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Understanding teacher burnout through a lens of hope in high-poverty schools

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Understanding teacher burnout through a lens of hope in high-poverty schools

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Content UNDERSTANDING TEACHER BURNOUT THROUGH A LENS OF HOPE IN HIGH-
POVERTY SCHOOLS
by
Rebecca Ann Dinda

A Dissertation submitted 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 2023

Copyright 2023 Rebecca Ann Dinda

ii
Dedication
To the selfless educators who have worked in the most challenging positions with a deeper
purpose to inspire and support the overall well-being and academic achievement of students and
families.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Nelson Mandela

iii
Acknowledgements
Never would I have dreamt what a life-changing experience this journey to
accomplishing an Ed.D. in Global Education at the University of Southern California would have
been. Having time to slow down and learn the process of how to find solutions to the most
challenging educational issues has been exhilarating. This program has been top notch. First and
foremost, I want to thank my husband for remembering my future goals and suggesting that this
may be a good time for me to go back to school. A special thanks to Dr. Mark Robison, Dr.
Sabrina Chong, Dr. Vanessa Ault, Dr. Tracy Tambascia, and Dr. Helena Seli for all supporting
and inspiring me at each step of the application process. I had researched several programs and
none of them kept my interest like this one did.
Thank you to my parents for always wanting my siblings and I to be fulfilled, kind, and
productive. My siblings and I are first generation college graduates and were raised from an early
age to be responsible, curious, adventurous, passionate, and independent which I am forever
grateful to them for giving us these gifts.
I want to thank the professors in the program who truly used the educational psychology
theories that Dr. Seli taught us throughout the program to keep us engaged and motivated. Most
of all, my Dissertation Chair, Dr. Krop for always being responsive, supportive, and firm on
deadlines. Dr. Krop’s feedback has been meaningful and her entire being has made the entire
process enjoyable. Thank you to Dr. Tambascia and Dr. Picus for supporting the process and
being on my dissertation committee. Thank you to my profound and distinguished classmates in
Cohort 9, words cannot describe how much I adore you all and have learned from each of you.

iv
I want to acknowledge the leaders who gave me the opportunity and honor of working
with them to serve the students in their schools. I truly have worked for and with leaders who
have always made every decision based on what is best for students. Thank you Mr. Robert
McGray, Mrs. Annie Sweeney, Mr. Don Waloinis, Mrs. Sherry Hage, Ms. Billie Miller, Mr.
David McKnight, Mrs. Donte Fulton-Collins, and Mr. Michael Lupton for being so inspiring.
Thank you, Charter Schools Network, and school principals, for trusting and allowing me
to visit your schools and meet with your teachers. A special thank you to all the teachers from
the pilot and three schools in the sample for working in these positions and giving your all to
their students each day. Thank you to those who completed the online survey and a very special
acknowledgement to those who went a step further and participated in 30 and sometimes 45-
minute interviews to share more information about the topic. Without each of you, this research
was not possible.
Lastly, thank you to the students and teachers who drove me to look deeper into this topic
due to the deep admiration I have for each one of you. I witnessed you work so hard, and you
taught me what a quality education in high-poverty schools looks like. The teachers arrived
bright and early every morning, were on their feet 8 to 12 hours a day, implemented research-
based instructional and motivational strategies, went above and beyond, and often cared the most
about their students’ success. Working with so many talented and dedicated teachers motivated
me to learn more about teacher engagement and burnout through the lens of hope to understand
what we can do differently to lessen teacher burnout and increase teacher retention, so all
children have access to a quality public education.

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Abstract
Schools throughout the country are experiencing teacher shortages and many teachers are leaving
the field to find greater satisfaction in other professions. Past research has found that teaching
positions in high-poverty schools have greater demands, leading to more turnover that can
negatively impact student achievement. Though research has been conducted on the achievement
gap, teacher engagement, burnout, and retention, there is a lack of research on how school
leaders and organizations can best support teachers in high-poverty schools. The purpose of the
dissertation was to understand how teachers are currently experiencing engagement and burnout
through a lens of hope theory in high-poverty schools, serving predominantly Black students, to
learn the best ways school leaders can help them lessen their burnout. Using data from surveys
and interviews of teachers in three K–8 high-poverty charter schools within a charter network of
schools in Florida, findings suggest most teachers feel a personal match with the values,
community, and control to the organization. The area where most teachers had a personal
mismatch to the organization and is leading to burnout is with the workload. This study found
that teachers want school leaders to create opportunities to listen to them, receive their input
during decision-making stages, and work collaboratively to solve problems within the school. It
also found that teachers would like school-wide accountability plans to support them to be
successful in the classroom. Based on the findings, this study recommends (a) schools organize
forums of teachers sharing stories and strategies that are keeping them engaged, hopeful, and
leading them to feel burned; (b) schools develop plans to help reduce teacher’s workload; and (c)
schools create structures to ensure that teachers can provide input, participate in decision-
making, and work collaboratively to solve problems.

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Table of Contents
Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................v
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix
List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................x
Chapter One: Introduction to the Study ...........................................................................................1
Background of the Problem .................................................................................................1
Purpose of the Project and Research Questions ...................................................................4
Importance of the Study .......................................................................................................5
Organizational Context ........................................................................................................5
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology .....................................................6
Definitions............................................................................................................................7
Organization of the Study ....................................................................................................8
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature .........................................................................................10
A Portrait of High-Poverty, Predominantly Black Schools in the United States Continued
Segregation ........................................................................................................................10
The Achievement Gap in High-Poverty, Predominantly Black Schools ...........................14
Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap ..........................................................................17
Teacher Burnout: Defining Burnout ..................................................................................19
Contributing Factors of Teacher Burnout ..........................................................................21
Shifts in Teaching due to a Global Pandemic ....................................................................24
Teacher Turnover: Trends in Teacher Turnover ................................................................27
Reasons Why Some Teachers Leave High-Poverty, Majority-Minority Schools .............30
Overall Impact of High Turnover ......................................................................................32

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Connections Between Teacher Burnout, Turnover, and Student Achievement ................34
Effective Strategies to Combat Burnout and Retain Teachers...........................................36
Hope Theory ......................................................................................................................41
Chapter Three: Methodology .........................................................................................................46
Organization Overview ......................................................................................................47
Population and Sample: School Selection .........................................................................47
Survey Sampling Strategy..................................................................................................49
Interview Sampling Strategy..............................................................................................50
Instrumentation ..................................................................................................................51
Data Collection ..................................................................................................................52
Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................54
Trustworthiness, Ethics and Role of Researcher ...............................................................56
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................59
Chapter Four: Results and Findings ...............................................................................................60
Participants .........................................................................................................................61
Demographic Data .............................................................................................................62
Results and Findings for Research Question 1 ..................................................................66
Theme 2: Teachers Reported Being Matched to Their Organization in the Areas of
Values, Community, and Control ......................................................................................72
Results and Findings for Research Question 2 ..................................................................87
Theme 7: Need to Be Heard and Collaborate With School Leadership ............................91
Summary of Results and Findings .....................................................................................93
Chapter Five: Discussion and Implications ...................................................................................94
Discussion of Findings .......................................................................................................95
Strategies Teachers Used to Find Greater Satisfaction ......................................................99
Recommendations for Practice ........................................................................................101

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Limitations and Delimitations..........................................................................................104
Areas for Future Research ...............................................................................................106
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................107
References ....................................................................................................................................109
Appendix A: Survey Instruments.................................................................................................123
Appendix B: Interview Protocol ..................................................................................................126
Appendix C: Recruitment Email ..................................................................................................128
Appendix D: Sample School Weekly Update Email ...................................................................129
Appendix E: Raw Data for AWS Results by School ...................................................................130
Appendix F: Raw Data for AWS Results by Race ......................................................................132
Appendix G: Raw Data for AWS Results by Years of Experience .............................................134
Appendix H: Raw and Subgroup Data for AHS ..........................................................................136

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List of Tables
Table 1: Percentage Black Students in Intensely Segregated (90%-100%) Non-White Schools by
Region, 1968–2018 ........................................................................................................................12
Table 2: Reasons Teachers Leave the Teaching Profession ..........................................................31
Table 3: Demographics for Purposely Selected K-8 Schools ........................................................48
Table 4: Six Steps of a Repeated Data Analysis Process...............................................................55
Table 5: Descriptive Statistics of Survey Participants (N = 91) ....................................................63
Table 6: Descriptive Statistics of Interview Participants (n = 10) .................................................65
Table 7: Adult Hope Scale (AHS) Results n = 91 .........................................................................67
Table 8: Areas of Work Life Survey Scale Scores Mean and Standard Deviations ......................73
Table 9: Areas of Worklife (AWS) Profile Counts (n = 91)..........................................................74

x
List of Figures
Figure 1: Effects of a School vs. a Teacher on Student Entering at 50th Percentile .....................18
Figure 2: Share of Teachers who Stay, Leave the School, or Quit the Profession ........................28
Figure 3: An Example of the Hope Theory Cycle .........................................................................69

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Chapter One: Introduction to the Study
In a country where all children are expected to have a free education, what does access
really mean? According to UNESCO (2023), “Education is a human right for all, and access
must be matched by quality” (para. 1). In the United States, all children have the right to a public
education, but one of the major challenges is providing every child with a quality education.
Evidence suggests that many high-poverty schools serving predominantly Black students across
the United States face barriers to providing a high-quality education, such as a lack of financial
resources (Jackson et al., 2016; Ladson-Billings, 2006; Rothstein, 2015) and disproportionately
high teacher turnover rates (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017). Often these schools
have additional stressors that lead teachers to leave these schools and the profession all together
at higher rates (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017). The problem of practice addressed
by this dissertation is how school leadership teams at high-poverty schools serving
predominantly Black student populations can best support teachers to combat teacher burnout
through a lens of hope and to stay more engaged following the COVID-19 pandemic. Adding to
this body of knowledge will provide additional strategies to schools to support teachers and
better serve students with access to a quality education. Continued disregard to addressing this
issue is an example of systematic racism and ignores the idea that education is a human right for
all children.
Background of the Problem
Despite the progress that was made in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to desegregate schools,
evidence paints a new picture that communities in the United States are becoming more racially
and economically segregated (Jargowsky, 2013), and schools are becoming more racially
segregated (Orfield & Jarvie, 2020). Economically and racially segregated schools pose

2
additional challenges for teachers who are working with students and parents to ensure academic
excellence for all students (Rothstein, 2015). In addition to challenges teachers face, students’
academic performance suffers on average for those students who attend high-poverty schools
with mostly students of color (García, 2020). Although many of the social disparities and
funding inequities cannot be fixed on a school level, teachers are responsible for improving the
academic achievement of their students (Jackson et al., 2016; Ladson-Billings, 2006; Rothstein,
2015).
At the same time, studies have found that, overall, average annual teacher turnover in the
United States is between 15% and 17%, and it is 5% to 7% higher in high-poverty schools
(Ingersoll, 2001; Carroll, 2007; Jacob, 2007). Two separate studies conducted in larger districts
in Florida found that teacher turnover rates are significantly greater in higher-poverty schools
that serve students of color (Jacksonville Public Education Fund, 2021; National Council on
Teacher Quality, 2014). The first study in 2014 found that of the 500 teachers who resigned from
Miami-Dade County Public Schools in 2012-2013, 36% of the resignations were in voting
Districts 1 and 2, out of nine voting districts, which the researchers considered disproportionate
rates of turnover (National Council on Teacher Quality, 2014). These two voting districts have
the most schools, with 80% of students or more qualifying for free and reduced lunch, have the
most African American students, and have the lowest performing students based on state
assessment data (National Council on Teacher Quality, 2014). Similarly, in the 2021 study, it
was estimated that annual teacher turnover rates for high-performing, wealthier schools are 9%
in Duval County, Florida, and high-poverty, lower-performing schools have an estimated 28%
annual turnover rates, with the highest rates occurring after a principal left a high-poverty, lower

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performing schools with an estimated 34% teacher turnover rate (Jacksonville Public Education
Fund). Further, Florida has had a 49% increase in reported teaching vacancies from August 2020
until August 2022. In August 2020, there were 2,962 teacher vacancies, 4,961 in August 2021,
and by August 2022, there were 6,006 reported teaching vacancies (Florida Education
Association, 2022). This is concerning as teacher turnover has been found to adversely impact
student achievement and disproportionately affects the performance of students in high-poverty
schools serving predominantly Black students (Ronfeldt et al., 2013).
One of the reasons teachers leave (Brown & Roloff, 2011) or intend to leave (Hultell et
al., 2013) schools is due to stress and burnout. Experiencing ongoing stress overtime has the
possibility of leading to burnout (Lens & de Jesus, 1999). Two studies have estimated or found
that between 5% to 20% of teachers in the United States were burned out (Farber, 1991; Hultell
et al., 2013). In a Spring 2020 survey to understand teachers’ experiences during COVID-19 and
the emergency remote teaching, teachers “working in high-poverty and majority Black schools
perceived these challenges to be the most severe” (Kraft et al., 2021, p.727). The global
pandemic has caused many students to fall further behind academically and behaviorally
(McKinsey & Company et al., 2021). Students in majority Black schools ended 2021 6 months
behind in math and reading compared to historical data from prior years, which was the largest
gap reported. Although all subgroups were behind by the end of 2021, the greatest gap was
between students in high-poverty schools who were further behind their peers in low-poverty
schools (McKinsey & Company et al., 2021). Working to close achievement gaps with students
whose families lack resources makes a teacher’s job more challenging, particularly for teachers
who are not highly skilled (Noguera et al., 2015). Parents also reported more behavior and

4
mental health concerns during the pandemic (McKinsey & Company et al., 2021). These
findings add to the stressors and challenges teachers serving high-poverty students have
historically reported.
In addition, chronically challenging demands and conflicts that are not balanced with
resources often lead to employee burnout (Maslach, 2003). Based on the reported challenges and
stressors the COVID-19 pandemic has created for teachers, concerns of greater teacher burnout
continue to be a threat to overall academic achievement for students attending high-poverty,
predominantly Black schools. It is imperative to develop a deeper understanding of how teachers
are currently experiencing not only burnout but also hope for school leaders and districts to best
support teachers during unprecedented times.
Purpose of the Project and Research Questions
This study analyzed how teachers in three high-poverty schools serving predominantly
Black students were experiencing hope and burnout to develop effective solutions. The study
asked teachers to complete the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) and the Adult Hope Scale
(AHS). AWS provided data to determine whether individuals experience work engagement or
burnout by understanding areas of strength or weakness from an organizational perspective
(Leiter & Maslach, 2003). The AHS provided data on the level of hope each teacher has through
the cognitive model of hope that includes (a) agency thinking and (b) pathway thinking (Snyder
et al., 1991), as there are relationships between teacher burnout and a teacher’s level of hope
(Houston, 2018).
Following the completion of the surveys, semi-structured interviews were conducted to
develop a deeper understanding of the specific ways teachers were experiencing burnout,

5
differences in burnout now compared to pre-pandemic burnout, strategies and resources that
support combating burnout, and how hope plays a role in combating burnout. All teachers who
had been at the selected schools since Fall 2019 were invited to participate. These teachers serve
students in communities that meet the scope of the intended study.
The following questions guided the study:
1. How are teachers experiencing hope and burnout in high-poverty schools?
2. What strategies and resources do teachers use to find greater satisfaction in their
current role?
3. How can school leadership teams best support teachers to reach their goals and stay
energized in their role?
Importance of the Study
To provide all students with a quality education, addressing stressors and challenges that
lead teachers to be burned out is a necessary action for schools and districts to take. If this
problem is ignored, some low-income, Black students will continue to have an inferior education
which will continue the academic trend of performing below their more affluent, White, and
Asian peers. The impact extends well beyond K–8 education, affecting performance in high
school, college, and workforce opportunities. If schools across the nation and around the world
can combat the problem of teacher burnout and subsequently lower teacher turnover, particularly
in high-poverty, predominantly Black schools, this could improve the course of racial equity.
Organizational Context
The Charter Schools Network (CSN), a pseudonym, operates 90 public charter schools in
five states in the Southeast Region of the United States. CSN’s mission is to provide educational
solutions with dedication to student success and commitment to ethical and sound business

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practices. The goal is to do this by providing choice for stakeholders that fosters and promotes
educational excellence. The organization’s values are purpose, passion, integrity, and grit.
CSN began operating in the 1990s with one school and currently operates 90 schools with
over 9,000 educators. The schools serve over 90,000 students in grades K–12. According to
student demographic data, about 45% of students are Hispanic, 35% of students are White, 19%
of students are Black, and 1% are other ethnicities. Of those students, 40% are considered
economically disadvantaged and receive free and reduced lunch. Of the 56 schools operated in
one state, seven schools are considered high-poverty, with more than 75% of students receiving
free or reduced lunch and racially segregated, with less than 15% of students identifying as
White and most students identifying as Black. This study included three of those seven schools.
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology
Hope theory is a cognitive model that includes goals, pathways, agency, and emotions
that are outcomes-based thinking on the perception of successes or failures related to one’s goals
(Rand & Touza, 2020) and guided this study. Pathway thinking refers to the thinking around an
individual having a plan or route they will follow to obtain their goals. Agency thinking refers to
the energy aspect or willingness of an individual to reach their goals. These two elements are
connected and work together to create goal thoughts and hope.
Hope theory has been used internationally to help researchers, doctors, nurses, therapists,
managers, and educators solve problems by increasing hope in individuals. Rand and Touza
(2020) highlighted several studies that focus on the positive impact of hope on student
performance, well-being, interpersonal relationships, employee performance and satisfaction.

7
Hope theory is relevant to studying how teachers are experiencing engagement and burnout, as
well as how school leadership can better support teachers and build high-hope organizations.
For the purposes of this dissertation, a mixed-methods approach was utilized as the
methodological framework. Two valid and reliable instruments were used to learn specific
factors in the work environment of teachers that may be contributing to engagement and burnout
and to find out the overall level of hope. Qualitative methods of semi-structured interviews were
used to collect more in-depth data. The results were analyzed and combined to provide answers
to the research questions and recommendations to schools on how to best support teachers in
combating burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond in high-poverty schools that
serve predominantly Black students.
Definitions
This study is about understanding how teachers are experiencing hope and burnout in
high-poverty schools serving predominantly Black students. The study also looked to understand
how leaders can support teachers and help combat burnout. There are multiple terms used
frequently to describe the specific phenomena of hope and burnout through the framework of
hope theory, as well as the specific demographics being studied. The following are definitions of
terms that will be referred to often in the literature.
Burnout: “A psychological syndrome of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy, which is
experienced in response to chronic job stressors” (Leiter & Maslach, 2003, p. 93).
Hope: “A positive motivation state that is based on an interactively derived sense of
successful (a) agency (goal-directed energy) and (b) pathways (planning to meet goal)” (Snyder
et al., 1991, p.287)

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Teacher turnover: Refers to teachers leaving a school or profession and is often explained
using rates. For example, the average teacher turnover rate for school A last year was 35%,
meaning 35% of the teachers left the school from 1 year to next year.
High-poverty schools: The National Center for Education Statistics refers to any school
where more than 75% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch (NCES, 2021a)
Low-poverty schools: The National Center for Education Statistics refers to any school
where 25% of students or less are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (NCES, 2021a)
Student achievement: The extent that a student or school has met the academic goals,
usually based on the state accountability assessments or assessment aligned to state academic
standards for each grade level.
Organization of the Study
This study is presented through five distinct chapters. Chapter One provided the reader
with the context of the problem of study and its importance. This chapter also described the
mission, goals, and values of the organization that manages the charter schools included in the
study. Chapter Two provides a review of the literature surrounding the study’s scope. The history
and challenges high-poverty schools serving predominantly Black students face and the impact
on overall student achievement, teacher burnout and turnover, and strategies used to address
burnout and turnover are discussed. Chapter Two also includes a discussion of how hope theory
can support teachers and school leaders to better understand and address teacher burnout during
the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Chapter Three details the research design and
methodology, including the study’s choice of setting and sample of participants, data collection,
and analysis. In Chapter Four, the data and results are analyzed. Chapter Five provides a

9
summary of the findings, overall conclusions, and a discussion of possible recommendations to
better support teachers to experience hope and combat burnout in their profession, as well as
suggestions for future research.

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Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
This literature review provides an overview of research on topics related to how to best
support teachers to combat teacher burnout in high-poverty, predominantly Black schools
following a global pandemic. The literature begins by providing a portrait of high-poverty,
predominantly Black schools and issues of segregation, the achievement gap, and strategies to
close the achievement gap. The literature review then moves to discuss the phenomenon of
teacher burnout, including what contributes to burnout, the connection to teacher turnover, its
impact on student achievement, and strategies to combat burnout and retain teachers. While
issues of teacher burnout are long-standing issues that existed well before the global pandemic
and will persist after the pandemic, this discussion also considers the recent shifts in teacher
expectations due to the global pandemic. The literature review ends with a discussion of the hope
theory and how it relates to better understanding teacher burnout in high-poverty, predominantly
Black schools.
A Portrait of High-Poverty, Predominantly Black Schools in the United States
Continued Segregation
Historic segregation and inequities have defined high-poverty, predominantly Black
schools in the United States. Many people thought when the Supreme Court ruled that separate
education facilities were inherently unequal in the landmark case of Brown vs. the Board of
Education of Topeka in 1954, that the education experience for Black children would change.
However, the reality since this landmark case is that the status of school and neighborhood
segregation and fiscal discrepancies have continued (Lloyd, 2021).
A year after Brown vs. the Board of Education, with many communities still not
accepting the ruling and continuing to ignore it, the Supreme Court ruled again in 1955 that

11
desegregation should continue. At the same time, in 1956, the South had 101 Congressmen issue
the Southern Manifesto, vowing they would continue to do work within the legal realm to
reverse the Brown decision (Ramsey, 2017). In the late 1960s and 1970s, change started to
happen once President Johnson tied school districts’ federal funding for educational programs
and resources for poor students to creating and implementing desegregation plans (Ramsey,
2017; Rothstein, 2015). Busing was put into place as a mechanism to desegregate schools, but
many against it contested that strategy, and eventually, President Nixon reduced federal aid for
communities to buy buses (Ramsey, 2017).
According to Orfield and Jarvie (2020), Black students attending intensely segregated
schools (student body make-up of 90%-100% non-White students) fell from 64% in 1968 to 32%
in 1988. In the South, the decline was more severe as it fell from 78% in 1968 to 24% in 1988.
According to Rothstein (2015), most school districts enacted desegregation plans in the 1960s
and 1970s and saw a decline until school desegregation peaked in 1988. In 1991, the Dowell
Supreme Court case decision ended the enforcement of desegregation plans that had been put in
place. Thereafter, many school districts and communities were no longer under court order to
continue to desegregate schools (Orfield & Jarvie, 2020). As shown in Table 1, since 1988,
Black students attending intensely segregated schools have increased from 32% in 1988 to 40%
in 2018 (Orfield & Jarvie, 2020).

