Date of Award

Summer 2025

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

First Advisor

Suzy Hardie

Abstract

This dissertation in practice uses improvement science to examine the system in an attempt to improve teacher retention. The improvement project centers around improving teacher retention in a small, rural school district in a post-pandemic world. The district in question saw a stark increase in teachers leaving the district after the pandemic. The improvement team consisting of six district certified staff members including the superintendent, the assistant superintendent for personnel and instruction, the director of special services, the public information officer, a primary school principal, and a teacher. After collaboratively designing a fishbone diagram and driver diagram to analyze the problem and its causes, the team administered empathy interviews to teachers and administrators to better understand what teachers and administrators thought about teacher retention within the district. Those empathy interviews informed the development of three Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles that focused on teachers to garner more teacher opinions related to why the district is having trouble retaining teachers. These PDSA cycles revealed a need for district and school leadership to develop a protocol for engaging teachers in improving teacher retention. As a result of this study building-level leaders will conduct one-on-one interviews with teachers to ascertain what practices and protocols are supporting teacher job satisfaction and what practices are negating their levels of job satisfaction. This will allow school leaders to address the issues most germane to teachers and create a positive trend in teacher retention.

Rights

© 2025, Sonya Murrah Bryant

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