Journal of K-12 Educational Research 27 that a positive relationship would be found between the two variables. In simpler terms, the researcher believed that the school districts that had to replace more teachers each year would perform worse on state achievement tests. The researcher used 76 school districts in North Texas for the study. After obtaining the teacher retention percentages for each district and each district’s passing percentages for all test grade levels, a correlation test was run through a statistical analysis program. The results from the analysis revealed that there was a positive relationship between the variables, which supported the researcher’s belief that school districts that experienced higher teacher turnover perform worse on state standardized tests compared with districts that have better retention rates. From the 76 schools analyzed, a connection was found between the number of teachers they replaced annually and their student achievement. In summary, the findings for RQ1 supported the hypothesis that there was a relationship between district teacher retention rates and student achievement on standardized tests. If school districts want to improve student achievement, they should first focus on improving teacher retention rates. Retaining experienced and highly-qualified teachers would have a direct impact on student achievement. The goal of RQ2 was similar in nature to RQ1. The researcher wanted to discover if there was connection between the amount of money school districts spent replacing teachers annually with their overall state accountability rating. The researcher hypothesized that a positive relationship would be found between the two variables. In other words, the researcher believed that the districts that spent more money replacing teachers each year would have a lower state accountability rating. A teacher turnover cost-calculator, based on previous research, was used to determine an estimated dollar amount per district. The researcher then ran an analysis comparing the district's A–F score as one variable and their calculated turnover cost as the other variable. The results of the analysis did not support the hypothesis that there was a relationship between the school rating and the calculated amount of money spent replacing teachers. In simpler terms, the amount of money spent replacing teachers did not negatively impact the school district’s overall A–F accountability rating according to the analysis. The results of the analysis surprised the researcher, as he believed that a strong connection between the two variables would be found. The researcher offers two possible explanations for why the analysis failed to support the hypothesis that there was a relationship between the amount of money districts spent replacing teachers and the district’s accountability rating: 1. The state of Texas A–F rating system may not provide a true representation of how the district is performing. Upon reviewing the data collected from the 76 school districts in North Texas, 25 districts earned an A rating, 41 districts earned a B, and 10 districts earned a C rating. With 87% of the districts studied earning an A or B rating, there was not enough differentiation between the scores for the analysis to reveal the intended relationship between turnover and achievement. 2. The estimated amount of money spent replacing teachers in each district is relative to the other variables in the district. The estimated cost for the 76 school districts ranged from as low as $9,000 to upwards of $19,000,000. While a few thousand dollars might seem relatively low, it is important to factor in the size and resources available to that district. In other words, the analysis is run on an estimated fixed cost projection, but it does not factor in the significance of the cost per district. This impacts the relevancy of the relationship between the amount spent per district and their accountability rating. In summary, the analysis failed to support the hypothesis for RQ2. However, the researcher believes that there is a strong connection between the two variables and that adjustments could be made to future studies that would provide a more accurate picture of the relationship between the amount of money a school district spends and its overall district achievement rating.
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