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Table 1
Percentage Black Students in Intensely Segregated (90%-100%) Non-White Schools by Region,
1968–2018
Region 1968 1980 1988 2001 2006 2011 2016 2018
South 77.8 23.0 24.0 31.0 32.9 34.2 36.4 37.0
Border 60.2 37.0 34.5 41.6 42.0 40.9 42.2 42.1
Northeast 42.7 48.7 48.0 51.2 50.8 50.8 51.5 51.5
Midwest 58.0 43.6 41.8 46.8 45.8 43.1 42.0 40.7
West 50.8 33.7 28.6 30.0 30.1 34.0 37.7 38.2
U.S. Total 64.3 33.2 32.1 37.4 38.5 38.8 40.1 40.1

Note. Border states include Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri,
Oklahoma, and West Virginia. Source: NCES Common Core of Data, State Nonfiscal Public
Elementary/Secondary Education Survey, 2018–19. Data for 1968 and 1980 were obtained from
the analysis of the U.S. Department of Education office for Civil Rights data in Public School
Desegregation in the United States by G. Orfield, 1983. Data for 1988–89 were obtained from
the analysis of NCES Common Core of Data in Black Segregation Matters: School
Resegregation and Black Educational Opportunity by E. Frankenberg, J. Ee, J. Ayscue, and G.
Orfield, 2019.
Based on this data, schools are again becoming more segregated as well as
neighborhoods. Jargowsky’s (2013) Concentration of Poverty in the New Millennium analysis
aligns poverty data with school segregation based on census data. In 2000, 19% of Blacks were
living in high-poverty neighborhoods; 11 years later, in 2011, this increased to 23%. Based on
the overall population, Blacks living in high-poverty neighborhoods are disproportionate
compared to their White and Hispanic counterparts, and the proportion of Blacks living in high-

13
poverty neighborhoods is rising. In the analysis by Jargowsky, high-poverty is considered 40%
or more of residents living below the poverty line according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which in
2013 would be a family of four having an income of $23,000 or less per year. The increase in
racially and economically segregated schools and neighborhoods around the United States thus
creates unique challenges encountered in these schools for teachers and school leaders.
Researchers have raised several concerns related to increasingly segregated schools.
Ladson-Billings (2006) argued there is a past of imbalances in the United States that have
impacted the education of Black students that partially stem from the 1966 Coleman report. This
report shared the importance of students of color being enrolled in integrated classrooms as it
positively affects student beliefs around learning, having highly skilled teachers, and the impact
family background has on learning. However, Ladson-Billings (2006) stated the work of the
Coleman report was overshadowed by the sentiment that schools had very little educational
impact on Black students due to the contribution of family background on learning and that
funding alone could not solve the problem. In fact, she suggests, the continued segregation and
lack of equal funding based on disparities in state and local education funding have impacted
equity for Black students, with per-pupil funding sometimes double for students in White
suburbs compared to students of color living in high-poverty areas. To this point, a recent study
found that increasing student spending, especially for lower-income students, has statistically
significant effects on educational attainment, employment options and taking a family out of
poverty, emphasizing the importance of school finance reform (Jackson et al., 2016).
Rothstein (2015) discussed additional stressors schools may face when serving high
proportions of racially segregated low-income students. In these schools, for example, students
are less likely to be around classmates whose parents have exposure to higher education, teachers

14
may need to balance remediation with more complex curriculum delivery in limited time, there is
a higher student absenteeism rate, transience creates a need for repetition of lessons, and students
face a wide variety of environmental stressors (Rothstein, 2015). Also, while the needs are often
greater for schools serving racially segregated and higher poverty populations, there continue to
be discrepancies in funding formulas to ensure equity, according to a recent state-by-state
analysis (Lloyd, 2021). Education researchers suggest that the social disparity that needs to be
addressed in segregated communities and ensuring equitable funding formulas for segregated
schools is bigger than what can be solved at the school level (Jackson et al., 2016; Ladson-
Billings, 2006; Rothstein, 2015). The failure to address the historical inequities in public
education, an opportunity gap, has prolonged an achievement gap between White and Black
students. Although this study does not analyze solutions to school funding and community
segregation, it is important to be mindful of history as it ultimately relates to student achievement
and the challenges educators and schools have in closing the achievement gap. As intensely
segregated neighborhoods and schools continue to increase, this creates additional challenges for
educators that need to be addressed to improve teacher engagement and retention.
The Achievement Gap in High-Poverty, Predominantly Black Schools
It is important to understand the achievement gap between White and Black students and
the causes as it has a substantial impact on the role of educators in high-poverty, predominantly
Black schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2023), “Achievement
gaps occur when one group of students outperforms another group, and the difference in average
scores for the two groups is statistically significant” (para. 1). Although many individual teachers
and schools have made progress in closing the achievement gap between Black and White
students, nationwide data continues to show there has not been significant overall change.

15
The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) results from 1992-2022 show a
gap between Black fourth, eighth and twelfth graders (1992–2019) and their White peers in
Reading and Math, with average scaled scores varying each year between 23 and 40 points (The
Nation’s Report Card, 2023). The narrowest gap consistently has been in fourth grade reading
and math, with differences between 24 and 29 points. Based on the year-to-year comparisons, the
achievement gap continues to persist with very little change.
Overall, average scores are lower, and achievement gaps are larger when comparing
students who qualify for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), a measure of poverty, to
students who do not qualify for NSLP. The achievement gap narrows in 4th and 8th Grade
Reading and Math when you compare both White and Black students participating in NSLP (The
Nation’s Report Card, 2023). This data communicates that being eligible for free and reduced
lunch has a more negative impact on students’ achievement than race has on student
achievement. This analysis corresponds with Carnoy and García’s (2017) conclusion when
studying NAEP scores from 1996 to 2013 that students with similar race/ethnicity from families
that qualify for free or reduced lunch do not make consistent academic gains as do their
counterparts from families that do not qualify for free and reduced lunch. Additionally, a 2015
study found the achievement gap for Black students widens when they attend schools that are
highly concentrated with Black or Hispanic students and students from homes of poverty
(Bohrnstedt et al., 2015). A study analyzing hundreds of millions of state accountability test
scores in thousands of school districts found “racial economic segregation” is what leads to the
achievement gap (Reardon et al., 2021, p.33). The study summarized racial segregation is not the
cause of the achievement gap; it is “racial economic segregation,” and this is creating unequal
education opportunities (Reardon et al., 2021, p. 35). Integrating the poorest Black students with

16
wealthier students positively impacts narrowing the gap (Rothstein, 2015); however, this
becomes increasingly more challenging as districts and communities become more segregated
(Reardon et al., 2021). Based on the history of the academic achievement gap between Black and
White students, a plethora of research has been done to understand the causes.
Bowman et al. (2018) discussed that the resources humans need to be successful
academically are being safe and healthy with access to healthcare, experiences to learn, and
being well cared for. When students do not have those resources, it affects their overall
achievement in learning. Children who are living in high-poverty, multi-generational, racially
isolated communities often have additional hurdles to learn to overcome (Bowman et al., 2018;
Rothstein, 2015). Some hurdles are less exposure to academic-related words, academic skills,
and behaviors; more stress caused by social and economic issues; effects of facing racism; and
lack of understanding of how learning can support their progress (Bowman et al., 2018; Noguera
et al., 2015). Studies have found when schools have more students with significant barriers to
learning, they create conditions that make overall school improvement more challenging and
often amplifies the achievement gap (Bryk, 2010; Rothstein, 2015).
Teaching students who do not have access to resources creates additional challenges for
teachers who are often not prepared and highly skilled (Noguera et al., 2015). The effects of
living in poverty for some children may mean that they come to school with less effective
communication skills, unawareness of proper school behaviors, and without academic skills that
make them ready to learn, again creating challenges for teachers (Bowman et al., 2018).
Instruction is often impacted as teachers focus more time on social and emotional support and
balancing teaching basic skills instead of the more complex, rich standards related to problem
solving and critical thinking (Noguera et al., 2015). Although there are challenges in raising

17
academic achievement in high-poverty, predominantly Black schools, some schools are having
success with closing the achievement gap.
Strategies to Close the Achievement Gap in High Poverty, Predominantly Black Schools
Many high-poverty, predominantly Black schools in the United States are getting it right
and have created high-performing schools that address the specific needs of the students by
supporting social, emotional, and academic concerns. Noguera et al. (2015) recommended
schools focus on the issues that created the achievement gap and create academic and social
initiatives to fix those. Some of those solutions are providing students with high expectations
without negative stereotypes, culturally relevant curriculum, and engaging in higher-level
instruction (Bowman et al., 2018; Gregory et al., 2010).
Unlike the Coleman report that suggested family background mainly impacted student
achievement, in 2003, Marzano analyzed 35 years of research. The findings showed there could
be at least a 20% variance or greater in student achievement once accounting for the impact of
most effective schools versus least effective schools versus average schools. This work revealed
that the most effective teachers in the most effective schools have the greatest impact on student
achievement, and school and teacher level factors outweigh student factors such as home
environment, learning intelligence/background knowledge, and motivation as having the greatest
impact on student achievement (Marzano, 2003). Similarly, school effectiveness percentiles are
based on the distribution of overall student achievement and gains throughout the school (Nye et
al., 2004). Figure 1 shows the effect on student achievement measured by Stanford Achievement
Tests (SAT) in math and reading after 2 years of instruction for those students entering at the
50th percentile, based on school and teacher effectiveness data. For example, for a student who
begins the 2-year period performing in the 50th percentile according to their SAT scores, after 2

18
years in a most effective school with most effective teachers, their scores increase to the 96th
percentile. For students who enter at the 50th percentile, after 2 years in a least effective school
with least effective teachers, their scores decrease to the third percentile. In an average school,
with an average teacher for 2 years, students entering performing at the 50th percentile will
remain at the 50th percentile.

Figure 1
Effects of a School vs. a Teacher on Student Entering at 50th Percentile.

Note. From Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacher,
by R. J. Marzano, J. S. Marzano, & D. Pickering, 2003. ASCD. Copyright 2003 by ASCD.

19
Further, Bryk (2010), through a qualitative study focusing on 15 years of data of the two
lowest academically performing elementary schools in a low-income neighborhood, also
identified five essential supports for school improvement that were closely aligned with
Marzano’s findings of school-level factors needed for highly effective schools. Both researchers
found the need for schools to have clear and organized instructional methods for planning and
implementation of curriculum; a focus on high-quality educators with the capacity to continue to
learn and grow; and impactful relationships with parents and communities (Bryk, 2010;
Marzano, 2003). While Marzano’s safe and orderly environment is one school factor affecting
effective schools, Bryk noted that it is the minimum, with the essential factor being a student-
centered learning climate which relates closely to Marzano’s teacher level factors.
Lastly, Marzano’s data found that challenging goals and feedback had a significant
impact on student achievement, and Bryk’s study found leadership to be an essential element in
driving the change, which Marzano’s work also found to have a significant influence on overall
student achievement (Marzano et al., 2005). Bryk (2010) did caution that the more disadvantaged
the student body is, as well as the community, the more challenging school improvement work
can be. Despite these strategies being known to be effective and implemented in many high-
poverty, predominantly Black schools, many of these strategies and efforts fall on teachers and
can affect teacher burnout, negatively impacting low-income students of color.
Teacher Burnout: Defining Burnout
The concept of burnout syndrome is defined as having significant job stressors over time
that lead to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment
(Maslach & Jackson, 1981). Additionally, many researchers explain job burnout as having
emotional, attitudinal, and physical exhaustion (Blase, 1982). Different from previous job stress

20
research, job burnout is multidimensional with three key dimensions: “overwhelming exhaustion,
feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job, and a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of
accomplishment” (Maslach, 2003, p.190). Those who experience only one of the dimensions
would not be considered burned out (Maslach, 2003). When people experience ongoing stress
overtime, it has the potential to lead to burnout, but being stressed does not necessarily mean one
will suffer from burnout syndrome (Lens & de Jesus, 1999). Due to the nature of helping others
and having more job stressors, job burnout has been found to be more prevalent in professions
working directly with other people, such as healthcare workers and educators (Maslach, 2003).
In summary, although stressors overtime can lead to burnout, being stressed out is not the same
as suffering from burnout syndrome.
According to a 2020 Gallup study that analyzed data from 24,522 respondents, there are
five root causes for job burnout: unfair work treatment, unmanageable workload, unclear
communication from managers, lack of support from manager, and unreasonable time pressure
(Gallup, Inc., 2022). The recent Gallup study’s results are like Maslach’s research, which
explains that the cause of exhaustion and cynicism often comes from having too much work,
social conflicts, and inefficacy that comes from a lack of resources to get the job done (Maslach,
2003).
Teacher burnout is a phenomenon that continues to persist, and each year, more research
is completed to learn more about the contributing factors. In 2022, a Gallup study reported that
44% of teachers responded to feeling burned out, and this was the highest of all occupations
(Agrawal, 2022). In 1991, Farber estimated that 5% to 20% of U.S. teachers were truly burned
out. In 2013, Hultell et al. found that 10% of teachers within their first 3 years of teaching
experienced burnout, and, of those, nearly one-third experienced high levels of burnout at the

21
end of their third year. Similarly, a 2016 study demonstrated that 10% of teachers at different
levels of their careers reported very high levels of emotional exhaustion (Klusmann et al., 2016).
Since many teachers are impacted by burnout, researchers have and continue to examine the
contributing factors.
Contributing Factors of Teacher Burnout
Maslach et al. (2001) proposed workload, control, reward, fairness, community, and
values are the six areas of work-life situations that impact an individual’s relationship with
burnout, and constant misalignment between an individual and their work-life leads to burnout.
Research has found that despite popular belief, burnout is not an individual problem that is
caused by the individual (Ingersoll, 2001; Maslach, 2003). People often argue that an individual
becomes burned out because of excessive effort or that they are not competent or strong, but
research does not support those claims as contributors (Maslach, 2003). Although there is limited
research on teacher burnout, specifically in high-poverty, predominantly Black schools, the
research that exists seems relevant. Therefore, this review will focus on the six areas of work-life
areas that have been found to contribute to teacher burnout.
Workload mismatches are when an individual has too many demands, and the individual
becomes exhausted as workload is constant and recovery time is minimal (Maslach et al., 2001).
Maslach (2003) found that jobs with chronically challenging demands that are not balanced with
resources or time to recover often lead to employee burnout. In 2000, Farber indicated that “the
most salient stressors for teachers were the excessive paperwork, large classes, and apathetic
and/or disruptive students” (p. 676). Farber’s stressors matched many of Blase’s (1982) first-
order stressors that were challenging for teachers to cope with. A study working to isolate
specific stressors in the school environment related to the dimension of burnout found that time

22
pressure or work overload are strongly connected to emotional exhaustion (Skaalvik & Skaalvik,
2017). Fletcher (2020) found that Title 1 teachers in Georgia had greater workloads than non-
Title 1 teachers due to additional time needed for student discipline, counseling, and grading.
Reform movements have increased accountability for U.S. schools, and as the focus turns
to teacher and school accountability, educators have more pressure to be prepared and effective
in their roles. When examining Urban School Restructuring and Teacher Burnout (Farber &
Ascher, 1991), it was found that this increased accountability has become another stressor or
added pressure on teachers to achieve with more diverse students and fewer resources. A
teacher’s personal accomplishment is impacted by tangible, external events such as how their
students perform on assessments (Grayson & Alvarez, 2008). Additionally, a more recent study
found the role of serving more students who face social and emotional struggles that influence
their learning and behaviors leads to more stressors for teachers (Bottiani et al., 2019a). Teachers
feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work is a contributing factor to burnout.
Another contributing factor of burnout is when there is a mismatch in control which
relates to a teacher’s self-efficacy or inefficacy that may lead to a feeling of personal
accomplishment or reduced (Maslach et al., 2001). Teachers feeling like they do not have
appropriate resources to do their work leads to the mismatch of lack of self-efficacy or control.
Discipline problems also have a strong predictor of personal accomplishment and a predictor of
depersonalization. Therefore, teachers affected by student discipline problems and low student
motivation concerns contribute to burnout (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2017). This may lead teachers
to blame students for discipline problems and low motivation and could develop into
depersonalization (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2017).

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Rewards are defined as when individuals feel as though they are or are not being
rewarded for their efforts and work (Maslach et al., 2001). Abel and Sewell (1999) indicated
teachers working in urban schools with negative working conditions, such as lesser salaries and
opportunities for promotion, not being recognized, and lack of resources, were more likely to be
burned out than their rural counterparts. Blase (1982) also found that burnout resulted from the
lack of equitable rewards in relation to the demands of the stressors. Lack of rewards may be
financial, social, or intrinsic, which leaves someone feeling unappreciated, not valued, and may
contribute to feeling as if they are treated unfairly. Maslach et al. (2001) defined the perception
of the lack of fairness when one feels an inequity exists. Lack of fairness may result in increased
burnout elements of exhaustion and cynicism (Maslach et al., 2001).
Another contributing factor to burnout is when individuals “lose a sense of positive
connection with others in the workplace” (Maslach et al., 2001, p. 415). Many studies have
found the environments teachers work in can either contribute to burnout or lesson stressors. A
study examining stress and burnout in rural and urban schools in North Carolina found that
educators working in urban schools “experience significantly more stress” than educators
working in rural schools due to poor working conditions and staff relationships (Abel & Sewell,
1999, p. 287). Grayson and Alvarez (2008) examined the relationship between teacher burnout
and school climate factors, including parent/community, teacher-administrator, and student-peer
relations; student behavioral values; instructional management; and student activities. The study
found that unfriendly, unsupportive environments among colleagues and school administration
led to more stress (Abel & Sewell, 1999). School climate factors that impact a teacher’s
emotional exhaustion levels have also been closely associated with relationships with parents,
community, and students, in addition to teachers’ relationships with administrators (Grayson &

24
Alvarez, 2008). Grayson and Alvarez (2008) specifically found a relationship existed between
cynicism and a teacher’s relationship with their administrator.
A further contributing factor to teacher burnout arises when an individual senses a
mismatch between their personal values about their career and the values being perceived
regarding the organization (Maslach et al., 2001). Skaalvik and Skaalvik (2017) found teachers
whose values, norms, and goals were not aligned with their schools’ values, norms, and goals
reported higher levels of burnout. Teachers who felt they were not able to teach based on their
own values and beliefs reported being more cynical and feeling reduced personal
accomplishment.
In conclusion, research over time has consistently found that contributors to teacher
engagement or burnout are matches or mismatches between workload, control, reward, fairness,
community, and values and the organization. Understanding the shifts in teachers’ expectations
due to the global pandemic may provide context for some teachers’ new realities around teacher
engagement and burnout.
Shifts in Teaching due to a Global Pandemic
Teachers have experienced unprecedented times during the global pandemic that changed
the traditional ways of teaching, and this has created satisfaction for some and added additional
stressors for others. Due to the recent nature of the pandemic, there is limited research on the
topic, but the body of research is growing.
Data collected in Spring 2020 from teachers found that they perceived some successes
from the global pandemic to be more promotion of community, greater parent involvement, and
increased collegiality (Shargel & Cai, 2021). Another study that provided teachers with
professional development to blend arts integration for creative engagement to support teachers

25
through the pandemic found that when teachers are supported with training and materials, they
can adapt and create new learning routines (Anderson et al., 2020). The program was aimed at
supporting students with being creative and addressing social-emotional learning (Anderson et
al., 2020). Although the sample was small, 25% of participants said the pandemic energized their
creativity (Anderson et al., 2020).
At the beginning of the pandemic, some of the challenges teachers reported were having
students who were not present for online class as well as miscommunication regarding
expectations from school administration (Shargel & Cai, 2021). The study further found that
moving from face-to-face to online was overwhelming for teachers because there was so much to
learn so quickly. For most teachers, the pandemic added more stress and negatively impacted
their ability to provide students with creative learning opportunities (Anderson et al., 2020). In a
Spring 2020 survey to understand teachers’ experiences during the emergency remote teaching,
teachers “working in high-poverty and majority Black schools perceived these challenges to be
the most severe” and even suggested that the pandemic made the inequities in education greater
for the students they serve (Kraft et al., 2021, p.727). Data from this study showed that teachers’
sense of success dramatically decreased due to their new role as remote teachers (Kraft et al.,
2021). However, teachers’ sense of success declined less “when they worked in schools with
strong communication, targeted training, meaningful collaboration, fair expectations, and
authentic recognition during the pandemic” (Kraft et al., 2021, p.727).
In Fall 2020 when teachers went back to school, most were expected to teach to virtual
and in-person students simultaneously, which caused additional stressors. A study looking at
contributing factors of burnout at that point in the COVID-19 pandemic “found significant
predictors for teacher burnout-stress being COVID-19 anxiety, current teaching anxiety, anxiety

26
communicating with parents, and administrative support” (Pressley, 2021, p.325). This is not
surprising as teachers reported social and economic disruptions, loss, health and safety, academic
learning loss, and transition to in-person learning as challenges for their students and families
(The Inverness Institute, 2021). In Spring 2021, data collected from 159 teachers to better
understand the teachers’ most stressful experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed
three themes: (a) having to cope with overwhelming and varied feelings, (b) new challenges
teaching with exorbitant hours, and (c) teachers as disrespected, blameworthy, disposable multi-
tasking servants (D’Mello, 2021). Current research suggests teacher stress and burnout continue
to be areas that need to be addressed.
The global pandemic has also caused many students to fall further behind academically
and behaviorally (McKinsey & Company et al., 2021). According to a Curriculum Associates I-
Ready Assessment analysis, students in majority Black schools ended 2021 on average 6 months
behind in math and reading compared to historical data from prior years. Although all subgroups
were behind by the end of 2021, the greatest gap was between students in low-income schools
who were further behind their peers in high-income schools (McKinsey & Company et al.,
2021). Parents also reported more behavior and mental health concerns during the pandemic
(McKinsey & Company et al., 2021). Parent reports match teachers’ observations from a teacher
survey project conducted by the Inverness Institute (2021) in partnership with EdSource. The
survey asked teachers to reflect on how students were doing and found that more than half of
California teachers surveyed found students’ ability to participate in classroom group activities
had fallen, and there was a decrease in students’ attention spans.
The concepts of burnout, teacher burnout, and contributing factors to teacher burnout
over time are well established, with new research being added in the context of the global

27
pandemic. Research is increasingly looking at teacher burnout and the consequences of higher
teacher turnover and, subsequently, impacting student learning and achievement.
Teacher Turnover: Trends in Teacher Turnover
Stress and burnout have a positive relationship with teacher turnover intentions (Hultell et
al., 2013) and teacher turnover (Brown & Roloff, 2011). The topic of teacher turnover is
important to address as turnover continues to be disproportionate at high-poverty schools and
creates a cyclical pattern that is not easy to reverse, negatively impacting outcomes. Studies have
shown that teacher turnover in these schools continues to be higher than in schools with low
poverty (García & Weiss, 2019). Figure 2 shows the most recent U.S. Department of Education’s
National Center for Education Statistics Schools and 2011–2012 Staffing Survey and 2012–2013
Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS). As shown, the aggregate turnover and attrition rate is 3.4
percentage points higher in higher-poverty schools than the aggregate turnover and attrition rate
in low-poverty schools. This, in turn, creates more vacancies in high-poverty schools (García &
Weiss, 2019).

