How Local Education Policymakers Define the Teacher Turnover Problem: A Case Study

Teacher turnover, or those teachers who either move between schools or leave the profession entirely, is a growing problem in today’s education system. Though education research is flush with studies about turnover’s causes and the success of certain policy initiatives, little attention has been paid to the perspectives of those policymakers often charged with trying to “do something” about it. The purpose of this study was to examine the political contexts from which education policies – specifically, teacher turnover policies – are being designed and implemented. Using a single instrumental case study design, sixteen local policymakers from seven North Carolina school districts, were interviewed about their perceptions of the teacher turnover problem. Rochefort and Cobb’s (1994) problem definition framework was adapted to create a coherent framework for the organization and analysis of participant responses. Overall, the findings show that participants have a nuanced and informed understanding of teacher turnover in their school districts. Moreover, interviews revealed that several state-level decisions surrounding licensure and charter schools were having a profound impact on smaller school districts’ ability to retain teachers. A discussion of policy and research implications includes the importance of qualitative information to better understand teacher turnover data.

Author

• Townsend, Sara

• Education policy
• North Carolina
• Problem definition
• Teacher turnover

Identifier

hdl:1920/13859

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:MARS:1920/13859