ANALYSIS
In order to answer the research question, “Do school-level factors, such as average teacher experience,
influence teacher turnover?”, school-level data were stacked and analyzed using multiple regression analysis.
The findings of this test suggest that there are indeed school-level factors that influence teacher turnover.
Correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between the
percent of teachers who left a given school in a given school year and various potential predictors. The
previous table summarizes the multiple regression analysis results. As can be seen, Number of Teachers and
Percent of Total Possible Points are each negatively and statistically significantly correlated with the percent
of teachers who left a given school in a given school year. This indicates that teachers are more likely to leave
as each of these variables decrease. For example, a school with a lower school grade is more likely to
experience higher teacher turnover than a school with a higher school grade. Teacher experience is also
negatively and statistically significantly correlated with the percent of teachers who left a given school in a
given school year. This finding suggests that as average teacher experience at a school site increases, teachers
are less likely to leave that school. Finally, these results demonstrate that as the total number of teachers at a
school increases, teachers are less likely to turn over. Two of these factors can be controlled through
administrative and personnel processes; school size can be limited, and the experience makeup of a school
can be evaluated before placing a new teacher.
Interestingly, percent of out-of-field teachers at a school has a very weak and not significant negative
correlation with teacher turnover from a given school. However, race and ethnicity of students is the most
significant predictor of turnover; as the percent of nonwhite students increases, so does the percent of
teachers who leave.
Middle school teachers are somewhat more likely to turn over than elementary or high school
teachers. The following chart demonstrates the average years of teaching experience for a randomly selected
panel of 9 schools. The elementary schools included in this panel are: Chet’s Creek Elementary School, Louis
Sheffield Elementary School, and Ramona Blvd. Elementary School. The middle schools included in this panel
are: Kernan Blvd. Middle School, Kirby-Smith Middle School, and Southside Middle School. The high schools
included in this panel are: Atlantic Coast High School, Douglas Anderson High School, and Jean Ribault High
School. This panel mirrors the larger trends across DCPS.
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