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Figure 2
Share of Teachers who Stay, Leave the School, or Quit the Profession

Note. Source: 2011–2012 Schools and Staffing Survey and 2012–2013 Teacher Follow-up
Survey microdata from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education
Statistics. U.S. schools struggle to hire and retain teachers The second report in The Perfect
Storm in the Teacher Labor Market series.

Additional studies have indicated that all schools in the United States have an average
annual turnover rate of between 15%-17%, and those serving more low-income students are
between 20%-22% annually (Carroll, 2007; Jacob, 2007; Ingersoll, 2001). Longitudinal research
analyzing teacher turnover in Texas found that low-performing, high-poverty schools serving
underserved minority students in rural areas have the most challenging time retaining teachers
(Holme et al., 2018). A Georgia study found the highest turnover of teachers is in rural
communities serving Black students where the schools’ teacher salaries are lower, and there are
challenges with the relational climate and parental involvement (Williams et al., 2021).
In the Texas analysis, the researchers found as high as 30% annual turnover in schools
they named “chronically unstable” based on 7 years or more during the 10 years of the

29
longitudinal study (Holme et al., 2018). Of the schools with chronic turnover, only 1.6% of the
schools had high-performing ratings, and 16.7% of schools had undesirable ratings, pointing out
that overall school performance impacts turnover and high turnover impacts school performance.
Another study in the Chicago Public Schools found that about 20% of the 100 schools with the
lowest performance in the district lose over 30% of their teachers each year, and these also occur
at the highest poverty, predominantly Black schools (Allensworth et al., 2009).
Further, rural Georgia districts had teacher turnover rates of less than 13% in 2011 and
around 16% by 2019, on average, compared to rural schools, with the majority of Black students
having teacher turnover rates above 15% in 2011 and nearly 25% each year between 2016 and
2019 (Williams et al., 2021). Carver-Thomas and Darling-Hammond similarly found that the
greatest teacher turnover is in low-income schools with more students of color (2017). The South
had the highest rates of turnover (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017), and two separate
studies conducted in two of the larger districts in Florida found that teacher turnover rates were
significantly greater in schools with higher poverty schools that served students of color
(Jacksonville Public Education Fund, 2021; National Council on Teacher Quality, 2014).
Although specific data is not yet available on how COVID-19 has impacted teacher
turnover nationwide, there is some evidence that teacher turnover may be higher than in previous
years. Florida had an increase of more than 49% in education vacancies from August 2020 to
August 2022 (Florida Education Association, 2022). This increase in vacancies further impacts
schools that were already understaffed and had difficulties filling teacher positions, with
significant implications for the students they serve. In summary, there is strong evidence that
teacher turnover is greatest in schools with high-poverty, high minority or students of color that
are also lower performing or unstable, and the COVID-19 pandemic may be leading to higher

30
rates of turnover. Understanding the reasons why teachers leave these schools will contribute to
solving the problem of better supporting teachers who may be suffering from stress and burnout.
Reasons Why Some Teachers Leave High-Poverty, Majority-Minority Schools
The reasons why teachers leave some schools and remain at other schools are varied.
Sixty-six percent of those who left and completed the most recent NCES TFS responded that
dissatisfaction was one of the reasons the individual left the profession (Carver-Thomas &
Darling-Hammond, 2017). According to Table 2, in high-poverty and high-minority schools, the
most common reasons for dissatisfaction are due to assessment and accountability measures
(30% to 35%) and not having enough support to prepare students for assessments (24% to 25%)
followed by dissatisfaction with administration and dissatisfaction with teaching as a career
(Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017).

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Table 2
Reasons Teachers Leave the Teaching Profession

Note. Source: 2011–2012 Schools and Staffing Survey and 2012–2013 Teacher Follow-up
Survey microdata from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education
Statistics.

Although reasons that teachers leave are similar in all types of schools, according to
Table 2, greater concerns for high-poverty schools and schools that serve minority students are
dissatisfaction with assessment and accountability measures and dissatisfaction because there is

32
not enough support to prepare students for these assessments. These reasons for dissatisfaction
relate to the challenges teachers face when working in schools that must close the achievement
gaps. Bryk (2010) cautioned that the more disadvantaged the student body is, as well as the
community, the more challenging school improvement work can be. Higher turnover is
concerning as it negatively impacts the operations of a school and, ultimately, student
achievement.
Overall Impact of High Teacher Turnover
High teacher turnover in high-poverty, predominantly Black schools has instructional,
organizational, and financial implications that impede improvement efforts (Allensworth et al.,
2009; Guin, 2004; Ingersoll, 2001; Ronfeldt et al., 2013). Ronfeldt et al. (2013) found that
although, at times, teacher turnover may be beneficial, on average, it is harmful. Specifically,
teacher turnover “has the strongest negative effect on student achievement” in schools with large
populations of low-performing and Black students (Ronfeldt et al., 2013, p.32). High teacher
turnover impacts overall instructional progress
and improvement in schools. Greater turnover in schools often leads to hiring more new,
inexperienced teachers and unqualified teachers who tend to be less effective (Darling-
Hammond & Sykes, 2003; Grissom, 2011). Further, working with students with greater needs
creates additional challenges for teachers who are often not prepared or highly skilled (Noguera
et al., 2015). Typically, mentoring programs are in place to support new and inexperienced
teachers; however, in schools with high teacher turnover, there are fewer teachers available to
mentor and those who do take on more responsibilities can be negatively affected due to the
increased workload (Guin, 2004). To improve overall academic performance, schools need
highly effective schools and highly effective teachers (Nye et al., 2004) and having high teacher

33
turnover creates challenges to implementing effective instructional programs (Guin, 2004).
Schools with high turnover “are continuously starting over rather than making progress on their
programmatic agendas” (Ronfeldt et al., 2013, p.8).
Further, many schools become stuck in a cycle of teacher loss that is hard to break,
teachers leave because of poor school climate and low achievement, but these are hard to
improve when there is constant turnover of teachers each year (Allensworth et al., 2009). The
loss of teachers impacts overall institutional knowledge, trust, and professional relationships
among colleagues and impacts student learning (Ronfeldt et al., 2013). Turnover has been found
to erode school climate as faculty relationships suffer from being short-term (Guin, 2004).
Djonko-Moore also found that it is challenging to create a rigorous learning environment for
students in high-poverty schools, serving students of color when teacher turnover is high (2016).
With more teacher turnover, there are also financial costs associated with recruiting,
hiring, and onboarding new teachers that could instead be funneled directly to school
improvement initiatives.
According to the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future (Barnes et al.,
2007) it was estimated that $7.34 billion was spent in the United States each year on recruiting,
hiring, and training new teachers. The same study estimated, on average, that urban districts
spend $27,000 more than non-urban districts each year on each teacher that needs to be replaced.
One of the larger school districts in Florida reported for the 2018–2019 school year that two
percent, or $12 million dollars of their instructional education budget, was spent on hiring and
training to replace teachers who permanently left teaching (Jacksonville Public Education Fund,
2021). In addition to financial losses for schools and school districts and other impacts of high

34
teacher turnover, research suggests important connections between teacher burnout, turnover,
and overall student achievement.
Connections Between Teacher Burnout, Turnover, and Student Achievement
Brown and Roloff (2011) found that burnout is one of the most common reasons that
effective teachers leave the profession. At the same time, it has been well-researched that a
teacher is the school-level factor that has the greatest impact on student achievement (Hattie,
2015; Marzano, 2003). Therefore, when teachers leave because of burnout, students’ academic
growth is likely to suffer as well. Due to the relationship between teacher burnout and teacher
turnover, the focus will be on understanding the relationship both have with student
achievement.
Teacher burnout has been associated with lower student motivation and academic
achievement. Disengagement was studied by Blase (1982) to learn more about the impact of
burned-out teachers spending less effort on the job. The findings dispelled the notion that less
effort would lead to less burnout and found the lack of involvement increased negative student
interactions, successful outcomes, and symptoms of burnout continued (Blase, 1982). Maslach
and Leiter (1999) have also found that teachers who experience burnout may spend less time
preparing lessons. Student motivation is directly connected to teacher motivation; if a teacher is
genuinely enthusiastic about their students, the content they are teaching and preparing
interesting lessons for a class, typically, students mirror those behaviors (Marzano, 2003). Roth
et al. (2007) indicated that teachers who feel depleted and emotionally exhausted are not
motivated to teach.
In 2015, the first multilevel analysis study to examine the relationships between teachers’
burnout and students’ motivation established that teacher burnout leads to undermining student

35
motivation (Shen et al., 2015). The study found when teachers were emotionally exhausted from
burnout, they were less patient and provided less explanation for students to understand the
purpose of learning the skills and doing the tasks (Shen et al., 2015). It was also found that
teacher burnout predicts negative self-efficacy, and teachers begin to feel they have less control
over their own motivation, behavior, and environment (Kim & Buríc, 2020).
Although there is limited research on the direct impact teacher burnout has on student
achievement, findings suggest this topic is an important area of focus (Madigan & Kim, 2021).
To understand the relationship between burnout and achievement, an empirical study was
conducted with one thousand elementary teachers (Klusmann et al., 2016). This study revealed a
statistically significant but small relationship between teachers’ level of emotional exhaustion
and students’ mathematics achievement (Klusmann et al., 2016). The researchers found that an
increase in emotional exhaustion by one standard deviation was associated with a decrease from
between 2.83 and 4.56 points on mathematics achievement tests. Further, a study of fifth and
sixth graders suggested that when teachers develop emotionally supportive relationships,
students perform better academically (Reyes et al., 2012). In 2021, Madigan and Kim (2021)
completed the first systematic review titled, Does teacher burnout affect students? After
reviewing 14 studies with over five thousand teachers and 50,000 students, they concluded that
there is some evidence teacher burnout is associated with lower achievement and student
motivation (Madigan & Kim, 2021). They concluded that this is preliminary research and there is
a need for studies on the topic with stronger testing designs.
In 2004, Guin found a significant relationship between teacher turnover at a school level
and the number of students performing at grade level on math and reading statewide
assessments, indicating students in schools with higher turnover had lower achievement.

36
Additional correlational evidence exists on teacher turnover and student achievement (Ronfeldt
et al., 2013). In a study with empirical evidence in New York City schools, findings
demonstrated a direct negative effect that teacher turnover had on Math and ELA student
achievement (Ronfeldt et al., 2013). This study also found teacher turnover rates were more
harmful for low-performing, Black students as more turnover occurs in those schools they attend
(Ronfeldt et al., 2013).
However, in the organizational research, there are cases when teacher turnover is not
always detrimental to students’ academic growth, and that is when low-performing teachers
leave and are replaced with higher-performing teachers (Ronfeldt et al., 2013). A study
conducted in Washington DC’s schools on their IMPACT policy revealed that when ineffective
teachers left the schools and were replaced by effective or highly effective teachers, student
achievement improved (Adnot et al., 2017). Ronfeldt et al. (2013) countered these claims by
explaining the broader impact that turnover has on an overall school’s performance and
achievement for all students. In the United States, as White students coming from higher
socioeconomic backgrounds continue to outperform their poorer peers of color, Ronfedt et al.
(20123) suggest it is time for a change in our education systems. To make that change to better
support student achievement in schools that serve high-poverty and predominantly Black
students, understanding effective strategies to combat burnout and retain teachers is necessary
and important to give all children an equal opportunity at success.
Effective Strategies to Combat Burnout and Retain Teachers
To break the cycle of low performance and high teacher turnover in high-poverty,
predominantly Black schools, it is important to employ strategies that combat burnout and retain
teachers so schools can improve student achievement for all (Allensworth et al., 2009; Holme et

37
al., 2018; Ingersoll, 2001). While there are many effective strategies to retain teachers, three
prominent themes have been cited in the research: improving leadership and school organization,
supporting teachers to develop stress-reducing strategies, and adjusting leadership support based
on the new reality for teachers.
Since school organization and climate have been mentioned repeatedly in research for
why teachers leave high-poverty, predominantly Black schools, it is fitting that a strategy is to
look at the role school leadership plays in improving the working environment for teachers.
School leadership teams have a direct role in developing school organization and the climate;
therefore, their efforts can support preventing teacher burnout and impact teacher retention.
Teachers leave the working conditions, which include school leadership, professional
relationships, and school culture (Simon & Johnson, 2015a), and school principals can impact
the working conditions for teachers (Grissom, 2011). Research by Marzano et al. (2005)
indicated that the quality of the principal greatly impacts student achievement by recognizing
key responsibilities of a leader that impact school-level factors.
Simon and Johnson (2015) found the need for higher quality training of principals on
management skills, building capacity for culture and instruction, trust, and understanding the
political nature of the position. Hattie (2015) emphasizes that schools do not need
transformational leaders but need instructional leaders. Transformational leaders implement
business leadership skills to work with teams to create a vision, complete strategic planning, goal
setting, and provide teachers with autonomy, while instructional leaders provide valuable
instructional feedback and set expectations for data analysis to ensure practices improve student
achievement (Hattie, 2015). Districts often place inexperienced principals in high-needs schools
which often leads to the high turnover of leaders that is mirrored by staff turnover. Therefore, it

38
is important for districts to place the most effective leaders in the lowest-performing, high-
poverty schools (Grissom, 2011; Simon & Johnson, 2015).
For teachers to feel less stressed and burned out, school leaders must create working
conditions that better support them (Farber, 1991; Shen et al., 2015). Goddard and Goddard
(2006) conducted a small study on beginner teacher perceptions and explained the importance of
paying attention to the amount of work teachers are expected to do. Other studies have also
found the importance for school leaders to be mindful of the extra duties and work teachers are
being asked to complete that do not directly relate to teaching and reducing stressors that
undermine a teacher’s time and effort (Blase, 1982; Grayson & Alvarez, 2008). Providing
teachers with time and resources to complete those tasks so they can focus on instructing
students and learning activities and finding support can increase a teacher’s sense of personal
accomplishment (Grayson & Alvarez, 2008).
School leaders need to reevaluate practices to ensure they are nurturing their teachers and
creating a culture of support and teamwork (Farber, 2000). When King and Kokores (2017) spent
time learning more about how some highly effective teachers stay burned in vs. burned out in
high-poverty, predominantly Black schools, they concluded the importance of leaders creating a
school culture that supports teachers. One way was allowing teachers to bring their unique
teaching style into their classroom, as that helps a teacher feel a sense of self-efficacy. In
addition, schools that create a culture of teamwork where they all fail and succeed as a group, as
opposed to each person taking on the entire responsibility for student achievement, leave
teachers feeling more burned in (King & Kokores, 2017).
Recognizing teacher stress and being able to support teachers to combat and lessen their
burnout is important. In 2018, a meta-analysis of 23 controlled trials comparing interventions

39
aimed to reduce teacher burnout was conducted (Iancu et al., 2018). The approaches of the
studies included in the meta-analysis were divided into seven different categories: cognitive
behavioral therapy, mindfulness and relaxation, social- emotional skills, psychoeducational
approach, social support, and professional development (Iancu et al., 2018). Although overall
intervention effectiveness was generally small, mindfulness interventions reported positive
significant and similar effects on lessening exhaustion and increasing personal accomplishment
as well as a small effect on lessening feelings of depersonalization (Iancu et al., 2018). Cognitive
behavioral interventions, such as programs for stress management coping skills to prevent
teacher burnout and for peer collaboration to improve professional relationships to solve
problems together, had a positive significant effect on lessening emotional exhaustion, and
interventions based on social support had positive effects on improving teachers’ perceptions of
personal accomplishment (Iancu et al., 2018). Similarly, another study found that providing
teachers with social support can contribute to feelings of personal accomplishment, especially
support from an administrator (Song, 2008). However, Farber (2000) mentioned that this support
could be counter intuitive for an individual who feels the support is coming from people who do
not understand the specific challenges they are facing. Iancu et al.’s (2018) meta-analysis further
identified professional development that focused on student communication and interpersonal
skills had a secondary outcome on teacher burnout; once student behavior improves, then teacher
burnout decreases.
Studies have also indicated the significance of teacher induction programs in supporting
new teachers and providing mentoring, as well as the role that support programs have on teacher
retention throughout different phases of a teacher’s career (Stotko et al., 2007a). In addition to
supporting new, first-year teachers, recognizing the needs of beginning teachers, mid-career

40
teachers, and late-career teachers as well is important for retention (Tran & Smith, 2020). For
example, Tran & Smith’s work suggested that to support teachers throughout the different stages,
it is helpful to provide teachers from all stages time for collaboration to develop relationships as
well as matching veteran teachers with new teachers so they can learn from one another (Tran &
Smith, 2020).
Lastly, a body of research that is emerging provides findings on how teachers are coping
with teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggestions for how leaders can best support
teachers. Five general themes have emerged from surveys asking teachers how they are coping:
(a) adaptive coping through self-calming activities; (b) adaptive coping through social support
and companionship; (c) adaptive coping by entering mental health treatment; (d) adaptive
cognitive coping; and (e) maladaptive coping through alcohol/drug use and food (D’Mello,
2021). Based on the changes teachers have experienced during the pandemic and reported stress
and anxiety, leaders are recommended to provide teachers with support for instructional,
technology, and emotional challenges (D’Mello, 2021; Pressley, 2021). Another finding is the
importance of providing teachers with more instructional training and practice with technology
to improve skills so they will feel more successful teaching online in the future, as this has been
an adjustment for teachers (D’Mello, 2021; Pressley, 2021): providing telehealth options,
providing mental health days (Pressley, 2021) and encouraging teachers to use medical benefits
to seek out mental health counseling (D’Mello, 2021). Just as teachers have reported that
students need more support, teachers also need more support coping with the changes and the
anxiety the COVID-19 pandemic has created.
In summary, research suggests critical connections between teacher burnout, teacher
turnover, and student achievement, suggesting the need to further understand and address teacher

41
burnout. Research suggests some effective ways to address teacher burnout and improve
retention are through improving school leadership and the organizational environment,
supporting teachers to develop stress-reducing strategies and adjusting leadership support based
on new realities for teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. As new research is emerging
suggesting that teachers’ stress and anxiety have increased since the start of the pandemic, and it
is more prevalent in schools with higher poverty that serve students of color, it is necessary to
continue to investigate the topic to best support the students, teachers, and leaders. Hope theory
(Snyder, 2000), discussed below, is a theoretical framework that examines how to support
individuals to build hope and persevere through challenges and exert energy to pursue one’s
goals and will be used as the lens in this study to better understand teacher burnout and strategies
to lessen it.
Hope Theory
Hope theory is the conceptual framework used to frame this research through the lens of
how agency thinking and pathways thinking has the power to create overall hope (Snyder, 2000).
During the last 30 years, the theory has been used as a theoretical framework for research as well
as used to create interventions to support individuals in developing hope during different times in
their lives. Hope theory evolved in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Snyder studied the
pervasiveness of how humans make excuses for their mistakes and poor performance (Snyder,
2000).
As Snyder was conducting research using simulated experiments that resulted in failure,
participants shared they were using excuses to separate themselves from their outcomes,
demonstrating the human instinct is to use excuses to distance oneself “from the bad event that
was contrived in the laboratory” (Snyder, 2000, p.6). During the follow-up conversations, he was

