacher affect in
teacher retention? How do teachers ‘handle’ positive and negative experiences in
teaching and what are the implications for the future?
97
Interest and Importance Values
Groups of teachers were compared for importance of teaching as a career and
interest for teaching as a career and the results were not significant. The results of
statistical analysis are affected by several factors, including the sample size and the
choice of measure. The teachers in this study were self-selected as they had a choice of
participating in the survey or not. It is possible that teachers who declined to participate
would have had opposing responses to the measures of interest or importance and the size
of this sample, at a minimum for statistical analysis, is a distorted view of the population.
The measures used for the written survey were compiled from other measures and there
was one importance question. Further data from the interviews show the areas of interest
about teaching that the teachers identify. Teachers told about challenging experiences
such as teaching unmotivated students and students with behavior problems. They were
also interested in students with special needs, from autism to dyslexia, and in learning
new methods to teach or content for instructional areas. It would be of value to see how
some teachers view students with behavior problems as interesting while others view
these students as a reason to leave teaching. Does support of skill development through
mentorship or collegiality such as in the case of Corrine’s support from her grade level
colleague maintain persistence? It would seem to be a possibility as mastery can lead to
persistence.
Interview Themes
Qualitative research can provide rich data that can be used for direction into further
research studies. It is preliminary to generalize the information gained from the teacher
98
interviews in this study to the teacher population, but some themes are found to fit
together into the construct of self-efficacy. Teachers described how they practice self-
reflection. This can lead to identification of areas of need. The teachers sought out
challenges such as in reaching unmotivated students, and had support from colleagues,
eventually describing the successes they had with students. This success can lead to high
self-efficacy, which allows the teacher to persist more in challenging situations.
Implications for Practice
Teachers will continue to leave the profession and disrupt the continuity of the
school program, in addition, increase costs for the hiring of new teachers. This study
contributes to the information that is used for recruiting and hiring teachers, in a plan to
maintain long-term career teachers.
Consideration of many factors can be made when training, hiring, and providing for
teachers at the district or school level. Based on the literature as well as results from this
study, these considerations are:
• Implications for teacher training programs:
- train teacher candidates in self-reflection
- provide a mentor component, matched to desired assignment or subjects
• Implications for hiring:
- hire teachers with high self-efficacy
- highly consider second career teachers
- seek teachers who desire collegiality
- seek teachers who do not reject challenging students
99
- hire teachers who are trained in self-reflection
- identify candidates with a passion for teaching
- find teachers interested in working with children
- find candidates who decided to be a teacher before high school graduation
- hire certified teachers, but consider that advanced degree teachers are more
likely to leave
- provide a “high” salary, or provide a salary at least as high as an adjacent
district
- place teachers who are Black or Hispanic in schools with Black or Hispanic
students
- consider that alternative certification does not make a difference for
elementary school teachers, but does for high school teachers
- high school math teachers should be traditionally certified
- if alternatively certified, a mentor component of the program is important
• Implications at the district level:
- provide an induction program with a mentor of a similar teaching
assignment, and schedule time for the teachers to meet
- have adequate building facilities
• Implications for Principals/school administrators:
- provide administrative support to teachers and be aware of site problems
- provide an effective student discipline program
- allow an environment for collegiality
100
- consider that stayers perceive that teaching has more advantages than
disadvantages, so be cognizant of the distribution of factors for each side
- understand that teachers may speak negatively about teaching, but they
may concurrently look at the positive side
Although preliminary, further research may identify a potential positive investment into
teachers with motivational characteristics as well as other considerations.
Implications for Research
This study provides information for future research studies, especially in the case
of longitudinal studies that seek to identify specific characteristics of the stayers and
leavers. Given the lists of implications for hiring, training or interacting with teachers,
studies into the additive effect of the many factors could be conducted. Further research
could examine points when teachers leave the profession and their motivational
characteristics, for example, did the leaver have strong collegial support or positive affect
about teaching as a career? Was the leaver tired, upset, or distressed about their career?
