A Novel Approach to Measuring Teacher Engagement with Resources: Using Social Network Analysis to Understand Teacher Satisfaction and Retention

Authors

Jennifer M. Murray, FIUFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Major/Program

Educational Leadership

First Advisor's Name

Ethan Kolek

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Remy Dou

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Joshua Ellis

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Daniel Saunders

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

Teacher Satisfaction, Teacher Retention, Social Network Analysis, Mediated Model, Teacher Engagements with Resources

Date of Defense

6-14-2022

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to investigate how teacher engagement with resources at the school-site and district-level predicted teacher satisfaction and intention to stay in the profession. Teachers in Miami-Dade County Public Schools need support as educators in the fourth largest district in the nation. To better understand how teachers engage with resource networks, three measures of interaction were captured, (1) engagement or use of the resource; (2) frequency of interaction with the resources within the network; and (3) the quality of supportiveness of resources within the network. A survey was sent to 967 math (n=523) and social studies (n= 444) teachers at the secondary level in M-DCPS.

The survey consisted of validated instruments used to measure teachers’ intent to stay in M-DCPS, a school staffing survey used to measure working conditions, school climate and teacher attitudes and a section that I developed to measure the frequency of participant

interaction with resources with a subsequent section that measured the supportiveness of that

interaction. I also included basic demographic questions and a section on the impact of COVID-

19 on intention to stay in M-DCPS.

Social Network Analysis was utilized to construct four networks (1) school-site collegial resource network; (2) school-site administrative resource network; (3) district collegial resource network; and (4) district administrative network. Permutated t-tests highlighted differences in engagement, frequency of engagement, as well as the reported quality of engagement dependent on the respective network. Mediation analysis was used to determine whether the association between teachers’ engagement with resources and intention to stay is due wholly to satisfaction or in part to satisfaction.

The results revealed nine valid mediated models where satisfaction mediated the relationship between teacher centrality or engagement with resources with intention to stay. In my study, it was found that teacher's engagement with resources indirectly predicts intention to stay when mediated through satisfaction. In every model, satisfaction was predictive of intention to stay in M-DCPS (β=.26, p. = .001**). Other findings reveal that school site resource networks are the densest (collegial = 83%, administrative = 97%) and the more that teachers engage with school site resources their level of satisfaction increased and indirectly they are more likely to stay in M-DCPS.

Identifier

FIDC010818

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3070-213X

Recommended Citation

Murray, Jennifer M., "A Novel Approach to Measuring Teacher Engagement with Resources: Using Social Network Analysis to Understand Teacher Satisfaction and Retention" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5121.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5121