42
led in another direction because he would often hear participants express their desires “to
decrease the distance to their positive life goals” (Snyder, 2000, p.6). This steered Snyder to
want to develop a deeper understanding of what is on the other side of excuses and the reasons
people have a desire to connect themselves to positive results and goals. At the time, he did not
have a good way to explain what was the opposite of excuses, so he called it hope. That led him
to begin researching and asking people questions about their thinking around goals.
Hope theory is defined as “a positive motivation state that is based on an interactively
derived sense of successful (a) agency (goal-directed energy) and (b) pathways (planning to meet
goal)” (Snyder et al., 1991, p. 287). Hope theory has also been explained as a cognitive model
that includes goals, pathways, agency, and emotions that are outcomes-based thinking based on
the perception of successes or failures related to one’s goals (Rand & Touza, 2020). Pathway
thinking refers to the plan or route an individual will follow to obtain the goals. Agency thinking
refers to the energy aspect or willingness of an individual to reach goals. These two elements are
connected and work together to create goal thoughts and hope.
Goals serve to increase hope if they are valued and have appropriate probability of being
attained. For goals to provide hope for a person, they must have value, have a plan for how they
will be achieved (pathway thoughts), and the individual must be able to see how the goal will be
achieved (agency) with an appropriate probability of being accomplished. If the goals do not
have a value for a person, they will not occupy a person’s conscious thoughts and, therefore, will
not be the focus of their actions (Snyder, 2000). If one has close to 100% probability or 0%
probability of being attained, then that does not support an individual staying focused on the
goals (Snyder, 2000). A goal must not be too simple to be achieved and not be too much of a
challenge that it seems incomprehensible. Agency is impacted by emotions; progress creates

43
positive emotions that keep the individual focused on the goal, and setbacks or barriers
encountered create negative emotions that may stop or slow down an individual from achieving
their goals (Rand & Touza, 2020). Feldman et al. (2009) found that hope is adjusted as
individuals experience success or failure while pursuing their goals.
Hope theory has been used internationally to help researchers, doctors, nurses, therapists,
managers, and educators solve problems by increasing hope in individuals. Rand and Touza
(2020) highlighted several studies that focus on the positive impact of hope on student
performance, well-being, interpersonal relationships, employee performance and satisfaction.
Several meta-analysis studies have also emphasized the positive impact hope has on success. The
results have linked increased hope to improve academic performance (Marques et al., 2017),
work performance, and employee well-being (Reichard et al., 2013). Existing research has also
shown that “more hopeful employees do better in work and life” (Wandeler et al., 2016, p.56)
The theory has been found to be consistent across individuals regardless of age, gender,
socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and race (Shivley, 2019). Chang et al., (2018) specifically found
when analyzing hope theory from a multicultural lens that European Americans, African
Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans all experience hope at similar levels, unlike the
researcher’s prediction that racial/ethnic minorities would experience lower hope than European
Americans due to their availability and access to opportunities due to racism and a possible
language barrier in the United States. The research did emphasize the importance of
differentiating between agentic and pathway thinking when studying hope because the frequency
of pathway and agency thoughts differed among racial and ethnic/groups (Chang et al., 2018).
For example, “African Americans reported greater pathways thinking, compared with European
Americans,” and “Latinos reported greater agentic thinking and pathways thinking, compared

44
with European Americans” (Chang, et al., 2018, p. 100). Shivley (2019) pointed out the lack of
LGBTQ+ populations and military personnel included in the hope literature and the opportunity
for further study.
Using hope theory is relevant to studying how teachers are experiencing burnout,
including during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, and how to support them. Previous
research has found relationships between burnout dimensions and concepts of leading with hope.
In a quantitative study analyzing results from Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey
(MBI-ES) and the AHS, Houston (2018) found there are relationships between teacher burnout
and a teacher’s level of hope as well as a teacher’s level of hope and intention to leave their
teaching position. This study specifically found that when a teacher’s hope is high, their
dimension of personal accomplishment is also high, and when hope is low, they are high in
depersonalization and emotional exhaustion. The intention to stay in the teaching position
followed the same pattern; those with high hope and high personal accomplishment intended to
stay and those with low hope and high depersonalization and emotional exhaustion intended to
leave (Houston, 2018).
Hope theory has mostly focused on the concept as an individual pursuit for one achieving
their goals (Snyder, 2000). Since burnout impacts individuals and organizations (Maslach, 2003),
analyzing the organizational influences on one’s hope is critical in understanding burnout in the
current climate. Hope theory has been extended from the individual concept and found that
external agents can support a person in achieving their goals by working together to create plans
and “draw from the capacities and resources” of others (Bernardo, 2010, p. 948). This idea
connects to those stating that successful leaders foster hope to create a culture to achieve positive
outcomes (Bennis, 1999), and servant leaders provide hope to followers when in need (Cerff &

45
Winston, 2006). Adams et al. (2002) found organizations can create hopeful environments and
identified 12 characteristics that create high-hope organizations. Snyder (2000) has found that
hope can be developed in others by modeling and coaching hopeful thinking and behavior. From
the point of view that an individual’s hope relates to teacher burnout and can be impacted by an
organization and the leaders, looking for solutions to lessen burnout through the lens of hope is a
compelling way to learn how to better support teachers’ burnout levels during the COVID-19
pandemic and beyond in high-poverty schools, serving predominantly Black students.

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Chapter Three: Methodology
This study adds to the body of knowledge of how teachers working in high-poverty
schools serving predominantly Black students experience burnout during the COVID-19
pandemic and beyond through the perspective of hope theory to learn strategies that will best
support them. To close the achievement gap that continues to exist between students from high-
poverty and low-poverty families and between Black and White students, it is critical to continue
to understand both teacher hope and burnout. Teacher retention continues to be more concerning
in high-poverty, predominantly Black schools around the country.
High-poverty schools often lose double the number of teachers compared to low-poverty
schools each year (Carroll, 2007; Ingersoll, 2001; Jacob, 2007). A significant relationship has
been found between teacher turnover/teacher intention to quit and stress and burnout (Madigan
& Kim, 2021; Brown & Roloff, 2011). The global pandemic has caused many students to fall
further behind academically, with teachers experiencing the loss in their classrooms, and
evidence suggests the academic loss has hit low-income and students of color the hardest
(McKinsey & Company et al., 2021). Since teachers have the greatest impact on student
achievement, this analysis will focus on learning more about how to support teachers during this
time. Teachers who taught before and during the global pandemic were the key stakeholders that
were surveyed and interviewed to better understand how teachers experience hope and what
teachers need now to combat burnout and feel supported in their roles.
In this chapter, the overall methodology is described in detail, with specific attention to
why the populations and samples were selected, the tools that were used, and how the data were
collected and analyzed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how I, as the researcher,

47
worked to ensure trustworthiness and credibility of the work. The methodological decisions were
created to answer the following research questions:
1. How are teachers experiencing hope and burnout in high-poverty schools?
2. What strategies and resources do teachers use to find greater satisfaction in their
current role?
3. How can school leadership teams best support teachers to reach their goals and stay
energized in their role?
Organization Overview
To answer the research questions, three Florida K–8 charter schools in the CSN agreed to
participate in this study. Each school had 80% or more students eligible to receive free and
reduced lunch, and most students were Black. Based on the sample, the study provided data to
support individuals and organizations to learn more about how teachers are experiencing hope
and burnout, as well as strategies that may lead to more engagement, energy, and effectiveness.
Population and Sample: School Selection
Based on a combination of purposeful and convenience sampling, four CSN schools were
selected for inclusion in the study that had at least 75% of students eligible to receive free and
reduced lunch and more than 75% of the student body being identified as a racial/ethnic
minority, with less than 15% of the student body identifying as White and most of the student
body identifying as Black. The above thresholds were determined by referring to the National
Center for Education Statistics reporting of high-poverty schools and high concentration of
majority-minority students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, any school
where more than 75% of students receive free or reduced lunch is considered a high-poverty
school (NCES, 2021a). The majority-minority is based on a school with a race/ethnicity that

48
comprises more than 75% of students being considered high racial/ethnic concentration, as
reported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2021b). The reason this is
important to the study is that this research specifically looked to combat teacher burnout in high-
poverty schools serving predominantly Black students, where teachers have reported
experiencing greater stress and burnout and related turnover (Abel & Sewell, 1999). In addition,
the selected schools had some consistency in their leadership teams over the past 3 years at the
time of the study. School climate factors that impact a teacher’s emotional exhaustion levels
have been closely associated with teachers’ relationships with administrators (Grayson &
Alvarez, 2008). Therefore, to best understand teachers’ hope and burnout during the global
pandemic, the participating schools needed to have similar leadership teams from 2019–2022.
Table 3 describes the demographics for the three purposely selected schools within CSN that met
the established criteria of being considered high-poverty and high-minority for 2021–2022 and
participated. Although four schools were originally selected, one school was not able to
participate.

Table 3
Demographics for Purposely Selected K-8 Schools
Total
students
Total
Teachers
Ethnicity/race (majority/minority) of
students
% of students
eligible for free
or reduced lunch Black Hispanic White Other
CSN (90 schools)
75,000 8,500 19% 45% 35% 1% 40%
School 1
987 63 85% 8% 3% 4% 81%
School 2
579 35 65% 18% 12% 5% 100%
School 3
1,021 64 64% 24% 7% 5% 86%

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Although the individual schools were purposely selected, the CSN network was
convenient. CSN was chosen because I was provided access to conduct the study, the cost was
reasonable, and the schools were within the state in which I reside. Convenience sampling is
selected based on “time, money, location, availability to sites or respondents” (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016, p. 98).
Survey Sampling Strategy
For the survey part of the data collection, the sampling strategy was purposeful using
criterion-based selection. All teachers who had been teaching since Fall 2019 at the same
purposely selected schools within a convenient network of schools were recruited to participate
in the study.
Purposeful sampling supposes the researcher “wants to discover, understand, and gain
insight” from those who have the greatest insight of the problem (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p.
96). Criterion-based selection refers to recognizing characteristics that best align to the study
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Therefore, the samples for this study were teachers who worked in
schools with matching demographics where typically turnover and burnout are prevalent to learn
ways to support teachers to combat burnout through a global pandemic and beyond. This is
known to be typical purposeful sampling because “it is a reflection of the average person,
situation, or instance of the phenomenon of interest” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 97).
To understand the current climate of hope and burnout with a comparison to previous
feelings, teachers with two and a half years of experience at the same school were recruited.
Grayson and Alvarez (2008) found school climate factors have a relationship to the emotional
exhaustion element of teacher burnout; therefore, it was important to recruit teachers who had
been working in the same climate. The rationale was that the study looked to learn the

50
perspectives of teachers on how their hope and burnout may be different from their hope and
burnout before the pandemic at their school, not how overall school climate may be different.
Teachers who were new to the school or to the teaching profession would have a limited
perspective on the changes in hope and burnout since they had not been in the same environment
before and during the pandemic. Therefore, it was important to recruit teachers who had been at
the same school, so comparisons could be made based on changes in teaching since the pandemic
started, not changes based on school climate.
At the three schools included in the research, 102 teachers had been at their current
school since Fall 2019. All teachers who met these criteria were invited to be included in the
survey and 91 teachers agreed to participate. According to the Raosoft sample size calculator, to
have a 99% confidence level with a 5% margin of error, the sample size would need to be 89
completed surveys for the data to be considered representative of the population, and this study
met that expectation with 91 surveys completed.
Interview Sampling Strategy
Based on those who completed the surveys, participants were asked whether they would
be willing to participate in an interview so I could learn more about their experiences with hope
and burnout to better understand how to support teachers to combat burnout. Teachers who were
willing to complete an interview completed an online Google form with their email addresses
and were contacted through email to schedule an interview. The interview focused data
collection on learning strategies that were currently working for teachers to reduce burnout in the
schools.
The initial goal was to conduct at least 8-12 interviews, with 2-3 participants at each
school. I would interview as many teachers as possible that were available and needed until the

51
content being shared for each school became redundant. I interviewed 10 teachers, three from
two schools and four from one school. Once I heard the same information without any new
information from teachers at each school, saturation occurred, and no more data collection was
needed (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). I recorded notes as the data were collected to determine
overall saturation.
Instrumentation
To gain different aspects of the phenomenon of understanding teacher burnout during a
global pandemic at high-poverty schools serving predominantly Black students, two data sources
were used: surveys and interviews. Surveys provided an overview of how the teachers were
feeling around hope and teacher burnout. According to statistically significant differences in
concerns, surveys give “statistically significant differences in concerns” and will allow me to
explore further using a secondary instrument. The secondary instrument in this study was
structured interviews.
The surveys that were used were the AWS (Leiter & Maslach, 2003), and the AHS
(Snyder et al., 1991). The AWS measures whether an individual experiences work engagement
or burnout with the following organization areas: workload, control, reward, community,
fairness, and values and determines which ones are strengths or weaknesses (Leiter & Maslach,
2003). The survey aligned with the research questions as it provided a picture of how teachers
were experiencing burnout and factors in the work environment that contributed to their burnout.
Further, questions from the AHS provided data on the level of hope each teacher had through the
cognitive model of hope that includes (a) agency thinking and (b) pathway thinking (Snyder et
al., 1991). Pathway thinking refers to the plan or route an individual will follow to obtain the
goals. Agency thinking refers to the energy aspect or willingness of an individual to reach goals.

52
The surveys were predicted to take less than 10 minutes and included 46 responses. Specific
information regarding the survey and scale is found in Appendix A. The second instrument used
was a semi-structured interview protocol (see Appendix B). Interviews are necessary to learn
more about how people perceive experiences and feelings within their environment as well as to
understand past events (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). For me to understand strategies and resources
that help teachers combat burnout and find greater satisfaction and hope in their current role,
how school leadership teams support teachers through the lens of hope theory, and the
differences before and during the pandemic, interviews were an effective tool.
Surveys were chosen to better understand teachers’ current burnout levels, learn the areas
that were contributing to burnout, and how teachers experienced hope. Interviews with selected
teachers provided specific information on what factors lessen burnout, strategies that give them
greater satisfaction, and resources that are helpful to them based on the contributors of burnout.
Collecting this data through interviews supported teachers to share more specifics by probing
and digging deeper and helping them generate examples of experiences and strategies that
support them in combating burnout and stay hopeful. Focus groups were not considered for this
study because burnout and hope are personal in nature, and to protect confidentiality, interviews
were deemed more appropriate. All instruments were piloted in the first two weeks of December
2021 with a school that had similar characteristics as those that were studied, and interview
questions were revised based on the findings.
Data Collection
Recruitment began in March 2022 by me scheduling meetings with the leadership teams
of the selected schools to establish rapport, review the details of the study, set up a timeline, and
discuss roles and responsibilities for implementing the study. Once the University of Southern

53
California IRB approved the study, I reached out to the four school principals to request a
specific date and time to join a faculty meeting either in person or through Zoom to share
essential information about the study and recruit the teachers. Three of the four schools arranged
a time, and I visited all three schools and met with the faculty to share the study’s purpose and
request their participation. Immediately following the meetings with teachers, the principals sent
an email from me to all teachers who had been at the school since Fall 2019 that included a
recruitment letter and a link from MindGarden-Tools for Positive Transformation. MindGarden-
Tools for Positive Transformation is an organization that supports researchers’ data collection
processes by combining multiple surveys in one place, so participants received one link that
included both the AWS and the AHS in one consolidated form and could be completed
anonymously. Prior to teachers beginning the survey, they were asked again to confirm that they
had been at the same school since Fall 2019. If they responded no, they were unable to access the
survey and scale.
The survey was administered online through a link that did not require an account, could
be accessed from their laptop, and was able to be completed in less than 10 minutes. This link
included an information sheet about the study, demographic questions, AWS, and AHS
questions. During the faculty meeting and additional email communication, the teachers were
reminded that this was a voluntary opportunity. Those who completed the AWS surveys then had
the opportunity to immediately download an individual report to provide them with a better
understanding of their current engagement and burnout levels and information about what in
their work life may be contributing to engagement or burnout and their current motivational
state. Then participants were asked to follow the link to a secure and confidential google form to
share their email address if they opted to receive a $10 gift card and/or sign up for a

54
semi-structured interview.
Once the first surveys were completed, I had access to the results. According to Merriam
and Tisdell (2016), data collection and data analysis are not linear processes but will occur
simultaneously. Therefore, once the first surveys were completed, I began analyzing the results
and scheduling interviews. Each week, I reviewed the results and wrote a short email to the
teachers who were being recruited, sharing feedback on the survey and interview completion
rates, and encouraging more to complete the survey to reach the 95% confidence level and to
sign up for interviews until saturation was reached. At the same time, I began scheduling and
completing semi-structured, open-ended interviews using the protocol found in Appendix B.
Those who participated in interviews received an additional $10 gift card as a thank you.
During the scheduling of the interviews, I learned their name through the email addresses
and introduction, but once the interviews were completed, to ensure confidentiality, all
identifying information was deleted and a pseudonym was assigned for each participant. At the
beginning of the interviews, participants were reminded again that participation was optional;
they could withdraw at any time and decline any questions that they did not wish to answer. This
data collection process continued until the surveys reached a 95% confidence level, and
interview data for each school was redundant to the point of saturation.
Data Analysis
Data collection and data analysis happened simultaneously. I began analyzing the data
after about 10 surveys were received, and each interview was transcribed using a voice to
transcription application. I “read and reread the data, making notes in the margins, commenting
on the data” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p.196) and used MAXQDA2022 to analyze and organize
notes. Next, I used MAXQDA2022 to remember thoughts, questions, insights, and overall ideas

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that the data were bringing to light (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Merriam and
Tisdell (2016) cited six steps of a repeated data analysis (p. 207) that were used and are found in
Table 4.

Table 4
Six Steps of a Repeated Data Analysis Process
Step Process
1 Think about the purpose of the study.
2 Think through the theoretical framework.
3 Code or categorize your data based on patterns.
4 Step back and think about the purpose of your study again.
5 Think through the theoretical framework again.
6 Code or categorize your data based on patterns.

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This was a constant cycle to compare findings to the study’s purpose to support analyzing
the data in an organized and effective manner. I began with line-by-line coding of the transcripts
shortly after each interview based on the empirical, a priori coding created from interview
questions aligned to the research questions and theoretical framework. For example, I looked for
how school leadership teams support teachers to develop hope by assisting them in reaching their
goals. The next step was to complete inductive coding that was created based on findings that
emerged from the data using MAXQDA2022.
I completed a close reading of the interview transcripts again to redo the process to refine
the initial codes. At the same time, the survey data were analyzed and then examined to see how
the findings aligned to interview data, if at all, where the data supported each other, and where
there were contradictions that needed to be explored further. I wrote notes throughout the process
to capture insights that may be coming out of the process.
Trustworthiness, Ethics and Role of Researcher
The ethical dimensions of this study were considered throughout the research process. In
qualitative research, the most impactful instrument in data collection and analysis is the
researchers themselves, so it is essential that I can be trusted to present “valid and reliable
knowledge in an ethical manner” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 237). First and foremost,
Lochmiller and Lester (2017) stated the importance of recognizing if there is a personal or
professional conflict of interest regarding the research one is planning to complete. Therefore, to
avoid any conflict of interest, I surveyed and interviewed teachers at three schools where I am
not a supervisor or work with any individuals who were recruited. I disclosed that 5 years prior, I
worked for a school within the same network of schools serving in a school with the same
student demographics.

