Perception of Campus Administration: Leadership Practices Foreshadowing Future Teachers’ Attrition

The purpose of this study is to identify that identified the major factors that prompted early career teachers to decide to leave the teaching profession by recording their lived experiences through interview. Narrative inquiry is suitable for this investigation on the goals of this study. Data was collected using the tools of narrative inquiry, including responses to interview questions and responses to items of a Likert Scale survey (see Appendix A). The interviews focused on each individual participant, which resulted in detailed field texts. The interview questions and Likert Scale survey were not created by the researcher. They were used, with permission, from a larger research study and survey. The following questions directed this dissertation research:

1. What factors lead to teacher attrition in early career teachers?

2. How do teacher’s perception of leadership impact teacher retention?

3. How does poor administration influence an early career teacher’s resiliency?

The population of interest were former early career teachers that taught for less than five years in an urban setting or urban school district in the U.S. A sample of eight former early career teachers formerly employed in urban districts or urban settings were this study’s sample of convenience. The implications of this study are the diverse factors teacher educations/school districts/admnistrators should contemplate as they seek to develop effective teacher preparation and retention programs. Also to be considered is the role of the state, local board, county and school administrators requisitely play in retaining highly qualified teachers.