Women who leave and come back to teaching due to maternity leave could be
considered. Attrition studies that are of a longitudinal design could provide more data at
specific points in time, and this current examination of teacher motivational
characteristics can be added to the current studies on the impact of teacher characteristics,
school characteristics, certification and induction programs, and school or district
characteristics, in order to merge all available information for decision-makers.
101
Conclusion
The study of teacher attrition contains many factors to be studied. It is hoped that
researchers will consider the study of motivational characteristics of teachers, in order to
develop insight into psychological processes that teachers may undertake as they decide
to either persist in the profession or leave. This study provides some insight into
identifying these characteristics of persistent teachers. Through this study, the area of
teacher affect was extended and can provide a basis for subsequent research.
102
REFERENCES
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman and
Company.
Blanchett, W.J., Mumford, V., & Beachum, F. (2005). Urban school failure and
disproportionality in a post-Brown era: Benign neglect of the constitutional rights
of students of color. Remedial and Special Education, 26(2), 70-81.
Bobbitt, S., Leich, M., Whitener, S., & Lynch, H. (1994). Characteristics of stayers,
movers, and leavers: Results from the teacher follow up survey, 1991-92.
Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
Boe, E.E., Bobbitt, S.A., Cook, L.H., Whitener, S.D., & Weber, A.L. (1997). Why didst
thou go? Predictors of retention, transfer, and attrition of special and general
education teachers from a national perspective. The Journal of Special Education,
30, 390-411.
Boe, E.E., Cook, L.H., & Sunderland, R.J. (2008). Teacher turnover: Examining exit
attrition, teaching area transfer, and school migration. Exceptional Children,
75(1), 7-31
Brayfield, A.H. and Rothe, H.F. (1951). An index of job satisfaction. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 35(5), 307-311.
Brookhart, S. M., & Freeman, D. J. (1992). Characteristics of entering teacher candidates.
Review of Educational Research, 62(1), 37-60.
Brunetti, G. J. (2001). Why do they teach?: A study of job satisfaction among long-term
high school teachers. Teacher Education Quarterly, 28(3), 49-74.
Buckley, J., Schneider, M., & Shang, Y. (2005). Fix it and they might stay: School
facility quality and teacher retention in Washington, D.C. Teachers College
Record, 107(5), 1107-1123.
Cohen, J. (1992). A Power Primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155-159.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2
nd
ed). New
York, NY: Taylor and Francis Group.
Creswell, J.W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
approaches (2
nd
ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
103
Darling-Hammond, L., & Berry, B. (1999). Recruiting teachers for the 21
st
century: The
foundation for educational equity. Journal of Negro Education, 68(3), 254-279.
Darling-Hammond, L., Holtzman, D. J., Gatlin, S. J., & Heilig, J. V. (2005). Does teacher
preparation matter? Evidence about teacher certification, Teach for America, and
teacher effectiveness. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 13(42), Retrived from
http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v13n42/
Decker, P., Mayer, D., & Glazerman, S. (2006). Alternative routes to teaching: The
impacts of Teach for America on student achievement and other incomes. Journal
of Policy Analysis and Management, 25(1), 75-96.
Ehrich, L. C., Hansford, B., & Tennent, L. (2004). Formal mentoring programs in
education and other professions: A review of the literature. Educational
Administration Quarterly, 40, 518-540.
Feistritzer, C. E. (1993). National overview of alternative teacher certification.
Education and Urban Society, 26(1), 18-28.
Feistritzer, C. E. (2010). Introduction and Overview. In Feistritzer, C. E. (2010).
Alternative teacher certification: A state-by-state analysis 2010. Retrieved from
http://www.teach-now.org/intro.cfm
Fink, A., & Kosecoff, J. (1998). How to conduct surveys: A step-by-step guide (2
nd
ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Firestone, W. A., & Pennell, J. R. (1993). Teacher commitment, working conditions, and
differential incentive policies. Review of Educational Research, 63(4), 489-525.
