Date of Award

2016

Degree Name

Educational Leadership

College

College of Education

Type of Degree

Ed.D.

Document Type

Dissertation

First Advisor

Tom Hisiro

Second Advisor

Charles Bethel

Third Advisor

Paula Potter

Abstract

School districts in West Virginia and across the nation have been experiencing a mass exodus of teachers over the last two decades, creating a widespread shortage of certified educators in the classroom. In the United States approximately a half-million teachers leave their schools every year, and only 16% of those exits can be attributed to retirement. The rest is due to movement between schools and to teachers leaving the profession. While a great deal of research has been completed in order to ascertain why teachers are leaving the profession most focuses on the individual teacher’s perspective – and that perspective suggests that the decision to remain, leave, or resign from the teaching profession is often linked to the administrative support of new teacher experiences. This study aims to determine high school principals’ perceptions regarding the supports that are necessary to retain beginning teachers and to determine the extent to which those perceptions are congruent with what the extant research identifies, as new teachers’ support needs. This non-experimental, descriptive study was conducted electronically and featured both qualitative and quantitative elements. Using the Delphi research technique, Round One generated the top three principal supports in each of the areas of instruction, school culture, and professional growth, and gained demographic information. Round Two asked participants to rank-order the primary supports identified in Round One and provide additional comments. The expert panel consisted of 16 high school principals whose schools are clustered in a specific Regional Education Service Agency (RESA) in West Virginia.

Subject(s)

Employee retention.

Teachers -- Employment -- West Virginia.

School principals -- Attitudes -- West Virginia.

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