A research report by the Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) suggests that the attrition rate
within DCPS is higher than even the Florida state average (Patching the Pipeline: Addressing Teacher
Satisfaction and Retention, 2013). Patching the Pipeline suggests that nearly half of all newly-hired
teachers will leave DCPS within the first 5 years. Of the teachers who remain, nearly one third transfer to
other schools (Patching the Pipeline: Addressing Teacher Satisfaction and Retention, 2013). This level of
movement amongst new teachers is not entirely dependent on school-level factors, but the research
conducted by JPEF does suggest that school-level factors do have a measurable effect on teacher retention.
Available federal data suggests that the annual attrition rate for teachers has hovered around 8% since
the mid 2010s. (Goldring, Taie, and Riddles, p. 6) However, the Florida Department of Education has
consistently reported numbers that seem to suggest that the annual statewide attrition rate is around 19%
(O’Connor, 2014). Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) does not publish specific data on either their
employee attrition or the movement of teachers between schools; this project seeks to close that gap and
quantify some of the movement of teachers within DCPS.
This project will study the movement of teachers in DCPS by analyzing both school-level and
district-level data. Some of the factors that were examined at the school level include the racial makeup of
DCPS schools, school grades, percent of students living in poverty, and average years of teacher experience
(Boyd, Lankford, Loeb, Ronfeldt, and Wyckoff, 2010; Christopher, 2016; Dee, 2004, Ordway, 2017). In addition
to school-level data, individual employment data will be used. These data were collected via public records
request and consisted entirely of secondary data. No human subject research was performed throughout the
course of this project.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Previous teacher retention studies have used various academic disciplines to form conclusions about
the employment patterns of P-12 teaching professionals. Some of this research is related to organizational
studies and characteristics of employment as well as sociological research on demographic characteristics of
teachers and students. The typical study design involves some form of employment data that approximates or
describes teacher retention within a given school district, paired with qualitative data.
One significant subset of research on teacher retention focuses on teacher preparation and support
programs. These studies tend to focus within three categories; teacher training, teacher evaluation and
administrative support, and teacher movement within specific school districts.
Teacher Preparation and Support
Teacher Preparation requirements vary widely across the United States. Generally, an individual must
have successfully completed an undergraduate degree in Education or in a field with a subject area that is
taught in secondary schools to be eligible to apply for a teaching certificate. In Florida, a teacher may begin
teaching on a Temporary Certificate with only this requirement met. To move to a Professional Certificate,
an applicant must also: take and pass additional coursework related to pedagogy, take and pass two or more
exams related to instructional practice and subject area knowledge, and complete professional development
courses related to their assigned area of instruction. Teachers who graduate with an undergraduate degree in
Education sometimes begin these requirements while still in their degree programs and are referred to as
traditional pathway teachers. Teachers who possess specific subject area knowledge and enter the
teaching profession without an Education degree are referred to as alternative certification pathway teachers.
A high-level overview of teacher pathways to certification can be found in Appendix Item 2.
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