Fresko, B., Kfir, D., & Nassar, F. (1997). Predicting teacher commitment. Teaching and
Teacher Education, 13(4), 429-438.
Ghaith, G. & Shaaban, K. (1999). The relationship between perceptions of teaching
concerns, teacher efficacy, and selected teacher characteristics. Teaching and
Teacher Education, 15, 487-496.
Gibson, S., & Dembo, M. (1984). Teacher efficacy: A construct validation. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 76(4), 569-582.
Grissmer, D. & Kirby, S.N. (1997). Teacher turnover and teacher quality. Teachers
College Record, 99, 45-56.
Hanushek, E.A., Kain, J.F., & Rivkin, S. G. (2004). Why public schools lose teachers.
The Journal of Human Resources, 39(2), 326-354.
104
Harrell, P., Leavell, A., vanTassel, F., & McKee, K. (2004). No teacher left behind:
Results of a five-year study of teacher attrition. Action in Teacher Education
26(2), 47-59.
Hobson, A. J., Ashby, P., Malderez, A., & Tomlinson, P. D. (2008). Mentoring
beginning teachers: What we know and what we don’t. Teaching and Teacher
Education, 25, 207-216.
Huebner, C. E., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2005). Intervention to change parent-child reading
style: A comparison of instructional methods. Applied Developmental
Psychology, 26, 296-313.
Imazeki, J. (2005). Teacher salaries and teacher attrition. Economics of Education
Review, 24, 431-449.
Ingersoll, R. M. (2001). Teacher turnover and teacher shortages: An organizational
analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 38(3), 499-534.
Ingersoll, R., & Kralik, J. M. (2004). The impact of mentoring on teacher retention: What
the research says. Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States. Retrieved
from http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/50/36/5036htm
Johnson, S. M., & Birkeland, S. E. (2003). Pursuing a “sense of success”: New teachers
explain their career decisions. American Educational Research Journal, 40(5),
381-617.
Kelly, S. (2004). An event history analysis of teacher attrition: Salary, teacher tracking,
and socially disadvantaged schools. The Journal of Experimental Education,
72(3), 195-220.
Macdonald, D. (1999). Teacher attrition: A review of literature. Teaching and Teacher
Education, 15, 835-848.
Marso, R. N., & Pigge, F. L. (1997). A longitudinal study of persisting and nonpersisting
teachers’ academic and personal characteristics. The Journal of Experimental
Education, 65, 243-254.
Miech, R. A., & Elder, G. H. (1996). The service ethic and teaching. Sociology of
Education, 69(3), 237-253.
Miles, B. M., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded
sourcebook (2
nd
ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
105
Milner, R. (2002). A case study of an experienced English teacher’s self-efficacy and
persistence through “crisis” situations: Theoretical and practical considerations.
High School Journal, 86(1), 28-36.
Milner, R., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2003). A case study of an African American teacher’s
self-efficacy, stereotype threat, and persistence. Teaching and Teacher Education,
19, 263-276.
Murphy, P. K., & Alexander, P. A. (2000). A motivated exploration of motivation
terminology. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 3-53.
National Center for Education Statistics (2003). Projections of education statistics to
2013. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/projections/ch 5.asp#1
National Center for Education Statistics (2004). Teacher follow-up survey questionnaire
for current teachers 2004-05 school year. Retrieved from
http://www.nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass
National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (1997). Doing what matters
most: Investing in quality teaching. New York: Author. Retrieved from
http://www.nctaf.org/article/?c=4&sc=17&ssc=0&a=43
National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (2003). No dream denied: A
pledge to America’s children. Washington, DC; Author. Retrieved from
http://www.nctaf.org/article/?c=4&sc=16
Ng, J. C. (2003). Teacher shortages in urban schools: The role of traditional and
alternative certification routes in filling the voids. Education and Urban Society,
35(4), 380-398.
Pajares, F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy
construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307-332.
Pintrich, P., & Schunk, D. (2002). Motivation in education. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson Education.
