Potential Associations of Racial Similarity and Certification Pathways on Teacher Retention

Authors

Mary Michelle Atherley, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Major/Program

Educational Leadership

First Advisor's Name

Dr. Ethan Kolek

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Dr. Laura Dinehart

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Dr. Daniel Saunders

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Dr. Kristen Wilcox

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

teacher retention, certification pathways, racial similarity

Date of Defense

9-28-2021

Abstract

What has caused the struggle to retain teachers? Like other school districts, Miami-Dade County Public School district has a high percentage of minority teachers and continues to seek ways in which to address teacher retention. Such findings are of importance since retaining effective teachers has been linked to positively affecting student achievement.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible associations of teacher retention with certification pathways (Traditional Preparation Programs or Alternative Certification Programs) and the racial similarity of the teachers to the students at their schools. Additionally, teacher and school factors such as gender, age, college majors, percentage of low socioeconomic students (Title 1), population size, magnet status, and school grade were included. The findings of some similar studies indicated that alternative certification and traditional preparation programs had comparable results on teacher retention. Furthermore, some research showed that racial congruency reflected a positive relationship with increased teacher retention. Five years of M-DCPS administrative data for the school years between 2015-2020 yielded a sample population of 4,419 teachers. Using IBM’s SPSS software, the data was recoded and run through logistic regression analyses, crosstabulations, and bivariate analyses.

The findings of this study suggest that the relationship between teacher retention and Certification Pathways was not significant. Additionally, the relationship between teacher retention and racial similarity was statistically significant but it was a weak one. Population Size had weak statistically significant positive association with teacher retention, whilst School Grade and Age had weak, negative associations with teacher retention. This would suggest that policymakers should consider these results as they formulate onboarding guidelines for the school district.

Identifier

FIDC010410

Recommended Citation

Atherley, Mary Michelle, "Potential Associations of Racial Similarity and Certification Pathways on Teacher Retention" (2021). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4906.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4906