57
I ensured that participants were shown respect free from deceit with the goal to “do no
harm” throughout the study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Rubin & Rubin, 2012). Throughout the
study, I developed trust with the participants by working to understand their perceptions and
becoming aware of any bias based on previous experiences that may influence interpretations of
the data. Rubin and Rubin (2012) suggested the importance of always showing respect for
participants by being truthful with participants, honoring their time, reminding them they are
being studied, using responsive interviewing techniques, and being mindful of using manners. To
build relationships out of respect, value their time, and request participation, I visited an in-
person faculty meeting at each school and spent 10 minutes sharing the study’s purpose and
goals, emphasizing the importance of learning more about how to better support teachers in high-
poverty schools serving predominantly Black students during a global pandemic.
Glesne (2011) reminds researchers of the importance of building relationships with
participants and keeping in mind the power in relationship typically leans toward the researcher.
With that in mind, from the first interaction, I explained to participants that participating is
voluntary. Each possible participant received a recruitment letter and information sheet
disclosing the study’s purpose and explaining they would be able to opt out at any time without
any penalty. Although the research is considered exempt, participants still received the
information sheet before choosing to complete the survey and structured interviews. The online
survey was accessed by participants without having to create an account. Therefore, I did not
have access to IP addresses, email addresses, or any identifiable data that may be associated with
an individual.
Only those who chose to be interviewed provided their email addresses for the interview,
and once the interview was conducted, email addresses were deleted to keep participants’

58
identities anonymous. Those who chose to participate in interviews provided verbal consent to be
recorded. Since the transcripts were held on my laptop, to ensure security, the computer was
password protected, and the transcripts were permanently deleted once the study was completed.
The anonymity of the participants was maintained throughout, and I deleted any identifiable
personal information once the study was completed.
To ensure bias did not impact the study’s validity, I did not try to reject my shortcoming
and bias, but it is better to “identify and monitor” them throughout the study (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016. p.16). In reflection, I recognize that I have never been a teacher in a school with the same
demographics; I have served as a school counselor and school administrator but not as a teacher.
Therefore, I tried to be aware of any perceptions that came up based on my past experiences in
the other roles toward teachers. I am a White female who has worked in various roles in school
administration for the past 11 years. During that time, I did spend eight years in high-poverty
schools, serving predominantly Black students and witnessed some teachers struggling with
burnout and felt that I did not have the strategies to best support them to overcome the burnout. I
have also served as a school counselor and teacher serving in lower- and middle-class schools
with predominantly White students and have my own perceptions of the differences that may
lead some teachers to burnout in schools with varying demographics. Although I no longer work
in a school, I still support educators and remain passionate about supporting school leaders as
they learn as much as they can to prevent teacher burnout and help teachers feel good about
teaching their students and making a positive difference in schools. Another ethical element is
the idea of reciprocity, the idea of what is in it for the participant (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). As
for reciprocity, I informed the teachers that the entire dissertation would be shared with them,
their school, and CSN, regardless of their participation. The purpose is for all stakeholders to

59
develop a better understanding of strategies that best support teachers to combat teacher burnout.
At the time of recruitment, possible participants knew that those who participated in the survey
would receive a thank you note along with a $10 gift card and their individual report based on
the results of the AWS as a gesture of appreciation. Those who participated in the interview
received an additional $10 gift card (Glesne, 2011).
A strategy that was used to increase validity was the triangulation of the data (Maxwell,
2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). By including both interviews and surveys in this study, I often
had two sources of data that would be able to be checked to ensure the validity of the findings. I
was able to cross-reference the results from the surveys to the responses from the interviews to
see if there were any discrepancies. When discrepancies did exist, I dug deeper to understand
reality. In conclusion, to ensure the trustworthiness of results and ethical treatment of
participants, prior to beginning the study, I secured approval from the University of Southern
California Institutional Review Board and ensured that the rights and well-being of participants
were at the forefront throughout the study.
Conclusion
Chapter Three provided a blueprint of the research design to answer this study’s research
questions considering best practices in mixed-methods research. Specific details were shared
regarding choice of the sample and instruments, processes that were used for data collection and
analysis, and how trustworthiness and ethics were maintained throughout the study. The next
chapter focuses on the results and findings from the data.

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Chapter Four: Results and Findings
The purpose of this study was to understand how teachers in high-poverty schools
serving predominantly Black students experience hope and burnout. Data were collected to better
understand the connections between teacher engagement and burnout through principles of hope
theory with a focus on understanding how organizations, teachers themselves, and school
leadership can best support teachers to find greater satisfaction and stay energized in their role.
The study asked teachers at CSN, a pseudonym, in the Southeast Region of the United States to
complete the AWS and the AHS and to participate in semi-structured interviews.
Chapter Two acknowledged the critical connections between teacher burnout, teacher
turnover, and student achievement and the need to continue to focus on organizational and
school leadership efforts to help teachers feel more engaged and less burned out. Chapter Three
described the methodology for this study. This chapter presents a discussion of the study’s
results and findings organized by presenting data and themes for each research question. The
following three questions guided this study:
1. How are teachers experiencing hope and burnout in high-poverty schools?
2. What strategies and resources do teachers use to find greater satisfaction in their
current role?
3. How can school leadership teams best support teachers to reach their goals and stay
energized in their role?
The eight themes that emerged from the survey and/or interview data include (a) in
general, teachers feel hopeful; (b) teachers reported being matched with their organization in the
areas of values, community, and control; (c) teachers reported a mismatch between themselves
and the organization in workload; (d) lack of accountability based on a combination of factors

61
caused teachers to feel additional burn out; (e) teachers create balance and boundaries; (f)
teachers maintain a positive attitude and use helpful self-talk as strategies that helped them re-
energize, combat burnout, and supported overall satisfaction; and (g) need to be heard and
collaborate with school leadership.
Participants
The three selected schools within CSN and the teachers from the three selected schools
within CSN were included in the study based on specific criteria. The criteria that the three
schools met were that they were considered high-poverty, high-minority public charter schools
for the 2021-2022 school year. Each school had more than 80% of students eligible for free or
reduced lunch, and more than 88% of students were Black or Hispanic, with most students being
Black. The criteria to participate in study was that teachers had been teaching since Fall 2019,
prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, at the selected schools within the convenient network of
schools.
I visited each school in person to share the study’s details and request participation. Then,
a recruitment email was sent to the teachers who met the criteria, which included a link where
teachers could anonymously respond to the 41-question survey. Once participants completed the
survey, they were asked if they were interested in receiving a thank-you gift card and /or
participating in an interview. If they did want to, they clicked on a link to a google document
asking if they were interested in participating in a semi-structured interview and to provide their
email address to receive an Amazon Gift Card. One hundred two teachers met the criteria and
qualified to participate in the study. Of those who qualified, 91 teachers completed the survey.
From those who completed the survey, 38 teachers responded they would be interested in
participating in a semi-structured interview. The 38 teachers who said they would be interested

62
were invited to be interviewed, and of those, 10 teachers scheduled and participated in an
interview. To maintain confidentiality, all participants were provided pseudonyms for their
names to identify their responses.
Demographic Data
Demographic data for the study were obtained from closed-ended questions adopted from
similar studies (Houston, 2018; Huberman, 1989; Leiter & Maslach, 2011). Tables 5 and 6
illustrate demographic data from those who completed the survey (n = 91) and from the
interviewees (n = 10).

63
Table 5
Descriptive Statistics of Survey Participants (N = 91)
Variable Number Percentage
School
School #1 15 16.48%
School #2 28 30.77%
School #3 48 52.75%
Years of teaching experience at current school
2–3 Years 21 23.08%
4–6 Years 35 38.46%
7–18 Years 33 36.26%
19–30 Years 1 1.10%
30+ Years 0 0.00%
Prefer not to disclose 1 1.10%
Total years of teaching experience
2–3 Years 6 6.59%
4–6 Years 16 17.58%
7–18 Years 58 63.74%
19–30 Years 8 8.79%
30+ Years 2 2.20%
Prefer not to disclose 1 1.10
Gender
Male 14 15.38%
Female 77 84.62%
Non-binary/third gender 0 0.00%
Prefer not to disclose 0 0.00%
Race
American Indian or Alaska Native 2 2.20%
Asian 2 2.20%
Black or African American 46 50.55%
Hispanic or Latino 7 7.69%
Middle Eastern or North African
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
0
0
0.00%
0.00%
White 31 34.07%
Prefer not to disclose 4 4.40%
Other (Polish, Jewish, and Mixed Race) 5 5.49%

Descriptive statistics for each of the demographic variables were presented in Table 5 and
a discussion for each variable follows:

64
School. Most of the participants were from School 3 (n = 48, 53%) followed by School 2
(n = 28, 31%) and then School 1 (n = 15, 16%). However, based on the total who qualified to
participate, School 2 had the highest percentage of participation with 95% of those who met the
participation criteria (n = 28), School 3 (n = 48, 94%), and School 1 (n = 15, 68%). Based on the
total number of participants, 89% of the 102 teachers who met the criteria completed the surveys
(n = 91).
Total Years of Teaching Experience. Most of the participants had been teaching in the
field between 7–18 years (n = 58, 64%). Participants with 2 to 6 years in the profession
represented 24% of the respondents (n = 22). Participants with 19–30 years in the profession
represented 9% (n = 8).
Gender. Most of the participants were female (n = 77, 85%). Males represented 15% of
the participants (n = 14). No participants reported their gender as non-binary/third gender or
preferred not to disclose.
Race. Most of the participants were Black or African American teachers (n = 46, 51%),
followed by White teachers (n = 31, 34%). Seven participants reported as Hispanic or Latino (n
= 7, 8%). Two participants (n = 2, 2%) reported as American Indian or Alaska Native and then
two participants (n = 2, 2%) reported as Asian. Five participants responded as other (5%) noting
Polish, Jewish, and Mixed Race. Four participants responded they preferred not to disclose (n =
4, 4%)

65
Table 6
Descriptive Statistics of Interview Participants (n = 10)
Pseudonym Years in
education
Current
school
Age Sex Race/
ethnicity
School
Briana 23 years 7 years 49 Female Black 1
Marcia 17 years 7 years 48 Female White 2
Imara 8 years 6 years 52 Female Asian 2
Leticia 13 years 7 years 57 Female African American 1
Marcus 38 years 3 years 60 Male African American 2
Elizabeth 7 years 4 years 45 Female Hispanic 2
Saria 25 years 3 years 47 Female Black Jamaican 3
Coral 6 years 6 years 42 Female African American 3
Rigel Unavailable Male Unavailable 3
Emily Unavailable Female Unavailable 1

Descriptive statistics for each of the demographic variables were computed in Table 6 for
interviewees and a discussion of each variable follows:
School. Most of the interviewees were from School 2 (n = 4, 40%) with Schools 1 and 3
both having the same number of participants (n = 3, 30%).
Total Years of Teaching Experience. Most of the participants who provided their years
of experience had been teaching in the field between 7–18 years (n = 4, 50%). Participants with
4-6 years in the profession represented 13% of the respondents (n = 1). Participants with 19-30
years in the profession represented 38% (n =3).
Gender. Most of the participants were female (n = 8, 80%). Males represented 20% of
the participants (n = 2).
Race. Most of the participants who disclosed their race were Black or African American
teachers (n = 5, 62.5%), followed by one White teacher (n = 1, 12.5%), one Asian teacher (n = 1,
12.5%), and one Hispanic teacher (n = 1, 12.5%).

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In this section, key findings and themes gathered from the data analysis are presented for
each research question. Hope theory serves as the overarching framework guiding the findings
and themes, and they are also supported by literature, where applicable. The findings and themes
will be the basis for generating recommendations for practice in Chapter Five.
Results and Findings for Research Question 1
Research Question 1 was designed to learn how teachers in high-poverty schools that
serve predominantly Black students are experiencing hope and burnout. The four main themes
found regarding this question were (a) in general, teachers feel hopeful; (b) teachers reported
being matched with their organization in the areas of values, community, and control; (c)
teachers reported a mismatch between themselves and the organization in workload; and (d) lack
of accountability based on a combination of factors are causing teachers to feel additional
burnout. Tables 7, 8 and 9 and Figure 3 support Research Question 1. Table 7 outlines AHS
results. Tables 8 and Table 9 support and summarize overall findings from AWS related to
Themes 2 and 3. Theme 4 was based on semi-structured interview data. Each of these themes are
discussed in detail in the following sections.
Theme 1: In General, Teachers Feel Hopeful
Hope theory is a cognitive positive state based on setting clear goals associated with
pathways and agency leading individuals to develop hope. The emotions (agency) are outcomes-
based thinking based on the perception of successes or failures related to one’s goals (Rand &
Touza, 2020). Agency thinking also refers to the energy aspect or willingness of an individual to
reach their goals. Pathway thinking refers to the plan or route an individual will follow to obtain
their goals. These two elements are connected and work together to create goal thoughts and

67
eventually hope. The AHS is an instrument that collects data to determine the level of hope a
person has that includes both (a) agency thinking and (b) pathway thinking (Snyder et al., 1991).
Table 7 helps answer Research Question 1 regarding how teachers are currently
experiencing hope. Table 7 presents the overall results from the AHS for 91 survey respondents,
providing the average and standard deviations for the Total Hope Scale as well as showing the
agency and pathway subscales. The subscales are based on the survey questions related to either
agency or pathway actions and are added together to get the total hope for each respondent.
Table 7 also includes the number of participants and percentages of those scoring in each range
of the AHS. The data presented in Table 7 shows that most teachers report being hopeful, with
less than 1% reporting not being hopeful.

Table 7
Adult Hope Scale Results n = 91
Scales Mean SD
Total Hope Scale 53.3 6.2
Agency Subscale 27.1 3.5
Pathway Subscale 26.2 3.6

Total Hope Score Number of Teachers Percent of Teachers
Below 39 1 1%
Hopeful (40–47) 17 19%
Moderately Hopeful (48–55) 36 39.5%
High Hope (56 or higher) 37 40.5%

Note: Total hope scale scores range from a minimum of 8 to a maximum of 64.

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As shown in Table 7, 99% of teachers surveyed responded they were feeling either
hopeful, moderately hopeful, or having high hope. Specifically, 40% responded in the range of
high hope, 39% responded in the range of moderate hope, and 19% in the range of hopeful.
Adult Hope Scale data were also analyzed based on the following demographic data to determine
if there were any differences: school, race, and total years of experience. Averages were similar
for all subgroups other than the category of race. Eighty-five percent of Black or African
American teachers responded to be moderately hopeful or with high hope, compared to 67% of
White teachers responding to be moderately hopeful or with high hope on the Total Hope Scale.
This is a data point that could be investigated further to understand the reason for the differences
in overall hope between Black and White teachers.
Adult Hope Scale subscores measured the two components of hope for each respondent’s
level of agency thinking and pathway thinking. The subscales have a range from 4 to 32, and the
group had a mean score that was 27.1 with a standard deviation of 3.5 for agency goal-directed
energy, and the mean score was 26.2 with a standard deviation of 3.6 for pathway planning to
accomplish goal. AHS has 12 questions; four that represent statements related to agency and four
related to pathway thinking. An example of an agency statement in the AHS is, “I energetically
pursue my goals,” and an example of a pathway statement is, “I can think of many ways to get
out of a jam.” In comparing demographic data, there were no significant differences in the school
or year of experiences with the subscales. However, there was a slight difference in mean
subscale data between Black/African American teachers and White teachers on the pathway
subscale, the subscale for Black/African American teachers was a mean 27.4, and on the same
subscale was 25.7 for White teachers. Based on the AHS results, the teachers who participated

69
seem to have mostly high hope or are moderately hopeful, with differences between Black and
White teachers with overall feelings of hope and the pathway subscale.
Building from the survey questions, participants were presented with the idea of hope
theory during semi-structured interviews by reviewing Figure 3. Figure 3 represents the concepts
of hope theory and the idea of it being a perpetual cycle; beginning with setting clear goals and
ending with hope. The theory states that when an individual sets goals and has a plan to reach the
goals (pathways), they begin displaying effort (agency), which leads to success that builds
confidence which leads to hope.

Figure 3
An Example of the Hope Theory Cycle

Note: Reprinted from Flourishing Life Society, In Hope Theory: Achieving Possibilities, 2020, T.
Franklin Murphy. (https://www.flourishinglifesociety.com/hope-theory-motivation-to-
succeed.html). Copyright 2020 by T. Franklin Murphy.

70
Figure 3 was shared with the interviewees, and they were asked what they thought of this
theory and if it rang true for them. Of the interviewees, seven provided examples of how hope
theory rang true for them. All seven spoke about the impact of setting goals and provided
examples of the goals they set each year. Some teachers shared examples of goals related to
student goals for academic achievement, others shared goals for themselves on overall student
achievement, and some shared their personal goals for the year. Leticia summed up her feelings
of hope theory by stating,
Because without hope, I mean what you know, you have to have some sort of hope. You
have to have faith that this can be done. And if you have hope that that motivates you to
keep it moving. Yes. You know, to set those goals and to try to do whatever you can get
done.
Briana also mentioned how she agreed with the theory in her role as a teacher:
I think about how I set goals and set pathways for children. They try to give me their
maximum effort because they know that I have made sure that it’s something that they
can feel confident in doing or I’m there to assist them to be successful.
Similarly, Coral discussed how their entire school is based on goals and realized that they live
by the hope theory model. She described the school as data-driven and goal-focused, and she
described how the teams create pathways of how to reach their goals and how this leads them to
be more confident and hopeful.
Saria, from the same school, described hope theory in her experience as “
I believe in hope not just subconsciously; consciously, it’s something that I’ve thought
about. It’s something that I’ve realized consciously drives people and allows them to take
one foot, put one foot in front of the other. It builds resilience. There’s that word again. I

71
love it. I absolutely love this hope theory. You can’t go, you can’t make it in life without
hope because there are so many things that can discourage us. I love that it comes with
pathways. That is the arrow that stands out to me a lot. Because speaking from a spiritual
perspective, a lot of people were taught hope, but they weren’t taught how to move with
that hope.
Three of the teachers who were from School 2 felt the hope theory model did not
consider organizational variables that impact their ability to set goals and reach them. Marcus
explained his frustration with scheduling decisions that are being made by the school
administration, and he does not believe they support student achievement goals in his subject
areas. He has expressed his ideas and felt his ideas have not been considered and does not
understand the reason behind the choices the school administration has made regarding
scheduling. Marcus shared,
I guess, based on my situation, when you’re dealing with variables that you have no
control over, you know. You’re hopeful that it will change. However, there will come a
certain point where okay, my gosh, I’ve been hoping that it’s changed for 5 years, and it
hasn’t. So, when does that hope go and everything else, I think, is just going to disappear.
The two other teachers from the same school also shared feelings that external factors, like
discipline issues, also interrupt their experience with the hope theory cycle.
In summary, overall, teachers are feeling hopeful. Based on the analysis of demographics,
the data implies that Black teachers are more hopeful than White teachers. And from the
interviews, teachers in School 3 are more connected to the ideas of hope theory as an explicit
practice in their school. Using the MBI-ES and the AHS, Houston (2018) found there are
relationships between teacher burnout and a teacher’s level of hope. Teachers who were more

72
hopeful were less likely to experience dimensions of burnout (Houston, 2018). Therefore, based
on the majority of respondents feeling hopeful, this study could suggest the same teachers are
experiencing fewer dimensions of burnout.
Theme 2: Teachers Reported Being Matched to Their Organization in the Areas of Values,
Community, and Control
To continue to analyze Research Question 1 on how teachers are experiencing hope and
burnout, AWS results and interview data provided evidence for Themes 2 and 3. AWS provides
data to determine the personal matches or mismatches individuals experience based on the
organizational areas of strength or weaknesses (Leiter & Maslach, 2003). If employees have a
personal match with the organization, it usually leads to engagement; if they do not have a
personal match, it has the potential to lead an individual to develop the psychological syndrome
of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy called burnout (Leiter & Maslach, 2003). Table 8
illustrates the group’s average scores for the AWS. If a score is 2 or less (“Disagree”), this
demonstrates a mismatch between survey respondents and their organization, and this is an area
that needs attention. The standard deviation measures the variation in responses within the group.
The smaller the standard deviation, the higher the agreement among group members. If the value
was 0.0, that would suggest a complete agreement among group members. Table 8 shows the
highest averages for a match with the organization are values, community, and control. The
lowest averages are in the areas of workload, fairness, and reward. Workload had the lowest
average of all six areas.

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Table 8
Areas of Work Life Survey Scale Scores Mean and Standard Deviations
Area of work environment Study participants
N = 91
Workload 2.5 (0.8)
Control 3.5 (0.9)
Reward 3.3 (1.0)
Community 3.5 (0.9)
Fairness 3.1 (0.9)
Values 3.6 (0.9)

Table 9 describes the data for the overall findings by providing the number of teachers
and how they scored in each area of worklife. Each area of worklife is described with the number
of teachers who found the relationship to be a mismatch, average fit, or a good fit. If a score is a
2 or less, this indicates a mismatch between an individual and the organization, a 3 is an average
fit and a 4 or 5 is a good fit.

74
Table 9
Areas of Worklife Profile Counts (n = 91)
Area of Worklife Mismatch Average Fit Good Fit
Workload 61 23 7
Control 20 39 32
Reward 33 24 34
Community 21 36 34
Fairness 38 39 14
Values 19 30 42

Note. Table 9 shows the number of participants in each Area of Worklife profile based on how
they responded to the subscales.