Podgursky, M., Monroe, R. & Watson, D. (2004). The academic quality of public school
teachers: An analysis of entry and exit behavior. Economics of Education Review,
23, 507-518.
Rimm-Kaufman, S.E. & Sawyer, B.E. (2004). Primary-grade teachers’ self-efficacy
beliefs, attitudes toward teaching, and discipline and teaching practice priorities in
relation to the responsive classroom approach. The Elementary School Journal,
104(4), 321-341.
106
Rosenberg, M. S., Boyer, K. L., Sindelar, P., T., & Misra, S. K. (2007). Alternative route
programs for certification in special education: Program infrastructure,
instructional delivery, and participant characteristics. Exceptional Children, 73,
(2), 224-241.
Russell, J.A., & Barrett, L.F. (1999). Core affect, prototypical emotional episodes, and
other things called emotion: Dissecting the elephant. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 76(5), 805-819.
Sawchuk, S. (2009, May 29). NEA on the attack against TFA. Education Week.
Retrieved from http://blogs. edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2009/05/
nea_on_the_attack_against_tfa.html?qs=Sawchuk, +TFA
Shann, M.H. (1998). Professional commitment and satisfaction among teachers in urban
middle schools. The Journal of Educational Research, 92(2), 67-73.
Shen, J. (1997). Teacher retention and attrition in public schools: Evidence from
SASS91. The Journal of Educational Research, 91(2), 81-88.
Smith, T. M. (2007). How do state-level induction and standards-based reform policies
affect induction experiences and turnover among new teachers? American Journal
of Education, 113(2), 273-311.
Smith, T. M., & Ingersoll, R. M. (2004). What are the effects of induction and mentoring
on beginning teacher turnover? American Educational Research Journal, 41(3),
681-714.
Stanford, B. H. (2001). Reflections of resilient, persevering urban teachers. Teacher
Education Quarterly, 28(3), 75-87.
Steele, C.M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test
performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 69(5), 797-811.
Stempien, L.R., & Loeb, R.C. (2002). Differences in job satisfaction between general
education and special education teachers: Implications for retention. Remedial
and Special Education, 23(5), 258-267.
Suell, J., & Piotrowski, C. (2007). Alternative teacher education programs: A review of
the literature and outcome studies. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 34(1), 54-
58.
107
Sutton, R.E., & Wheatley, K.F. (2003). Teachers’ emotions and teaching: A review of
the literature and directions for future research. Educational Psychology Review,
15(4), 327-358.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (5
th
ed.). USA:
Pearson Education.
Tschannen-Moran, M., & Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2001). Teacher efficacy: capturing an
elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17, 783-805.
Tschannen-Moran, M., Woolfolk Hoy, A., & Hoy, W. K. (1998). Teacher efficacy: Its
meaning and measure. Review of Educational Research, 68(2), 202-248.
Watson, D. (1988). The vicissitudes of mood measurement: Effects of varying
descriptors, time frames, and response formats on measures of positive and
negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 128-141.
Watson, D., & Clark, L.A. (1994). The PANAS-X: Manual for the positive and negative
Affect schedules-expanded form. Iowa: The University of Iowa, Retrieved from
http://www.psychology.uiowa.edu/faculty/Clark/
Watson, D., Clark, L.A., & Tellegren, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief
measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS Scale. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063-1070.
Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J.S. (2000). Expectancy-value theory of motivation.
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 68-81.
Wineberg, M.S., (2006). Evidence in teacher preparation: Establishing a framework for
accountability. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(1), 51-64.
Wookfolk, A. (2004). Educational psychology (9
th
ed). USA: Pearson Education.
Wu, V., & Short, P.M. (1996). The relationship of empowerment to teacher job
commitment and job satisfaction. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 23, 85-89.
Yik, M.S.M., Russell, J.A., & Feldman Barrett, L. (1999). Structure of self-reported
current affect: Integrations and beyond. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 77(3), 600-619.
Zeichner, K. M. (2003). The adequacies and inadequacies of three current stages to
recruit, prepare, and retain the best teachers for all students. Teachers College
Record, 105(3), 490-519.
