Today, I will commence with the real reason I began this blog in the first place, and that is to lay out to the public what I have attempted to accomplish via my action research.
Though I rant and rave, I do like to problem solve as well. Believe it or not, I do look for the positive in situations.
For this reason, I decided to, in the words of Tony Robbins ( do I have to write Inc. after that?), ask myself an empowering question, in the midst of my Program Improvement school turmoil.
Instead of asking why teachers were leaving, I wondered why teachers were staying. Which factors played into their decision to stay in a working environment more intense than another teaching assignment, which might be easily available to them?
My research questions began to form:
What are some factors which influence teacher retention at low performing, high risk, Program Improvement schools?
What are the types of issue-relevant professional development modules which could support and influence teachers to stay at their positions at low performing high risk schools in PI status?
( More specifically, California elementary schools in Program Improvement)
To prepare for this project, I scoured a list of over 6,000 California schools ( I had a lot of spare time during the summer) and narrowed my search down to about 128 elementary schools which were in PI status. Through a long arduous process of searching district websites and calling schools, I began getting contact information for principals. I sent out an initial email to over 30 principals, certain I would get a positive response from...well...I was optimistic...at least half of them.
This did not transpire.
Only three principals responded in the affirmative. Yes, they would find a way to get their teaching staff my surveys, whether online or on paper. Hooray!
I collected more PI principal emails.
No response.
Finally, I began emailing colleagues who I had previously served with at a PI school site ( the bond which remains is strong---working at a PI school can be like being in battle together---you never forget your hardworking sacrificing comrades in arms).
I also contacted two local principals at PI schools. One was VERY helpful. The other shut me down ( I have vented in a previous blog).
I set up a Survey Monkey account and teachers responded to my two surveys online and through paper surveys, which they or their principals mailed back to me ( no names were on the surveys).
In addition, I conducted six interviews with teachers, who were either currently at a PI school, or had taught at one in the past three years.
This is where I obtained my data.
To date, 62 teachers from around California have answered my first survey which had them rate whether they agreed or disagreed the factors in the survey influenced their decision to stay at a PI school.
Fifty six teachers from the Golden State have responded to my second survey which rates the effectiveness of certain professional development topics to influence their decision to stay at a PI school.
My six interviews have been transcribed and show a pattern in descriptions of working at a PI school campus in comparison with descriptions of working at a Non-PI school and the TREMENDOUS influence administrators have on whether teachers stay or leave their assignments at these at-risk campuses.
As the weeks progress, and my action research project progresses towards completion, I will be posting more detailed results of the survey percentages and portions of the interview transcripts.
It is my hope these will have an influence on educators and administrators within the context of California's most needy schools, and professors at institutions of higher learning who train them, to better prepare future teachers, and current teachers, for the realities of undertaking responsibilities on these exceptional campuses, so all children are able to receive a quality equitable education, and we can make more tangible strides towards closing the existing persistent achievement gap.
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2 comments:
This is so fabulous. I really respect your topic and the hard work you have clearly put into it. It's a real and relevant questions and it's a big question. You should get a doctorate! I'm glad you've gotten the response that you have. It's hard to get responses when you are not right there to ask for them. And your numbers are huge compared to mine. I did my action research in a class of 9. N=9. That's hopelessly statistically insignificant. No matter how I run the numbers on SPSS or what group differences I can see p is still larger than .05 if you know what I mean. Your sample size is excellent and your work is inspiring. Thank you for persevering.
It's so hard to get people to do things that they see as "extra" and, to their limited view, have no value. I have seen this in the role of GATE coordinator at my school. Our first round of testing last year yielded only two reccomendation sheets from our 80 teachers. After reaffirming the importance of this by me (and my principal), my return rate was much higher.
It's still like pulling teeth getting anything from teachers. It's a bad habit that needs to be broken. I look forward to a new generation of teachers who understand that their professional responsibility extends beyond periods 1-7 and grades
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