Values was the highest match for the respondents, with a mean score of 3.6. Seventy-nine
percent of teachers scored themselves a 3, 4, or 5, with 46% scoring a 4 or 5. control (3.5) and
community (3.5) were the next highest areas, with control having 78% of respondents scoring
themselves as 3 or higher and 35% with a 4 or 5. Community also was a match for most teachers
with 77% scoring themselves as 3 or higher and 37% scoring a 4 or 5.
According to the AWS data, most teachers reported having an average or good fit in the
areas of values. Sixty-five percent of teachers strongly agreed or agreed that the organization’s
goals influenced their day-to-day work activities, and 57% strongly agreed and agreed that the
organization was committed to quality work.
In comparing demographic data, there were differences in the school populations based
on the percentage of teachers who rated their relationship to the organization’s values. Based on

75
the data, 53% of respondents from School 1 had an average or good fit with the organization’s
values compared to School 2’s with 71% and School 3’s with 92%. School 1 had the highest
percent of respondents who had a mismatch, scoring themselves either a 1 or 2 on values, with
47% compared to School 2 with 29% and School 3 with only 8% scoring themselves a mismatch
with the organization’ values. There were no differences between the teacher’s race and total
years of experience when it came to the relationship to values in the organization.
Through the interviews, more data were collected to better understand the matches from
the organization with the teachers to learn what was engaging and keeping them energized
related to values. Six of the 10 teachers shared examples of how their values matched the values
of their organizations. Elizabeth said, “I love teaching, I love my kids and don’t want to go
anywhere,” as she described what re-energizes her. Coral, when describing her school’s high
expectations for students, shared,
So, every day we go in, I’m gonna teach them this, maybe they shouldn’t be learning this
yet. Here they can learn it. And you will be surprised how much information these kids
can take in.
During the interviews, all three teachers from School 1 mentioned that the school has had
high leadership and teacher turnover, and one teacher mentioned they did not feel the school was
supported by the management organization. The decrease in average or good fit to values
indicated from School 1’s survey data compared to the other two schools needs further
exploration, although turnover in reported leadership and staff may be the cause based on the
interviews.
The next area that was a personal match for most teachers in the study was in the
organization’s area of control. In comparing demographic data there were differences in the

76
school populations, race, and total years of experience based on the percentage of teachers who
rated their relationship to control. Based on the data, 87% of respondents from School 1 had an
average or good fit with the organization’s control compared to School 3 with 79% and School 2
with 71%. School 2 had the highest percentage of respondents who had a mismatch: 29% of
teachers scored themselves either a 1 or 2 with control. School 3 had 21% and School 1 had only
13% who scored themselves as a 1 or 2. Although School 1 had the lowest percentage of teachers
who had a match between values and community, School 1 had the highest percentage of
respondents to have a match with control.
There was also a difference between data based on the race of the teachers. Black
teachers reported that 91% of them had an average or good fit to the control of the organization,
compared to 58% of White teachers reporting having an average or good fit. Therefore, only 9%
of Black Teachers reported a mismatch between them and the area of control, as compared to
42% of White teachers who reported having a mismatch between them and control.
The results also differed when analyzing teachers’ total years of experience. Teachers
with 7–18 years’ experience reported that 81% of them had an average or good fit to the control
of the organization, compared to 64% of teachers with 2–6 years of experience reporting having
an average or good fit.
Therefore, 36% of teachers with 2-6 years of experience reported a mismatch between
them and the area of control, in contrast to 19% of teachers with 7–18 years who reported having
a mismatch between them and control.
During the semi-structured interviews, six of the 10 teachers shared examples of how
they are engaged by the control they have over their work in their classroom and how they

77
influence decisions. Rigel indicated how much autonomy he has over his teaching by describing
it as
I like to put on a show, I should say. And I think a lot of the content is bringing it to life.
Because if you’re not going to bring it to life and you might give them a textbook and tell
them to read, and so you know my subject area, you know, I teach [subject], my degree’s
in [said degree]. And stuff like that. So you know, the content comes naturally to me and
it’s always been a passion of mine to teach [students] so [I] take pride.
Coral also indicated how they have control in school decisions by describing a situation that
occurred:
I talked to [school leader], and I said I can pick up another tutoring class because we need
to get those last few kids in there because there were no more openings in the other two
groups. That’s how many kids we got in [specific grade level], too. And then Monday,
[school leader] messaged me okay, [you] we’re starting that tutoring class.
Similarly, Imara said, “My opinion matters, part of decision-making, and I think they like it if I
give a suggestion and it is implemented.”
Of the other four teachers, three shared different perspectives by expressing they had
control over their classroom environment, but they did not feel like their voices were being heard
to influence school-wide decisions. Three of those teachers interviewed were from School 2, the
school with the lowest percentage of teachers reporting a match to control compared to the other
schools. Teachers shared how they bring ideas to school leadership and how their ideas and
suggestions are heard, but they do not influence decisions. One teacher expressed concerns about
not having control over their classroom based on school leadership not listening to concerns and

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making changes based on the teacher’s belief of what is best for students. Therefore, this may be
a reason for slightly lower matches of control in School 2 compared to the other two schools.
The next area that was a personal match for most teachers in the study was the
organization’s area of community. In comparing demographic data, there were differences in the
schools and by race based on the percent of teachers who rated their relationship to the
organization’s community. Based on the data, 67% of respondents from School 1 had an average
or good fit with the organization’s community compared to School 2 with 71% and School 3
with 83%. Similar to the values data, School 1 had the highest percent of respondents who had a
mismatch, scoring themselves either a 1 or 2 with community, with 33%, compared to School 2
with 29% and School 3 with only 17%. Although School 1 had the least number of participants,
this is still a difference worth exploring further to develop a better understanding.
There was also a difference between the data based on the race of the teachers. Black
teachers reported that 85% of them had an average or good fit to the Community of the
Organization, compared to 71% of White teachers who reported having an average or good fit.
Fifteen percent of Black teachers reported a mismatch between them and the community,
compared to 29% of White teachers reporting having a mismatch with them and the community.
Although this is an area that may warrant more investigation, it may be based on the overall
student population being predominantly Black, and Black teachers feeling more connected to the
students because of their similarities and White teachers feeling less connected. There were no
differences reported based on teachers’ total years of experience.
During the semi-structured interviews, all teachers shared examples of how the
community engages them at their schools. Teachers shared how energizing their relationships
with students, colleagues, school leadership teams, and parents are for them in their teaching

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role. Interviewees mainly discussed the impact of the relationships with their students and
colleagues. Leticia said, “I have a family here, we’re like a family we know we can depend on
each other. We need each other. Yeah. Whether it’s in school or out of school, you know?” as
she described what re-energizes her. Similarly, Elizabeth stated, “My team. We have such a great
relationship. You have each other’s back; we know that we can count on each other no matter
what.” Saria told a story of how she was feeling burned out at the beginning of school year and it
was the first time she ever felt that way. She realized the turning point for her and shared this
story:
When a student walked up to me and said, [teacher’s name], can I hug you, it was a new
student. And he hugged me and then another one came and said I want to give you a hug
to [teacher’s name] and it like, it lit me up for the entire day. It energized me for the
entire day.
Coral spoke of her school leader and said, “You cannot trust the other bosses, but he has
been here for [a number of] years and it’s been consistent all [number] years.” Throughout the
interviews teachers shared many examples of how relationships with members of the community
have helped them re-energize, stay engaged, and combat their feelings of burnout. Although
there was a difference in survey data based on school and race, the interviews did not provide
any evidence to support the differences.
As stated above, this data shows that overall, most teachers expressed a match to the
organization in the areas of values, control, and community. Teachers expressed how they value
high expectations, learning, a focus on students and they enjoy working with their colleagues and
students. Despite the fact that values, community, and control were the highest reported fit to the
organization, there were discrepancies when analyzing subgroup data that can be explored

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further to improve overall teacher engagement throughout the organization. Opportunities for
further investigation would be to learn more of what is happening in School 3 and with Black
teachers that are supporting them to have more average and good fits to the organization’s values
and community. Also, to understand what is happening with School 1, Black teachers, and
teachers with 7–18 years of experience that is leading them to have more of average or good fits
with the area of control.
Theme 3: Teachers Reported a Mismatch Between Themselves and the Organization in
Workload
Table 8 and Table 9 describe the data for the overall findings of the AWS results for all
participants in the study. Each area is described with the number of teachers who found the
relationship to be a mismatch, average fit, or a good fit. If a score is a 2 or less, this indicates a
mismatch between an individual and the organization, a 3 is an average fit and a 4 or 5 is good
fit.
Based on this data, 67% of teachers surveyed responded to a personal mismatch between
their organization and themselves regarding the overall workload by having an average score of a
1 or 2 in this area. This is a considerable difference compared to the other areas: fairness (42%
mismatch), reward (36% mismatch), community (23% mismatch), control (22% mismatch), and
lastly, values (21% mismatch).
In comparing demographic data, there were differences in the school populations, race,
and total years of experience based on the percent of teachers who rated their relationship to the
organization’s workload. Based on the data analysis by subgroups, School 2 had the highest
percent of respondents who had a mismatch (82% of teachers from School 2 scored themselves

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either a 1 or 2 with workload), followed by School 3 with 63% and School 1 with 53% who
scored themselves as a 1 or 2. Eighteen percent of respondents from School 2 had an average or
good fit with the organization’s workload compared to School 3 with 38% and School 3 with
47%. The differences by school could be investigated to gain a better understanding of the
differences.
There was also a difference between data based on the race of the teachers. Seventy-four
percent of White teachers reported a mismatch between them and the area of workload, in
contrast to 59% of Black teachers who reported having a mismatch with them and workload.
Therefore, 26% of White teachers reported they had an average or good fit to the workload of the
organization, compared to 41% of Black teachers reported having an average or good fit. This
data connects to the differences White teachers reported on having less of a match with values,
community, and control than their Black colleagues, and this may also be related to their
responses with an increased workload.
There was also a difference reported based on teachers’ total years of experience.
Seventy-two percent of teachers with 7–18 years of experience reported a mismatch between
them and the area of workload, and 59% of teachers with 2–6 years reported having a mismatch
between them and workload. Therefore, teachers with 7–18 years’ experience reported that 28%
of them had an average or good fit to the workload of the organization, compared to 41% of
teachers with 2–6 years of experience who reported having an average or good fit. One
possibility to explain this difference could be that for those with more teaching experience, their
workload has changed over time, such as during the pandemic. They may feel more of a
mismatch now, in contrast to new teachers who have only known the workload to be the same
since entering the profession within the last 2–6 years. From the interview data, seven teachers

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cited workload as being a challenge and leading to burnout. Some of the examples shared that
impacted their feeling about workload included being understaffed in support roles that weren’t
filled, lack of substitute teachers, having many new, uncertified, or unqualified teachers, lack of
staff accountability, high caseloads for special education and English language learners,
excessive amounts of paperwork, and additional tasks that are often assigned. They also
mentioned additional meetings during planning time, activities scheduled outside of the regular
scheduled hours, and short lunch periods, all taking time away from planning and working with
students and parents. Teachers reported, based on student and parent needs in the demographic
they serve, that they need more time and support to help students be successful, and this lack of
time leaves them with a personal mismatch between workload and their organization.
Emily mentioned, “I’m responsible for educating and making sure they’re [students]
meeting their goals and everything else. And then I need time in the day to do that, and the
paperwork for it, it is burying me alive.” After stating how much she loves her school, Saria
stated,
Every time you turn around, there’s always another task, and it seems like a little task,
and they’ll say, oh, it’s not much; it’s just a checkmark here. It’s not just one; it’s not
much. It’s just one more paper to fill out, but if you get that several times per week, along
with several meetings.
When asked what would support teachers, Coral reported more planning time, as most planning
time is used for meetings and parent conferences. She said calling it planning is a lie.
Based on the data, teachers reported the greatest mismatch with the organization being
workload. Through the survey data and the interview data, it was a concern and frustration for

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teachers. This data showed that most teachers expressed a personal mismatch to the organization
in the area of workload. Most teachers reported that they work intensely for prolonged periods of
time, do not have enough time to complete the work and the amount of work takes them away
from their personal interests. In the interviews, 70% of teachers expressed needing more time to
be able to be most effective, and the lack of time was a mismatch that at times led to them
feeling burned out. They reported their schools being understaffed and without qualified
colleagues, and the amount of paperwork with additional tasks and meetings affecting them to be
able to get all the work done within the workday to best support the needs of their students. Even
though workload was the highest reported mismatch to the organization, there were
discrepancies when analyzing subgroup data that can be explored further to improve overall
teacher engagement throughout the organization. Opportunities for further investigation would
be to learn more about what is happening in School 1, with Black teachers and teachers with 2–6
years of experience to understand what is supporting them to have less of a mismatch to the
organization’s workload.
Theme 4: Lack of Accountability Based on a Combination of Factors Are Causing
Teachers to Feel Additional Burnout
During the semi-structured interviews, all but one teacher mentioned some sort of lack of
accountability as a concern connected to their feelings of perceived burnout. The teachers spoke
about the lack of accountability regarding students, parents, school leaders, and other teachers
surrounding issues of student achievement, discipline, and attendance. The concern expressed the
most was that some students are being promoted regardless of meeting the standards of the grade
level, following the code of conduct, or attending school regularly. While some participants

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shared that they appreciated the support they did receive from school leadership teams to
increase accountability, most felt there was a need to do more. Leticia summed up her
impression of some students’ experiences in her school:
I’m in school, and I’m just gonna get promoted. We [parents] can drop them off. We can
leave them there. They kind of get promoted. You know, and that’s the word on the
street. And that’s not cool, right? We have to hold the parents accountable, and if they
still are not making the grades, they need to be retained. I feel like that’s a part of the
burnout as well because we keep pushing these kids on, and we have to struggle to try to
get them up to meet the state standards, but they’re so far behind, you know, that we can’t
get caught up.
Of the seven teachers who brought up discipline as a concern, six were from Schools 1 and 2,
who were concerned with school leaders setting and maintaining clear expectations for student
behavior. Several teachers mentioned that student motivation and misbehavior had become
worse since the beginning of the pandemic. Marcia, Marcus, Elizabeth, and Emily all reported
concerns about student behavior and a lack of support. Briana and Emily both explained that
their school no longer has a Dean of Students or a school-wide positive behavior system to
support teachers. Marcia and Emily also expressed concerns about having an in-school
suspension or an alternate program to suspension. Emily said,
One year, we had an ISSP room that if you had ISSP, there was a male teacher in there,
and he was strict. He was one of the best that we ever had. He had a desk facing the wall
around the room, and they had study carts. You had your mini iPad or your mini laptop.
And that’s it. There was no talking. They did not go outside for recess. They did not go
outside for PE. They didn’t want to be there because they had a different lunch period.

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And they had one person at each table so they couldn’t even have a conversation. Like it
was dead silent. Yeah. Like that was the best year of behavior because they [students]
didn’t want to go there.
Briana shared the following regarding a school-wide discipline plan:
I think it’s basically up to the individual teachers, okay, to implement that in their place.
We did have that before, and it was school-wide before. And that went away with one of
the principals, I’m assuming. You’re disturbing the class; I’ve told you stop doing what
you’re doing. Even calling your parents and nothing’s working, you know, so what do I
do? Right? It’s just a put on us, and it’s aggravating and frustrating.
Leticia described it as
So, it’s a push and pull for us to try to get them motivated. You know, and then it gets to
the point that you know, you just like I just don’t care. If you want to sleep in class, go
ahead and sleep in class. Because I’m tired of waking you up.
Elizabeth contributed, “We’re getting to a time where kids have no sense of respect for their
adults at all. Nothing. And the worst part is that administration doesn’t do anything or can’t do
anything.” Briana was one of the teachers to speak about attendance concerns by describing it
these words:
Oh, it’s okay that your child got 80 days absent in a 180-day school year, these families
are staying here. They’re not staying here because of teachers like me. A lot of them are
staying here because they’re not doing what they’re supposed to do and nobody’s getting
on them.

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One teacher also shared about lack of accountability with parents supporting the teachers.
Coral said she has students who do not complete work or misbehave, and parents reward the
children and do not allow them to serve the school consequence. Coral described the situation:
Every time she has a detention, mom keeps her home, so she doesn’t have to serve. So I
just think that it’s the parents are so much more so than a kid’s problem. They don’t want
the kids to be responsible, maybe it’s because they were at home with this child for a
year. So now they’re more I would say more involved with the behavior, and they don’t
trust teachers as much. I think it is they don’t trust our opinions on things as much as they
used to.
Ultimately, teachers feel the lack of accountability is impacting their level of perceived
burnout, and several said that it has been more challenging since the students came back to
school following the COVID-19 global pandemic. Nine interviewees brought up an example of
how frustrated they are with the lack of accountability regarding student academic achievement,
attendance, or discipline, as well as lack of accountability for parents to support teachers or other
colleagues following through with their responsibilities.
Summary of Findings for Research Question 1
Based on the discussions above related to how teachers are experiencing hope and
burnout, the findings were that most teachers are hopeful and have an average or good fit to the
organization in the areas of values, community, and control. In terms of how they are
experiencing burnout, most teachers have a mismatch with workload because they do not have
enough time to accomplish what they need to best serve their students. In the interviews, most
teachers shared the lack of accountability for all stakeholders was also leading them to feel

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frustrated and burned out. Based on the analysis of demographic data, the data also suggested
that Black teachers were overall more hopeful than White teachers, were more matched to
values, community, and control of the organization and were less of a mismatch to the workload.
Teachers in School 3 were more connected to the idea of hope theory, goal setting, and had the
highest average and good fit to values and community. School 1 had the highest average and
good fit to the areas of control and less of a mismatch to workload. Teachers with 7–18 years’
experience had more of an average and good fit to control and teachers with 2–6 years’
experience had less of a mismatch to the organization’s workload. In summary, this study found
that overall, teachers are hopeful, and a strength of the organization is the match between
teachers and the values, community, and control and a weakness due to the reported mismatch
with workload due to lack of time and concerns with accountability from all stakeholders.
Results and Findings for Research Question 2
Research Question 2 sought to better understand what strategies and resources teachers
use to find greater satisfaction in their teaching roles in high-poverty schools that serve
predominantly Black students. From the interviews that were conducted, the main findings
regarding this question were (a) teachers create balance and boundaries and (b) teachers maintain
a positive attitude and use helpful self-talk. They expressed that these are the strategies that help
them re-energize, combat burnout, and support their overall satisfaction. Six teachers reported
that these strategies are working to help them with overall satisfaction, two teachers said the
strategies are a temporary solution, and two shared they did not believe their strategies were
effective as they were feeling burned out.

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Theme 5: Creating a Balance and Boundaries were the Most Common Strategies
Of the teachers interviewed, seven of them believed ensuring balance and creating
boundaries for themselves has had the greatest impact on finding greater satisfaction in their
current role. They shared the importance of making sure their time after work and on the
weekends allowed them to have quality time away from work, recharging and doing other
activities they love. Imara articulated,
Just going home and shutting my mind completely off from [specific role] until the next
morning when I get here. Just shutting my brain to the [specific role]. Once I’m home, I
completely forget about it and come, come back I feel like I’m re-energized and start all
over again.
Rigel explained his first few years, and how he arrived very early in the morning and
often stayed past 8pm and, so basically, he had to stop. He shared,
I give 100% when they’re [students] in front of me, 100%, but you have to know your
limits. And because there’s only so much you can do, so knowing when to stop was
something I had to learn. You know because you’ll lose your mind.
Specific strategies for creating boundaries that teachers shared were how they try not to
bring much work home by using planning time efficiently, staying later on some days, and being
clear with parents’ regarding what times they are available for calls. Briana stated,
I take a lot of time for myself. I don’t take anything home. I don’t grade papers at my
house anymore. I don’t update grades at my house. I don’t call parents from my home
phone, cell phone. Any of those things. Now if they text me after hours if they happen to
have my cell phone number because I might have had one of their older siblings or
something like that. Yeah, depending on what it is. If it is something that is easy, I can

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send a text back that I’m not going to be on the phone with you all night long when I’m
with my family, and I will respond to that.
Saria explained her strategy for staying energized:
Create boundaries, not boundaries that are disrespectful but understand what’s going to
make you feel overwhelmed. Understand what’s going to depress you. Because if you do
not, if you get up every morning hating your job, it takes a serious mental toll right.
Specific strategies for creating balance teachers shared included taking time to listen to
music, spending time with family, doing crafts, and practicing self- care such as getting their
nails done, meditating, and taking baths. As the teachers expressed, 70% of those interviewed
reported creating boundaries is a strategy to combat burnout that is working and expressed the
importance of disconnecting from the role and spending time doing other activities that are
important and calming to them.
Theme 6: Using Self-talk and Maintaining a Positive Attitude was Another Common
Strategy
Of the teachers interviewed, six expressed how the strategies of using healthy self-talk
and maintaining a positive attitude helped them re-energize and find more satisfaction. Teachers
shared examples of specific phrases they say to themselves and specific attitudes they have
adopted as well when they need to stay satisfied in their role. Marcus mentioned, “It’s like, a
little bit of self-talk, telling yourself that, you know, what, like, the ones that we are reaching,
we’re giving them an opportunity that they wouldn’t have,” and he said that helps him. Briana
shared that she tells herself, “that this job has to get done regardless, it doesn’t matter what is
going on the job needs to get done.” And this leads her to being “prepared, organized, showing
care that you have for your students, your confidence and just your overall desire to make sure

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that they’re successful.” Rigel summarized what other teachers also shared about changing their
perspective or paradigms to stay engaged. Rigel is from a Leader in Me School which means the
staff receive ongoing professional development regarding five core paradigms to see differently
to support student success. Also, students receive instruction regarding Leader in Me Curriculum
based on Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Rigel shared how he uses
these the core paradigms to help him stay engaged:
Know what my paradigm is accepting how you look at things. Like okay, you have
someone who you could say they don’t do their homework, or they haven’t done their
homework yet. And so that’s one of the things that I taught my students is we haven’t
done it yet and just maintaining a mindset with myself of a positive paradigm, a positive
way of looking at it, you know, even if the cup is half full, at least it doesn’t have a lid on
it.
Along the same lines, Rigel also stated,
I try to bounce ideas off of people or feed off positive energy. Some people are just
annoying to hear from because all they do is complain because they have no goals, no
pathways, no effort, no success, no confidence and, you know, so the first step is staying
away from those people. Yes, but definitely, just having a paradigm of positivity. And
everything kind of comes together after that. So that’s the biggest thing.
Six teachers provided clear examples of their self-talk and the attitudes they have adopted
that have worked for them to feel more satisfied in their current role teaching in high-poverty
schools. To summarize, teachers reported the importance of being mindful and controlling their
thoughts to help them stay energized and decrease feelings of burnout.