108
Zeichner, K. M., & Schulte, A. K. (2001). What we know and don’t know from peer-
reviewed research about alternative teacher certification programs. Journal of
Teacher Education, 52(4), 266-282.
109
APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE PACKET
Questionnaire Packet
This survey is about your ideas about teaching, and the last page is an invitation for
further participation in the research study.
You will be asked to mark numbers to indicate your item responses.
Please feel free to ask any questions.
Elaine Ige
E-Mail: eige@usc.edu
Phone: (555) 555-5555
110
(backside of first page of Questionnaire Packet)
Teacher Information
Please complete by circling or filling in the blanks:
1. What grade level do you teach? ____________
2. How many years have you taught? ____________
(circle)
3. Gender male female
4. What is your racial identity? (circle)
African American
Asian or Pacific Islander
Hispanic
Native American
Caucasian
Other _____________________________________________
5. Certification: (circle)
Full-Time Credentialed Teacher
Long-Term Substitute, Credentialed
Long-Term Substitute, Not Credentialed
Other (specify) ____________________________________
111
Teacher Beliefs This questionnaire is designed to help us gain a
better understanding of the kinds of things that
create challenges for teachers. Your answers are
confidential.
Directions: Please indicate your opinion about each of the questions below by circling any one of
the nine responses in the columns on the right side, ranging from “1” None at All to “9” A Great
Deal as each represents a degree on the continuum.
Please respond to each of the questions by considering the combination of your current
ability, resources, and opportunity to do each of the following in your present position.
None at Very Some Quite a A Great
All Little Degree Bit Deal
1. How much can you do to control disruptive behavior 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
in the classroom?
2. How much can you do to motivate students who 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
show low interest in schoolwork?
3. How much can you do to calm a student who is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
disruptive or noisy?
4. How much can you do to help your students 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
value learning?
5. To what extent can you craft good questions for 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
your students?
6. How much can you do to get children to follow 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
classroom rules?
7. How much can you do to get students to believe they 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
can do well in school and work?
8. How well can you establish a classroom management 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
system with each group of students?
9. To what extent can you use a variety of assessment 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
strategies?
10.To what extent can you provide an alternative 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
explanation or example when students are confused?
11. How much can you assist families in helping their 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
children do well in school?
12.How well can you implement alternative teaching 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
strategies in your classroom?
112
This scale consists of a number of words and phrases that describe different feelings and emotions.
Indicate to what extent you have felt this way about teaching as your career.
Use the following scale to record your answers on each line:
1 2 3 4 5
very slightly a little moderately quite a bit extremely
_____ cheerful _____ sad _____ active _____ angry at self
_____ disgusted _____ calm _____ guilty _____ enthusiastic
_____ attentive _____ afraid _____joyful _____ downhearted
_____ bashful _____ tired _____ nervous _____ sheepish
_____ sluggish _____amazed _____ lonely _____ distressed
_____ daring _____ shaky _____ sleepy _____ blameworthy
_____ surprised _____ happy _____ excited _____ determined
_____ strong _____ timid _____ hostile _____ frightened
_____ scornful _____ alone _____ proud _____ astonished
_____ relaxed _____ alert _____ jittery _____ interested
_____ irritable _____ upset _____ lively _____ loathing
_____ delighted _____ angry _____ ashamed _ ____ confident
_____ inspired _____ bold _____ at ease _____ energetic
_____ fearless _____ blue _____ scared _____ concentrating
_____ disgusted _____ shy _____ drowsy _____ dissatisfied
with self with self
113
Directions: Please indicate your opinion about each of the items below by
circling any one of the seven responses in the columns on the right side,
ranging from 1 to 7 as each represents a degree on the continuum.
