Exploring the Role of the Principal in Elementary Teacher Retention and Migration as Perceived by Elementary Teachers in Rural School Districts of North-Central Pennsylvania
type: CreativeWork
description: Problem. Teacher migration and attrition are costly to educational institutions and negatively impact students' education. Teachers migrate to other positions and/or leave the profession for different reasons. Research of literature indicated that one influence on the teacher's decision to migrate to another position or to leave the profession is lack of principal support. This sequential mixed-methodology study explores elementary teachers' perception of the relationship between principal support and teacher retention and migration in the rural elementary schools of north-central Pennsylvania. Method. To explore the role of the principal, this sequentially mixed-methodological study used a focus group to identify elementary teachers' perception of principal support, a survey to apply elementary teachers' perception of principal support to a larger group, and, finally, interviews to clarify elementary teachers' perception of principal support. A focus group was used as the primary means of collecting elementary teachers' perceptions of principal support. The focus group data were combined with principal support data from the literature review. To apply the elementary teachers' perceptions of principal support to a larger group, a 16-question survey was conducted with elementary teachers in rural north-central Pennsylvania. For clarification of elementary teachers' perception of principalsupport, the five survey questions with the greatest means were used to generate questions for interviews. Four teachers, 2 male and 2 female, were interviewed. Results. The data from the focus group and literature review generated 88 phrases of principal support. The 88 statements were grouped according into 16 common themes. The 16 themes were used to develop questions for the survey. The results of the survey indicated that the survey actually measured two different constructs. The means of the negative-posed questions were consistently lower than themeans of the positive-posed qu…
abstract: Problem. Teacher migration and attrition are costly to educational institutions and negatively impact students' education. Teachers migrate to other positions and/or leave the profession for different reasons. Research of literature indicated that one influence on the teacher's decision to migrate to another position or to leave the profession is lack of principal support. This sequential mixed-methodology study explores elementary teachers' perception of the relationship between principal support and teacher retention and migration in the rural elementary schools of north-central Pennsylvania. Method. To explore the role of the principal, this sequentially mixed-methodological study used a focus group to identify elementary teachers' perception of principal support, a survey to apply elementary teachers' perception of principal support to a larger group, and, finally, interviews to clarify elementary teachers' perception of principal support. A focus group was used as the primary means of collecting elementary teachers' perceptions of principal support. The focus group data were combined with principal support data from the literature review. To apply the elementary teachers' perceptions of principal support to a larger group, a 16-question survey was conducted with elementary teachers in rural north-central Pennsylvania. For clarification of elementary teachers' perception of principalsupport, the five survey questions with the greatest means were used to generate questions for interviews. Four teachers, 2 male and 2 female, were interviewed. Results. The data from the focus group and literature review generated 88 phrases of principal support. The 88 statements were grouped according into 16 common themes. The 16 themes were used to develop questions for the survey. The results of the survey indicated that the survey actually measured two different constructs. The means of the negative-posed questions were consistently lower than themeans of the positive-posed qu…
author: Barnes, Diana L.
keywords: Educational Leadership, Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration, Elementary Education and Teaching
date published: 2013-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:52:41Z
provider: Andrews University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Andrews University