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Summary of Findings for Research Question 2
Research Question 2 sought to better understand what strategies and resources teachers
used to find greater satisfaction in their teaching roles. Seventy percent of teachers interviewed
in this study shared the importance of creating boundaries from their positions, and 60% of
teachers shared the value of keeping a positive attitude and using self-talk to help them stay
engaged and energized in their work. Of the 10 teachers interviewed, 60% felt the strategies were
helping them combat burnout, and 40% of teachers felt they were only a temporary solution or
were not effective as they were feeling burned out.
Results and Findings for Research Question 3
Research Question 3 was formed to gain solutions to what school leadership teams can do
to best support teachers to reach their goals and stay energized in their teaching roles in high-
poverty schools that serve predominantly Black students. One theme regarding this question was
the need for teachers to be heard and collaborate with school leadership. Throughout the
interviews, respondents shared the need to be heard when asked how their school leadership
team supported them in the creation of plans to reach the goals, and how they supported them to
overcome obstacles. They were also asked if any barriers or obstacles came from the school
leadership teams and what else the school leadership could do to support them to stay energized
in their role as a teacher and they responded how important it is for them to be heard and
collaborate.
Theme 7: Need to Be Heard and Collaborate with School Leadership
All 10 teachers discussed in the interviews whether they felt listened to and heard by their
school leadership teams. Most teachers interviewed from two of the three schools felt like their
voice was heard when asked how their school leadership team supported them. Some examples

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were when Rigel mentioned, “So, there’s never been a time where I can say I asked for
something, and it didn’t happen or if I spoke to [principal] or the CRT or the AP and when I said,
hey, can I have this whatever, and it’s not happening. So, they’ve always been 100%.” Rigel and
Coral talked about the support they get during the weekly collaborative problem solving
meetings. Coral said “[Meetings] are set aside during our planning to basically meet as a team
and we have discussions with the leadership team and it’s always a different topic, but it’s
always about the students. What can we do better?” Rigel also shared his perceptions of the
weekly meetings, “we have weekly meetings talking about goal setting, specifically we identify
students who need help, many conferences, things like that.”
A few other teachers felt an obstacle was that they were not being listened to. Marcia
shared, “I think it’s sometimes they just would just listen and say okay, well, this is what we
need, then there could be changes but you know, that doesn’t really happen too much.” Another
teacher at the same school mentioned that she felt when parents complain at their school, that the
teachers are the last to be involved, and she said it is more like an accusation and makes teachers
feel unsupported by the administration. In brief, teachers appreciated the opportunities for school
leadership to listen to and take input from teachers during decision-making stages and work
collaboratively to solve problems and expressed that having more of those opportunities would
help them reach their goals and stay energized in their positions.
Summary of Findings for Research Question 3
The data reflects that teachers appreciate opportunities to be heard, share input, and work
collaboratively with school leaders to help them reach their goals and stay engaged. Teachers
also are looking to receive support to develop processes to improve accountability of
stakeholders and decrease burnout of teachers which leads to more student success. Based on all

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interviews during this study, teachers expressed these are valuable ways school leadership teams
can support teachers feel more engaged in their roles and less burned out.
Summary of Results and Findings
The study’s findings indicated that most teachers are feeling hopeful and have a match to
the organization’s values, community, and control. The study’s findings also indicated there is an
overall mismatch between the organization and the overall workload of most teachers. The
findings also concluded there are differences in the above themes depending on the school, race
of teachers, and total years of experience as a teacher that all warrant a deeper investigation.
Across the sample of participants, teachers reported maintaining boundaries to take care of
themselves, the importance of keeping a positive attitude, and the value of using self-talk to
support some of them in combating burnout and helping them stay energized. Lastly, teachers
reported that school leadership has an impact on their overall feelings of engagement, hope, or
burnout by how they create or do not create opportunities for shared decision-making for
teachers to provide input.

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Chapter Five: Discussion and Implications
The purpose of this study was to analyze how teachers in high-poverty schools serving
predominantly Black students were experiencing hope and burnout through the principles of
hope theory. A key focus was on understanding how organizations, teachers themselves, and
school leadership can best support teachers to combat burnout, reach their goals, and stay
energized in their roles. The study asked all teachers in three schools within the CSN to complete
the AHS and the AWS and participate in semi-structured interviews. The study is significant
because teacher turnover continues to be a concern in high-poverty communities serving
predominantly Black students across the country, and these teachers face unique challenges.
Although research has documented some of these challenges, little research has been done that
specifically looks at issues of hope and burnout, particularly in the context of the COVID-19
pandemic and beyond. While school organizations, teachers, and school leaders are directly
impacted by teacher burnout and related teacher turnover and teacher shortages, few have been
provided specific strategies of what they can do differently to support teachers or themselves to
stay engaged and energized to be able to best serve their students. Teachers have the greatest
impact on student achievement; therefore, their engagement and energy must be a priority for
themselves and all those who support them.
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss findings in relation to prior research and offer
recommendations for practice to best support teachers in reducing burnout and finding greater
satisfaction in their roles. This chapter will also discuss the limitations and delimitations of this
research and suggest areas for future research before concluding the study.

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Discussion of Findings
This section analyzes the findings from the study and examines the relationships between
the themes outlined in Chapter Four to the research questions and literature review. The research
questions that guided this study were How are teachers experiencing hope and burnout in high-
poverty schools? What strategies and resources do teachers use to find greater satisfaction in
their current role? And how can school leadership teams best support teachers to reach their
goals and stay energized in their role?
Teachers ’ Hope and Burnout Experiences
Research Question 1 explored how teachers were experiencing hope and burnout.
Overall, through survey data and interviews, most teachers communicated, in general, they were
hopeful; reported a match to the organization in the areas of values, community, and control; had
a mismatch between themselves and the organization in workload; and were concerned of the
lack of accountability based on a combination of factors.
In General, Teachers Feel Hopeful. The study found that 99% of teachers were feeling
either hopeful, moderately hopeful, or having high hope. Based on the analysis of the AHS data,
81% of teachers responded to having high or moderate hope. AHS provided data on the level of
hope for each teacher based on the cognitive model of hope that includes Agency, the energy
aspect or willingness to reach their goals, and Pathways, whether they have a plan or route to
follow to obtain their goals (Snyder et al., 1991). Based on the results from the study, most
teachers reported they are in a positive motivation state with a slightly higher mean score for
agency goal-directed energy than the mean score for pathway planning to accomplish the goal.
There were differences when analyzing the AHS data based on race. Eighty-five percent
of Black teachers responded to be moderately hopeful or with high hope compared to 67% of

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White teachers responding to be moderately hopeful or with high hope on the total HSR from the
research of Chang, et al., (2018) found when analyzing hope theory from a multicultural lens,
that European Americans, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans all experience hope
at similar levels.
Therefore, the findings in this study can be investigated further to understand the reason
for the differences in overall hope between Black and White teachers and the higher hope among
Black teachers.
Interestingly, additional data were aligned with the same study finding that “African
Americans reported greater pathways of thinking, compared with European Americans” (Chang,
et al., 2018, p. 100). In this study, a slight difference in the mean of the pathway subscale data.
Also, Black teachers was higher with a mean of 27.4, and on the same subscale was 25.7 for
White teachers.
Matches With Their Organization in the areas of Values, Community, and Control.
In this study, according to the data from the AWS, most teachers have a personal match to the
areas within the organization of values, community, and control. As shared in Chapter Two,
AWS provides data to determine whether individuals experience work engagement or burnout
with organizational areas of strengths or weaknesses to understand burnout from an
organizational perspective (Leiter & Maslach, 2003).
The findings in this study are also supported by the research of Skaalvik and Skaalvik
(2017), who also found teachers whose values, norms, and goals were not aligned with their
schools’ values, norms, and goals reported higher levels of burnout. This study’s data from the
interviews aligned to the AWS data, as most teachers shared connections with their values and
those of the organization leading them to feel more engaged. The next area of relative strength

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was a personal match for most teachers to the control they have to do their job. According to
previous research, when teachers have a match between themselves and control, this impacts
their self-efficacy or efficacy and leads them to feel more personal accomplishment (Maslach et
al., 2001). During the semi-structured interviews, six teachers shared examples of how they are
engaged by the control they have over their work in the classroom and how they influence
decisions which leads them to higher engagement. Most teachers also reported a personal match
between themselves and the organization in the area of community. During the semi-structured
interviews, all teachers shared examples of how the community engages them at their schools.
This data aligns with past research where Grayson and Alvarez (2008) examined the relationship
between teacher burnout and school climate factors, including parent/community, teacher-
administrator, and student-peer relations and found those relationships can determine whether
teachers are energized or burned out. Every teacher interviewed shared examples of their
relationships with students, colleagues, school leadership teams, or parents that led them to feel
engaged and energized. Some also shared that the lack of student, colleague, school leadership,
or parent accountability led them to feelings of burnout.
A Mismatch Between Teachers and the Organization in the Area of Workload. The
Areas of Worklife Survey data found Workload of the teachers is by far the highest mismatch
within their organization. These data are aligned with Skaalvik and Skaalvik’s (2017) finding
that time pressure or work overload is strongly connected to emotional exhaustion, one
dimension of burnout. Maslach et al. (2001) stated that Workload mismatches are when an
individual has too many demands that are constant and recovery time is minimal. These concerns
were validated in the interviews as most teachers cited workload as being a challenge leading to
burnout, noting the needs of their students and families exceed the amount of time they have.

98
This matched Farber’s (2000) work, citing that often it is the aspects of the workload that lead
teachers to feel burned out. Therefore, Workload is an area that needs to be further addressed to
support this organization’s teachers to feel more engaged, energized, and less burned out.
Lack of Accountability Based on a Combination of Factors. An analysis of the
interview data from this study indicated that a lack of accountability of others was leading them
to feel burned out. The literature review for this study indicated that common reasons teachers
are dissatisfied with teaching in high-poverty, high-minority schools due to assessment and
accountability measures, not having enough support to prepare students for assessments, and
dissatisfaction with administration (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017). Further, Farber
and Ascher (1991) found that this increased accountability has become another stressor or added
pressure on teachers to achieve with more diverse students and fewer resources. This past
research is aligned with this study as teachers shared, they wished they had greater support with
accountability regarding students, parents, other teachers, and even in some cases, school
leadership teams surrounding issues of student achievement, discipline, and attendance.
Similar to the findings in this theme, prior research suggests that student discipline issues
often lead teachers to feel burned out, and when student behaviors improve, teacher burnout
diminishes (Iancu et al., 2018; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2017). Recent research also suggests that
the global pandemic caused many students to fall further behind academically and behaviorally,
with students in historically marginalized communities being the hardest hit (McKinsey &
Company et al., 2021). The same study found that parents reported more behavior and mental
health issues with their children since the pandemic. Research showing students falling further
behind and having more struggles with their mental health corresponds with teachers in this
study stating they need more support.

99
Noguera et al. (2015) discussed that working to close achievement gaps with students
whose families lack resources makes a teacher’s job more challenging, especially when teachers
are not highly skilled. Teachers in this study expressed these challenges and further suggested
concerns about other teachers not being certified or qualified to teach in their schools due to
teacher shortages. This led to some feeling a lack of accountability and their own goals being
impeded.
Strategies Teachers Used to Find Greater Satisfaction
Research Question 2 investigated the strategies and resources teachers used to find
greater satisfaction in their roles. Based on interview data analyzed in the study, six teachers
reported they have strategies that are working to help them re-energize, combat burnout, and
support their overall satisfaction.
Teachers Maintain a Positive Attitude and Use Helpful Self-Talk
Teachers interviewed expressed how they maintain a positive attitude and/or used healthy
self-talk to re-energize and help them find more satisfaction in their roles. This is a strategy that
has been supported to combat burnout in literature. Iancu et al. (2018) conducted a meta-analysis
of 23 controlled trials comparing interventions aimed at reducing teacher burnout. Although the
intervention effectiveness was generally small, mindfulness intervention influenced lessening
emotional exhaustion, feelings of depersonalization and increasing personal accomplishment, all
elements that impact teachers’ feelings of burnout. Although burnout is not an individual
problem that is caused by the individual (Ingersoll, 2001; Maslach, 2003), according to this
research, teachers could benefit from learning and using mindfulness and other strategies to stay
engaged, feel less stressed, and combat burnout.

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Best Ways School Leadership Can Support Teachers to Reach Their Goals and Stay
Energized
Research Question 3 analyzed the strategies that school leadership teams can employ to
best support teachers in reaching their goals and staying engaged in their roles as teachers in
high-poverty schools that serve predominantly Black students. The theme emerged when
teachers were asked how their school leadership teams support them in creating goals, planning
to reach them, and supporting them to overcome obstacles to reach those goals. They were also
asked if there are any barriers or obstacles from the school leadership teams that impede the
pursuit of their goals and what else school leadership teams can do to support them in staying
energized in their role.
Every teacher interviewed shared in some way whether they felt listened to and heard by
their school leadership teams. Teachers who expressed the most satisfaction were those who
shared examples of asking for support, providing input, or making suggestions that were
followed up with and the support requested was provided to them. The literature presented in
Chapter Two noted how supportive relationships between teachers and school leadership teams
led to greater teacher satisfaction (Abel & Sewell, 1999; Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond,
2018; Grayson & Alvarez, 2008;). Research since the COVID-19 global pandemic has also
shown the importance of effective and open communication between teachers and administrators,
either the lack of it leading to stress or the presence of it lessening stress for teachers (Kraft et al.,
2021; Pressley, 2021; Shargel & Cai, 2021). In this study, the strongest examples of these
relationships were school leadership teams who had open-door policies, were open to feedback
and suggestions, and held weekly collaborative meetings with teachers/teams to support them to
ensure they reached their goals and provided support for improving student achievement.

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Recommendations for Practice
Based on the analysis of survey data and interviews, themes that were identified within
Chapter Four and discussed in this chapter were used to determine recommendations for practice.
This section offers three recommendations for supporting teachers at CSN, and more generally,
to support teachers in high-poverty schools serving predominantly Black students, stay engaged,
energized, and combat burnout.
Recommendation 1: Organize Forums of Teachers Sharing Stories and Strategies that are
Keeping them Engaged, Hopeful, and Lessening their Feelings of Burnout
As the teacher shortages continue, it is important for stakeholders to understand the
current experiences of teachers in high-poverty schools. To help teachers share what is working
for them and what opportunities exist, continued conversations around this topic will be needed
so teachers receive the support they need. In this study, overall, teachers were feeling hopeful,
and most of them had a personal match with the organization in the areas of values, community,
and control and a strong mismatch with workload. These stories need to be shared with parents,
school leaders, the management organizations, and school boards, they can set proper goals and
plans to support these schools during their strategic planning process. As of now, other than
federal Title 1 funding, high-poverty schools receive the same support as other schools in the
network of schools. Therefore, solution-focused conversations must take place to support
teachers.
In a study looking at teacher leadership, Fairman and Mackenzie (2015) found that
teachers who engaged in advocacy with parents, school leaders, school boards, and the broader
school community through presentations found they were able to make changes and obtain
support for educational changes. That study also found that through the collective work of the

102
teacher, leaders developed a deeper understanding of the value of being more of a collective to
improve learning for students (Fairman & Mackenzie, 2015). Wesley (1996) studied the positive
impact that community forums had on solving the concerns around early education inclusion,
which can be used to support this process for the challenges K–12 teachers are currently facing.
Wesley noted the purpose of forums on challenging issues was to both raise awareness of the
concerns and motivate stakeholders to collaborate on problem-solving. Parents can benefit from
hearing from teachers regarding what is helpful and supportive, specifically what they need to do
to best support their children and what behaviors are leading to burnout. This study has shown
what is engaging teachers and what is burning them out. For the system to change, teachers, with
the support of the school leadership teams, can benefit from having opportunities to share this
information with stakeholders who can continue to problem solve and support teachers.
Recommendation 2: Develop a Plan to Help Reduce Teacher ’s Workload
To support teachers to feel more engaged and able to stay energized within this
organization, a plan needs to be developed to support them in reducing their overall workload.
This recommendation relates to the data in Chapter Four that most teachers have a personal
mismatch with workload according to the AWS data and in the interviews. Teachers shared they
engage and re-energize by using time efficiently and creating boundaries to ensure they have a
healthy work-life balance. They also shared they feel like school leadership teams have an
opportunity to reduce some of their workload.
Although there is prior research on the workload causing teachers to become burned out
and the need for time to recover (Farber, 2000; Maslach et al., 2001; Maslach, 2003; Skaalvik &
Skaalvik, 2017), there is limited research on practices that have been implemented to reduce
workload.

103
The United Kingdom, Department for Education, has data on a project they implemented
that provided positive results of teachers reducing teacher workload (Richardson et al., 2018). In
the project, schools were provided with a School Workload Reduction Toolkit that guided them
through analyzing teacher workloads and a process to examine data to implement appropriate
solutions to reduce the workload (Churches, 2020). The projects implemented were cost-
effective as they analyzed specific systems and processes, such as grading and made changes that
saved teachers, on average, about three hours per week and did not cost additional money nor
impact student progress (Richardson et al., 2018).
Torres (2016) studied teacher turnover and workload in Charter Management
Organizations and suggested the importance of reducing workload responsibilities and making
sure teachers felt supported by principals by monitoring teacher perceptions of workload and
supporting them to decrease it. Additional possibilities that may be included in a plan to save
teachers’ time based on the results presented in Chapter Four are having the school leadership
teams or organizations help teachers learn time-saving techniques from highly effective
colleagues. Reviewing the value of all meetings, tasks, processes, or paperwork to see if there are
more efficient ways to save teachers time and providing additional support to them either with
staff or volunteers could support this challenge.
Recommendation 3: Create Structures to Ensure That Teachers Can Provide Input,
Participate in Decision-Making, and Work Collaboratively to Solve Problems
To achieve improved teacher engagement, teachers shared they must have a voice in
school decisions and have an opportunity to work through current challenges collaboratively
with school leaders. In this study, two themes emerged relating to the need teachers have for this
ongoing support from their leadership teams. Teachers interviewed from School 3 raved about

104
how supportive their weekly meetings with their school leadership teams were, and they felt the
meetings were focused on solving problems collaboratively to reach their goals and their ideas
for solutions were heard and often accepted.
School 3 is the school that had the most teachers eligible to participate and, in most areas
of AWS, had the highest personal matches to the organization. The other two schools shared the
need to receive more support from the school leadership team, the organization, and parents in
collaborating to increase accountability. Therefore, it is important for each school to create
consistent ongoing structures to provide teachers this voice. Research from prior studies found
that shared leadership and collaboration with teachers and school leaders were among the most
impactful themes in creating a common vision for teaching and learning (Fairman & Mackenzie,
2015; Sanzo et al., 2011). Hallam et al. (2015) also found that when trust is created with school
leaders and teachers in professional learning communities and other shared decision-making
structures, this results in schools that are more likely to function better. Research from Chapter
Two supports the need for teachers to have relationships with school leadership teams focused on
support (Abel & Sewell, 1999; Grayson & Alvarez, 2008; Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond,
2017). Additionally, this recommendation is supported by Adams et al.’s (2002) 10
characteristics that create hope organizations. Five of the 10 are focused on employees having
open communication with feedback being solicited by managers, shared decision-making, and
when employees are given the responsibility to come up with and implement solutions.
Limitations and Delimitations
One limitation of the study was that 89% of those invited to participate completed the
surveys. The concern is the 11% of teachers who did not participate could have provided
valuable feedback to leadership teams to better understand their perspective. Another limitation

105
was that the sample only included three public charter schools in one region of the country, so
the findings may not be transferable to other schools and districts. Public charter schools often
have different challenges and circumstances than those of traditional schools or districts. A third
limitation was this study focused on teachers who have stayed at the high-poverty schools and in
the profession, and it does not consider those who have left to understand their relationship with
hope, engagement, and burnout.
Delimitations also exist in this study as I made specific decisions to limit the study’s
scope. In this study, understanding how teachers were experiencing their perceived burnout and
strategies that were working to combat burnout was limited to their perceived definition of
burnout and not based on the actual definition of burnout theory. Also, strategies teachers were
implementing, as well as their perception of how school leadership teams support creating hope
and help teachers combat burnout were based on their perceptions and not validated by reliable
measures for burnout. Although factors that may help teachers combat burnout can come from
their past experiences, things going on in their personal life, students, and parents, this study
specifically focused on the impact of their own strategies and on how school leadership teams
support them. Another delimitation is that the lens to collect research was completed using one
theoretical framework, hope theory. The focus was on how goals, goal pathways, and agency
provide hope and how school leadership teams support engagement and/or burnout. Lastly, using
the AWS only provides the matches and mismatches between the participants and their
organization that may lead to engagement or burnout. This study did measure each teacher’s
level of burnout as questions of burnout were answered based on their perception. Using the

106
MBI-ES would have measured each teacher’s actual relationship with burnout based on
dimensions of burnout theory.
Areas for Future Research
Future research that may be helpful in improving teacher engagement and combating
burnout in high-poverty schools serving predominantly Black students, could be specific case
studies on specific schools and understanding why certain subgroups are more hopeful, engaged,
and less burned out in their teaching roles. The more that is known about exactly what is working
in the most successful schools regarding high teacher retention, teacher engagement, teachers
with high hope, and consistently high levels of student achievement, can support and improve
other schools. From this study, there is a need to research further why there were so many
teachers from School 3 who met the criteria to participate and had more teachers reporting to
have an average or good fit with values, community, reward, and fairness compared to the other
schools. Also, additional research is needed to better understand why Black teachers expressed
greater hope, connected to the values, community, and control, and felt there were fewer
mismatches to workload. Further, learning more about what strategies have been effective in
reducing teacher workload would be helpful as there is limited research on the topic, despite the
amount of research that states teachers in high-poverty schools have workloads that lead to
burnout and teacher turnover. Strategies that warrant more research are understanding the impact
early release days or moving to a 4-day work week with students would have on decreasing
teacher workload. Based on the overall teacher shortages in high-poverty schools serving
predominantly Black students, future research based on the findings of this study can support
organizations and school leadership teams better support all teachers in their schools.