Not at Very To Some Quite a A Great
All Little Degree Bit Deal
1. How important is teaching as a career to you? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2. How interested are you in classroom instruction? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3. How interested are in classroom management? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4. How interested are you in student engagement? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5. How much does teaching arouse your curiosity? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6. In general, how interesting is teaching as a career to you? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Disagree Agree Somewhat Agree
7. My job is usually interesting enough to keep me from getting bored.1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8. It seems that my friends are more interested in their jobs. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
9. I am often bored with my job. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
10. I feel that my job is no more interesting than others I could get. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
114
Invitation to Participate in Interview Phase
Participation in Possible Interview Phase
I would like to interview selected teachers in order to gain more
understanding of teacher characteristics.
If you would like to volunteer to participate in an interview, please provide
your contact information. The interview will be approximately 30-45
minutes and will be scheduled at your convenience. If you are selected for
the interview phase, you will be contacted by the researcher with further
information and can decline to participate at any time. If you do not wish to
participate in an interview, please leave this section blank.
Print Name:____________________________________________
E-mail or phone number: _________________________________
115
APPENDIX B: PANAS-X SCALES
PANAS-X Scales
_____________________________________________________________________________________
General Basic Positive Basic Negative Other Affective
Dimension Emotion Emotion States
Positive Affect
active
alert
attentive
determined
enthusiastic
excited
inspired
interested
proud
strong
Negative Affect
afraid
scared
nervous
jittery
irritable
hostile
guilty
ashamed
upset
distressed
Joviality
happy
joyful
delighted
cheerful
excited
enthusiastic
lively
energetic
Self-Assurance
proud
strong
confident
bold
daring
fearless
Attentiveness
alert
attentive
concentrating
determined
Fear
afraid
scared
frightened
nervous
jittery
shaky
Hostility
angry
hostile
irritable
scornful
disgusted
loathing
Guilt
guilty
ashamed
blameworthy
angry at self
disgusted with self
dissatisfied with
self
Sadness
sad
blue
downhearted
alone
lonely
Shyness
shy
bashful
sheepish
timid
Fatigue
sleepy
tired
sluggish
drowsy
Serenity
calm
relaxed
at ease
Surprise
amazed
surprised
astonished
116
APPENDIX C: STRUCTURED INTERVIEW PROTOCOL
Structured Interview Protocol *
1. Please tell me a little about your career as a teacher. You may want to mention how you got interested
in teaching, when you began teaching and where, what schools you taught at (if more than one), the kinds
of students you have taught, what the highlights of your career have been, etc.
2. You teach in an urban setting. What could you tell me about your experience teaching in an urban
school?
3. As you know, in this study I am principally interested in exploring with teachers motivation for
remaining in the classroom. Can you tell me what has influenced your decision to continue as a classroom
teacher for _____ years?
4. Have there been times, during your years as a teacher, when you considered leaving the classroom? Can
you tell me what your thoughts were at the time and what ultimately happened to change your mind?
5. Do you find teaching or aspects of teaching interesting?
6. What do you see as the most important responsibilities as a teacher?
7. Did you have any role models or mentors that influenced your becoming a teacher?
8. How would you describe your relationship with students, and how important is this relationship to you?
9. How about your relationship with fellow teachers? Are these relationships important to your work as a
teacher?
10. And what about administrators? How would you describe your relationship with administrators and
how has this affected your work as a teacher?
11. Finally, how important is your relationship with parents and the broader community been to your work
as a teacher?
12. In looking back to prior years of teaching, have you changed since earlier years in the classroom?
13. What have been your most rewarding experiences as a teacher? Do you have any experiences that have
been depressing or discouraging?
