Volume 3 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal for K-12 Educational Research - Page 68

66 According to the study’s sample, male teachers were less satisfied with school culture than female teachers. In addition, school culture was mentioned negatively in the open-ended retention responses by 76% of leavers. Within the school culture domain, leavers cited work conditions the most frequently as a reason for leaving. Many studies had similar findings—poor work conditions can be directly linked to teacher turnover (Goldring, Taie, & Riddles, 2014; Hollas, 2011; Simon & Johnson, 2013). Administrative support was the second most mentioned subtheme within the school culture domain. Many of the study’s leavers felt their administration did not support, did not care, or did not understand how to help teachers in the classroom. Other studies found that teachers left the classroom for similar reasons (Allensworth et al., 2009; Ivey, 2009; Simon & Johnson, 2013). The current study found significant differences in professional development perceptions. Middle school teachers were more satisfied than high school teachers with regards to their professional development. No data within the qualitative analysis explained the differences in professional development perceptions between the middle and high school teachers. While there were various studies that discussed the differences in job satisfaction between middle and high school teachers, none of the research discussed professional development perception difference between the two groups of teachers (Gibbs-Harper, 2015; McNeill, 2016). Perhaps this should be another area explored in future research. While motivation to teach had no demographic differences in the current study, overall stayers rated their motivation to teach more positively than leavers. In addition to the quantitative data, the qualitative data corresponded with similar findings for stayers. The open-ended responses for motivation to teach were mentioned positively by 94% of stayers. As in other studies, motivation to teach, which includes the joy of teaching, helping students achieve, and passing on content knowledge, was one of the best predictors for teacher retention in the current study (Casey, 2016; Claeys, 2011). Qualitative data brought out more details on the job satisfaction domains. In the teacher response section of the questionnaire, school culture was the overwhelming domain mentioned with which leavers were dissatisfied. The statements included leavers being displeased with campus leadership and working conditions. These findings agree with studies of job satisfaction and school culture (Goldring et al., 2014; Hollas, 2011; Simon & Johnson, 2013). About half of the leavers also mentioned they were not pleased with their compensation, which included salary and benefits. Furthermore, even though some teachers would appear to be successfully retained, almost 20% of stayers mentioned compensation negatively in their responses. Other studies have found similar feelings from teachers who were retained and left the profession (Armer, 2011; Lastica, 2012; Lembo, 2016). Conclusions According to several studies, job satisfaction is the main reason why teachers stay or leave education. Several job satisfaction factors could impact whether a teacher stayed on a campus or in a district (Allensworth et al., 2009; Bozeman, Scoggin, & Stuessy, 2013; Giacometti, 2005; Ingersoll, 2001). The current study examined through quantitative analysis, the job satisfaction of secondary science teachers within seven North Texas districts. According to the findings, job satisfaction tends to still be a reliable predictor of teacher retention. With the exception of preservice preparation, the current study found that stayers had significantly more positive perceptions across the various job satisfaction domains when compared to leavers . With just a few exceptions, the demographic subgroups showed few significant differences. Goldhorn’s study (2005) had similar findings with a majority of the factors along with the depth of factors coming from the qualitative analysis and finding no significant differences between demographic variables. Through a qualitative analysis, the number one reason science teachers reported leaving education was school culture. School culture included the administrative support, working conditions, and student behavior. All of these components of school culture fall within the role of the campus leader. School districts, universities, and even policymakers need to continue to look for new ways to support and build quality campus leaders as those campus leaders could be the most significant factor in retaining teachers. Finally, there should be a mechanism within districts that can detect and monitor teachers’ job satisfaction. Whether districts use teacher surveys or gather data from teacher focus groups, districts must explore deeper what retained teachers want or need. Like many other studies before, the current study has Christopher Michael Miller, Ed.D.