107
Conclusion
As segregated low-income neighborhoods and schools continue to increase in the United
States, educators in these schools will continue to face additional challenges. These schools are
impacted by struggles with teacher retention and engagement, burnout, and, ultimately, the
quality of education that students receive. To help support teachers in high-poverty schools
serving Black students, it is important for school leaders to understand the needs of their teachers
to help lessen their burnout. This study sought to analyze how teachers were experiencing hope
and burnout to learn additional ideas and strategies for schools to better support teachers so they
can better serve students. Survey data were gathered from 91 teachers, and interview data from
10 teachers. The survey data analysis revealed most teachers are feeling hopeful and have a
personal match to the organization in the areas of values, community, and control, which is
leading them to be energized. Many teachers shared they feel more energized when they work to
maintain a positive attitude and are mindful of using helpful self-talk. Teachers also shared they
are energized when school leaders communicate with them regularly, hear their input, and
problem solve together. Workload and lack of accountability of all stakeholders are leading to
feelings of burnout. Discrepancies were found between reported personal matches and
mismatches with the organization between Black and White teachers and teachers at the different
schools that can be further examined.
Based on those findings, recommendations were offered in the areas of school leaders
creating ongoing dialogue and forums to discuss what is working for teacher engagement and
what is causing burnout, implementation plans to decrease teacher workload and ensure there are
communication and decision-making structures to better support teachers and schools develop
solutions for their challenges. Continued disregard to addressing the additional challenges that

108
high-poverty schools that serve predominantly Black students have is an example of systematic
racism and ignores the idea that access to a quality education is a human right for all children.
Understanding how to better support teachers is a start to ensuring that school organizations
intentionally put practices into place that engage and energize teachers. As teacher shortages
continue to increase, focusing on each organization improving their practices will begin to
provide students in high-poverty schools the greatest opportunity to receive a quality education.

109
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Appendix A: Survey Instruments

Demographics or
Research
Questions
Alignments
Demographics, Survey and Scale
Demographics
Questions
1.) Select your school:
Duval Charter Scholars Academy Renaissance Charter School at Central
Palm Renaissance Charter School at Plantation
Renaissance Charter School at West Palm Beach Pilot Only- Downtown
Miami Charter School
2.) Years of teaching experience at current school: 2-3 Years
4-6 Years
7-18 Years
19-30 Years
30+ Years
Prefer not to disclose
3.) Total years of teaching experience: 2-3 Years
4-6 Years
7-18 Years
19-30 Years
30+ Years
Prefer not to disclose
4.) Race/Ethnicity- Select all that apply
1.) American Indian or Alaska Native
2.) Asian
3.) Black or African American
4.) Hispanic or Latino or Spanish Origin
5.) Middle Eastern or North African
6.) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
7.) White
8.) Prefer not to disclose
9.) Other
5.) Sex Female Male
Non-binary/third gender

124
Prefer not to disclose
RQ 1 How are
teachers
experiencing hope
and burnout in
high-poverty
schools?
Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) 28 short responses up to 5 minutes
Workload, Control, Reward, Community, Fairness & Values
(1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Hard to Decide, 4=Agree,
5=Strongly Agree)
Sample Items:
1. I do not have time to do the work that must be done.
2. I have control over how I do my work.
3. I receive recognition from others for my work.
4. Members of my work group communicate openly.
5. Resources are allocated fairly here.
6. My values and the Organization’s values are alike.
RQ 2 What factors
in teachers’ work
environment
contribute to their
engagement and
burnout?

125
RQ 3 What
strategies and
resources do
teachers use to find
greater satisfaction
in their current role?
Adult Hope Scale (AHS) Up to 2 minutes
The Trait Hope Scale
Directions: Read each item carefully. Using the scale shown below, please
select the number that
best describes YOU and put that number in the blank provided.
1. = Definitely False
2. = Mostly False
3. = Somewhat False
4. = Slightly False
5. = Slightly True
6. = Somewhat True
7. = Mostly True
8. = Definitely True
1. I can think of many ways to get out of a jam.
2. I energetically pursue my goals.
3. I feel tired most of the time.
4. There are lots of ways around any problem.
5. I am easily downed in an argument.
6. I can think of many ways to get the things in life that are important to me.
7. I worry about my health.
8. Even when others get discouraged, I know I can find a way to solve the
problem.
9. My past experiences have prepared me well for my future.
10. I’ve been pretty successful in life.
11. I usually find myself worrying about something.
12. I meet the goals that I set for myself.
Note. When administering the scale, it is called The Future Scale. The
agency subscale score is
derived by summing items 2, 9, 10, and 12; the pathway subscale score is
derived by adding items 1, 4, 6, and 8. The Total Hope Scale score is
derived by summing the four agency and the
four pathway items

126
Appendix B: Interview Protocol
Research
Questions
Interview Questions
Welcome
Questions
What is your “why” for choosing to work at this school?
RQ 1 How are
teachers
experiencing hope
and burnout in
high-poverty
schools?
What did you learn from completing the AWS and AHS?
How would you describe feelings of hope and burnout at this school since
the start of the pandemic?

What contributes to you staying engaged and energized in your work
environment?

If you have experienced burnout, what contributes to it in your work
environment?
RQ 2 What
strategies and
resources do
teachers use to
find greater
satisfaction in
their current role?
When you feel burned out in your role as a teacher, what specific strategies
or resources do you use to re-energize?
How effective do you feel your strategies are for combating burnout?

One survey you completed was a Hope Scale. The scale was based on Hope
Theory representing the idea that clear goals combine with a will and a way
can provide hope to individuals. The next few questions will be related to
Hope Theory
(Show and explain the Hope Theory Visuals)
What do you think of Hope Theory? Does this ring true for you? Possible
Probing Questions
What is the impact of setting goals for you? How could it be useful to
reduce feelings of burnout, why or why not? How important is it to have a
plan? How do you generate ideas to overcome obstacles?

Describe your goals for the school year. (HT-Goals)
What is the difference between your current goals and pre-pandemic goals?
(HT)

127

RQ 3 How can
school leadership
teams best support
teachers to reach
their goals and
stay energized in
their role?
How does your school leadership team support you creating goals, planning
to reach them and supporting you to overcome obstacles to reach those
goals? (Hope Theory- Agency & Pathways)
Are there any barriers or obstacles from the school leadership team that
impede the pursuit of your goals? (Hope Theory-Pathways)
What else could the school leadership team do to support you to stay
energized in your role as a teacher? (Hope T- Pathways)
Closing question Are there any questions you wish I asked you?

128
Appendix C: Recruitment Email

Hello Teachers of (School Name),

Thank you very much to those who participated in the faculty meeting where I was introduced to
you all, once again I am an educator, now working to complete my dissertation through the
University of Southern California. I would love for you each to volunteer to complete an
anonymous online survey since you are working in a school that I am interested in learning more
about. Once again, all your answers are confidential and we are only looking for data to identify
broad themes. I am not interested in identifying any one person but interested in learning the
views of the collective.

As promised, I have included the link below to the survey that will help us learn more about the
current relationship teachers have with engagement and burnout. The survey will take less than
10 minutes and must be done on a computer.

As soon as you complete the survey you will be prompted to download your Individual Report to
learn more about your personal relationship to organizational factors that may lead to
engagement or burnout. Then a link appears that brings you to a form where you add your email
address to receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card and you will be asked to share if you are interested in
volunteering for a one-on-one 30-minute interview. Those who do participate will receive an
additional $10 Amazon Gift Card as a thank you.

Be mindful, you will only get one link, once you open it, you must complete it at that time or
else you will not have access again. Once the staff gets to a 95% confidence rating or higher for
participation.
Here is your one-time access anonymous link:
https://transform.mindgarden.com/survey/37895/57c

Thank you in advance for your valuable insights. For any questions, please me at dinda@usc.edu
or at 786.999.5400

Warmly, Rebecca Dinda

129
Appendix D: Sample School Weekly Update Email

Happy Friday (School Name) Teachers!

Hope this finds you well and you are all having a great Friday. Big shout out and thank you to
those who have participated in the Teacher Engagement and Burnout Study Study!

So far, 26 teachers completed the survey, we are 51% of the way toward our goal for
95%participation. Also, many have signed up to be interviewed and I will be sending out
Calendly invites to some who signed up this weekend to schedule an interview for some point
during the next two weeks.

Link to Engagement and Burnout Survey
(Please complete it on your computer in order to download your Individualized Report)

Any questions, please email me at dinda@usc.edu or text or call 786.999.5400. If you completed
the google doc and didn’t receive your gift card, please check your junk mail or contact me. You
will have access to complete the Survey from now until Monday, May 21, 2022.

Warmly, Rebecca Dinda

130
Appendix E: Raw Data for AWS Results by School

Area of Work
Environment

Overall
Deviation
Standard
1

2 1-2 3 4 5 3-5 4-5
Workload
2.53
0.83
22
24%
39 43% 67% 23 25% 7 8% 0 0% 33% 8%
Control
3.51
0.87
4
4%
16 18% 22% 39 43% 26 29% 6 7% 78% 35%
Reward
3.28
1.03
9
10%
24 26% 36% 24 26% 28 31% 6 7% 64% 37%
Community
3.48
0.94
6
7%
15 16% 23% 36 40% 29 32% 5 5% 77% 37%
Fairness
3.08
0.9
9
10%
29 32% 42% 39 43% 11 12% 3 3% 58% 15%
Values
3.62
0.91
3
3%
16 18% 21% 30 33% 36 40% 6 7% 79% 46%

School 1
Deviation
Standard
1

2 1-2 3 4 5 3-5 4-5
Workload
2.68
0.84
2
13%
6 40% 53% 6 40% 1 7% 0 0% 47% 7%
Control
3.49
0.64
0
0%
2 13% 13% 10 67% 2 13% 1 7% 87% 20%
Reward
3.09
1.02
3
20%
3 20% 40% 4 27% 4 27% 1 7% 60% 33%
Community
3.25
0.82
1
7%
4 27% 33% 7 47% 3 20% 0 0% 67% 20%
Fairness
2.93
0.78
2
13%
5 33% 47% 6 40% 2 13% 0 0% 53% 13%
Values
3.3
0.69
0
0%
7 47% 47% 3 20% 5 33% 0 0% 53% 33%

School 2
Deviation
Standard
1

2 1-2 3 4 5 3-5 4-5
Workload
2.41
0.79
6
21%
17 61% 82% 4 14% 1 4% 0 0% 18% 4%
Control
3.19
0.99
3
11%
5 18% 29% 12 43% 7 25% 1 4% 71% 29%
Reward
2.9
1.03
4
14%
11 39% 54% 7 25% 6 21% 0% 46% 21%
Community
3.34
0.99
3
11%
5 18% 29% 12 43% 7 25% 1 4% 71% 29%
Fairness
2.68
0.94
4
14%
14 50% 64% 7 25% 2 7% 1 4% 36% 11%
Values
3.21
1.05
3
11%
5 18% 29% 11 39% 7 25% 2 7% 71% 32%

School 3
Deviation
Standard
1

2 1-2 3 4 5 3-5 4-5
Workload
2.6
0.9
14
29%
16 33% 62% 13 27% 5 10% 0 0% 38% 10%
Control
3.7
0.8
1
2%
9 19% 21% 17 35% 17 35% 4 8% 79% 44%
Reward
3.6
1
2
4%
10 21% 25% 13 27% 18 38% 5 10
%
75% 48%
Community
3.6
0.9
2
4%
6 13% 17% 17 35% 19 40% 4 8% 83% 48%
Fairness
3.4
0.8
3
6%
10 21% 27% 26 54% 7 15% 2 4% 73% 19%

131
Values
4
0.7
0
0%
4 8% 8% 16 33% 24 50% 4 8% 92% 58%

Area of Work
Environment
Overall School 1 School
2
School
3

Area of Work
Environment
Workload
Mean
SD Mean SD
Mean SD Mean SD
2.53 0.83
2.68
0.84 2.41 0.79 2.6 0.9

Control 3.51 0.87
3.49
0.64
3.19
0.99
3.7
0.8

Reward 3.28 1.03
3.09
1.02
2.9
1.03
3.6
1

Community 3.48 0.94
3.25
0.82
3.34
0.99
3.6
0.9

Fairness 3.08 0.9
2.93
0.78
2.68
0.94
3.4
0.8

Values 3.62 0.91
3.3
0.69
3.21
1.05
4
0.7

132
Appendix F: Raw Data for AWS Results by Race
Area of
Work
Environment
Overall Standard
Deviation
1 2
1-2
3

4

5

3-5 4-5
Workload 2.53 0.83 22 24% 39 43% 67%
23 25% 7 8% 0 0% 33% 8%
Control 3.51 0.87 4 4% 16 18% 22%
39 43% 26 29% 6 7% 78% 35%
Reward 3.28 1.03 9 10% 24 26% 36%
24 26% 28 31% 6 7% 64% 37%
Communit
y
3.48 0.94 6 7% 15 16% 23%
36 40% 29 32% 5 5% 77% 37%
Fairness 3.08 0.9 9 10% 29 32% 42%
39 43% 11 12% 3 3% 58% 15%
Values 3.62 0.91 3 3% 16 18% 21%
30 33% 36 40% 6 13% 86% 53%

Black
Standard
Deviation
1 2 1-2 3 4 5 3-5 4-5
Workload
2.74
0.85
7
15%
20
43% 59%
13 28% 6 13% 0 0% 41% 13%
Control
3.71
0.67
0
0%
4
9% 9%
21 46% 18 39% 3 7% 91% 46%
Reward
3.63
0.93
2
4%
7
15% 20%
14 30% 17 37% 6 13% 80% 50%
Communit
y
3.73
0.73
0
0%
7
15% 15%
19 41% 17 37% 3 7% 85% 43%
Fairness
3.
2
0.78
2
4%
17
37% 41%
19 41% 6 13% 2 4% 59% 17%
Values
3.
6
0.86
2
4%
7
15% 20%
15 33% 20 43% 2 4% 80% 48%

White
Standard
Deviation
1 2 1-2 3 4 5 3-5 4-5
Workload
2.38
0.75
10
32%
13
42% 74%
8 26% 0 0% 0 0% 26% 0%
Control
3.15
1.07
4
13%
9
29% 42%
11 35% 6 19% 1 3% 58% 23%
Reward
2.91
1.05
6
19%
10
32% 52%
8 26% 7 23% 0 0% 48% 23%
Communit
y
3.17
1.06
5
16%
4
13% 29%
14 45% 7 23% 1 3% 71% 26%
Fairness
2.94
1.02
6
19%
6
19% 39%
15 48% 3 10% 1 3% 61% 13%
Values
3.64
1
1
3%
6
19% 23%
10 32% 11 35% 3 10% 77% 45%

133
Area of Work
Environment
Overall
Black White

Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Workload 2.53 0.83
2.74
0.85
2.38
0.75

Control 3.51 0.87
3.71
0.67
3.15
1.07

Reward 3.28 1.03
3.63
0.93
2.91
1.05

Community 3.48 0.94
3.73
0.73
3.17
1.06

Fairness 3.08 0.9
3.2
0.78
2.94
1.02

Values 3.62 0.91
3.6
0.86
3.64
1

134
Appendix G: Raw Data for AWS Results by Years of Experience
Area of Work
Environment

2-6 Years 7-18 Years

Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Workload 2.53 0.83
2.58 0.88 2.46 0.73

Control 3.51 0.87
3.22 0.68 3.57 0.94

Reward 3.28 1.03
3.25 0.99 3.25 1.11

Community 3.48 0.94
3.21 1.07 3.57 0.92

Fairness 3.08 0.9
3.08 0.78 3.07 0.93

Values 3.62 0.91
3.65 0.9 3.63 0.9

Area of Work
Environment
Overall Standard
Deviation
1 2 1-2 3 4 5 3-5 4-5
Workload 2.53 0.83 22 24% 39 43% 67%
23 25% 7 8% 0 0% 33% 8%
Control 3.51 0.87 4 4% 16 18% 22%
39 43% 26 29% 6 7% 78% 35%
Reward 3.28 1.03 9 10% 24 26% 36%
24 26% 28 31% 6 7% 64% 37%
Community 3.48 0.94 6 7% 15 16% 23%
36 40% 29 32% 5 5% 77% 37%
Fairness 3.08 0.9 9 10% 29 32% 42%
39 43% 11 12% 3 3% 58% 15%
Values 3.62 0.91 3 3% 16 18% 21%
30 33% 36 40% 6 7% 79% 46%

Years
2-6
Standard
Deviation
1

2 1-2 3 4 5 3-5 4-5
Workload
2.58 0.88 6
27%
7 32% 59% 7 32% 2 9% 0 0% 41% 9%
Control
3.22 0.68 1
5%
7 32% 36% 10 45% 4 18%

0% 64% 18%
Reward 3.25 0.99 1 5% 7 32% 36% 7 32% 6 27% 1 5% 64% 32%
Community 3.21 1.07 2 9% 5 23% 32% 8 36% 7 32%

0% 68% 32%
Fairness 3.08 0.78 1 5% 11 50% 55% 7 32% 3 14%

0% 45% 14%

135
Values 3.65 0.9 0 0% 6 27% 27% 7 32% 8 36% 1 5% 73% 41%

Year
s 7-
18
Standard
Deviation
1 2 1-2 3 4 5 3-5 4-5
Workload
2.46 0.73 14
24%
28 48% 72% 15 26% 1 2%

0% 28% 2%
Control
3.57 0.94 3
5%
8 14% 19% 23 40% 19 33% 5 9% 81% 41%
Reward
3.25 1.11 8
14%
15 26% 40% 12 21% 19 33% 4 7% 60% 40%
Community
3.57 0.92 4
7%
8 14% 21% 22 38% 20 34% 4 7% 79% 41%
Fairness 3.07 0.93 6 10% 16 28% 38% 27 47% 7 12% 2 3% 62% 16%
Values
3.63 0.9 2
3%
8 14% 17% 19 33% 25 43% 4 7% 83% 50%

136
Appendix H: Raw and Subgroup Data for AHS

Overall School 1 School 2 School 3
Scales Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
Total Hope
Scale
53.3 6.2
53.5 4.4 53.7 6.4 53 6.7
Agency
Subscale
27.1 3.5
27.5 2.3 27.7 3.6 26.6 3.8
Pathway
Subscale
26.2 3.6
25.9 2.3 26 4.1 26 3.6
Total Hope
Score
Number of
Teachers
Percent of
Teachers
Number of
Teachers
Percent of
Teachers
Number of
Teachers
Percent of
Teachers
Number of
Teachers
Percent of
Teachers
Below 39 1 1%
0 0% 0 0% 1 2%
Hopeful (40-
47)
17 19%
2 13% 5 18% 10 21%
Moderately
Hopeful (48-
55)
36 40%
7 47% 11 39% 18 38%
High Hope
(56 or higher)
37 41%
6 40% 12 43% 19 40%
Agency
Subscale

87%

82%

78%
Below
Average (23)
18 20%
1 7% 5 18% 12 25%
Average (24-
31)
62 68%
14 93% 18 64% 30 63%
Above
Average (32)
11 12%
0 0% 5 18% 6 13%
Pathway
Subscale

Below
Average (22)
14 15%
2 13% 6 21% 6 13%
Average (23-
30)
66 73%
13 87% 18 64% 35 73%
Above
Average
(Above 31)
11 12%
0 0% 4 14% 7 15%

137

Black or African
American White

Scales Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Total Hope
Scale
53.3 6.2
53.6 5.5 51.8 6.8

Agency
Subscale
27.1 3.5
26.2 3.3 26.1 4.1

Pathway
Subscale
26.2 3.6
27.4 3.1 25.7 3.8

Total Hope
Score
Number of
Teachers
Percent of
Teachers
Number of
Teachers
Percent of
Teachers
Number of
Teachers
Percent of
Teachers

Below 39 1 1%
0 0% 0 0%

Hopeful (40-
47)
17 19%
7 15% 10 32%

Moderately
Hopeful (48-
55)
36 40%
23 50% 10 32%

High Hope
(56 or higher)
37 41%
16 35% 11 35%

Agency
Subscale

85%

67%

Below
Average (23)
18 20%
6 13% 11 35%

Average (24-
31)
62 68%
34 74% 17 55%

Above
Average (32)
11 12%
6 13% 3 10%

Pathway
Subscale

Below
Average (22)
14 15%
5 11% 7 23%

Average (23-
30)
66 73%
37 80% 20 65%

Above
Average
(Above 31)
11 12%
4 9% 4 13%

YOE 2-6 YOE 7-18

138
Scales Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Total Hope
Scale
53.3 6.2
54.7
6.69 52.6 6.17

Agency
Subscale
27.1 3.5
27.5
3.32 26.8 3.7

Pathway
Subscale
26.2 3.6
26.8
3.54 25.8 3.6

Total Hope
Score
Number of
Teachers
Percent of
Teachers
Number of
Teachers
Percent of
Teachers
Number of
Teachers
Percent of
Teachers

Below 39 1 1%
0 0%
1
2%

Hopeful (40-
47)
17 19%
4 18%
11
19%

Moderately
Hopeful (48-
55)
36 40%
7 32%
25
43%

High Hope
(56 or higher)
37 41%
11 50%
21
36%

Agency
Subscale

81%

82%

79%

Below
Average (23)
18 20%
3 14% 13 22%

Average (24-
31)
62 68%
15 68% 40 69%

Above
Average (32)
11 12%
4 18% 5 9%

Pathway
Subscale

Below
Average (22)
14 15% 2
9% 11 19%

Average (23-
30)
66 73% 16
73% 42 72%

Above
Average
(Above 31)
11 12% 4
18% 5 9%

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Asset Metadata

Creator Dinda, Rebecca Ann (author)

Core Title Understanding teacher burnout through a lens of hope in high-poverty schools

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Global Executive

Degree Conferral Date 2023-05

Publication Date 03/31/2023

Defense Date 01/10/2023

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

Tag areas of worklife survey,charter schools,combat teacher burnout,community,control,fairness,high-poverty,hope scale,hope theory,OAI-PMH Harvest,reward,teacher burnout,values,workload

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Krop, Cathy (committee chair), Picus, Lawrence (committee member), Tambascia, Tracy (committee member)

Creator Email becca@dinda.com,dinda@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC112865803

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