14. Are there any other comments or observations you would like to make about your work as a teacher?
* adapted from Brunetti (2001)
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
The problem of teacher attrition was reviewed and a mixed-method study of motivational characteristics for years of persistence in a teaching career was conducted. Ninety-two second, third, or fourth grade urban public school teachers who taught for five years or more were surveyed in order to gather quantitative data on the five motivational characteristics of self-efficacy, positive and negative affect, and importance and interest values for teaching as a career. Significant and positive correlations were found between positive affect and each of the factors of self-efficacy, importance, and interest. Importance and interest for teaching as a career were highly correlated. No statistical significance was found for a multiple regression analysis for variance in teaching years for the five motivational characteristics. No statistical significance was found for ANOVAs for teachers who taught from 5-15 years compared to 16-41 years. There was a significant difference for positive affect between 2nd and 4th grade teachers. Six teachers from the sample were interviewed in the qualitative portion of the study and four themes emerged from the interview data: 1) the persistence of second career teachers, 2) persistence despite challenges, 3) the influence of mentors, and 4) the use of self-reflection. This study has implications for administrators at the district and school level, and for teacher training programs, which would potentially reduce teacher recruitment costs and maintain continuity of educational programs for students, in an effort to contribute to the retention of teachers in the profession.
Linked assets
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
Conceptually similar
PDF
Nurses as clinical teachers: variables affecting teaching comfort and self-efficacy
PDF
What are the relationships among program delivery, classroom experience, content knowledge, and demographics on pre-service teachers' self-efficacy?
PDF
Better together: teacher attrition, burnout, and efficacy
PDF
Vocational education graduates: a mixed methods analysis on beliefs and influences of career choice and persistence
PDF
Teacher beliefs on bilingual education for English learners post proposition 227
PDF
Examining the relationship between Latinx community college STEM students’ self-efficacy, social capital, academic engagement and their academic success
PDF
Factors influencing teachers' differentiated curriculum and instructional choices and gifted and non-gifted students' self-perceptions
PDF
Examining teacher retention and attrition in novice teachers
PDF
Student academic self‐efficacy, help seeking and goal orientation beliefs and behaviors in distance education and on-campus community college sociology courses
PDF
The relationship between parenting styles, career decision self-efficacy, and career maturity of Asian American college students
PDF
The effect on teacher career choices: exploring teacher perceptions on the impact of non‐instructional workload on self‐efficacy and self‐determination
PDF
The relationship of students' self-regulation and self-efficacy in an online learning environment
PDF
One Hawai’i K-12 complex public school teachers’ level of computer self-efficacy and their acceptance of and integration of technology in the classroom
PDF
Confidence is key: peer observations and online teacher self-efficacy in higher education
PDF
A comparative study of self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and retention of beginning urban science teachers
PDF
Factors influencing special education teacher attrition in a Hawaii school district
PDF
Sociocultural and motivational factors affecting Asian American females studying physics and engineering in high school
PDF
Sustained mentoring of early childhood education teachers: an innovation study
PDF
The impact of the mindful method Youth Empowerment Seminar (YES!) on students' self-efficacy, self-regulation, and academic performance for becoming college- and career-ready
PDF
Motivational, parental, and cultural influences on achievement and persistence in basic skills mathematics at the community college
Asset Metadata
Creator
Ige, Elaine Anita
(author)
Core Title
Urban teacher persistence: self-efficacy, affect, and values
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Education (Leadership)
Degree Conferral Date
2012-05
Publication Date
03/20/2012
Defense Date
01/19/2012
Publisher
Los Angeles, California
(original),
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
affect,importance,interest,motivation,OAI-PMH Harvest,Persistence,self-efficacy,teacher attrition,teacher turnover,Values
Format
theses
(aat)
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Rueda, Robert (
committee chair
), Gokalp, Gokce (
committee member
), Ragusa, Gisele (
committee member
)
Creator Email
eige@usc.edu,rasure93223@mypacks.net
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC11293671
Unique identifier
UC11293671
Identifier
etd-IgeElaineA-525.pdf (filename)
Legacy Identifier
etd-IgeElaineA-525
Dmrecord
209826
Document Type
Dissertation
Format
theses (aat)
Rights
Ige, Elaine Anita
Internet Media Type
application/pdf
Type
texts
Source
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
Access Conditions
The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright.
Repository Name
University of Southern California Digital Library
Repository Location
USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA
Repository Email
cisadmin@lib.usc.edu
Tags
affect
importance
interest
motivation
self-efficacy
teacher attrition
teacher turnover