Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2023
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Education
First Advisor
David Swank
Abstract
Teacher retention has become a major challenge for schools over the past several years. Rural school districts have become increasingly short on staff and are struggling to retain the staffs they have. The study had four purposes: (a) to determine teachers' perceptions of the factors leading to their retention, (b) to determine administrators' perceptions of the factors leading to teacher retention, (c) to determine differences in perceptions of teachers and administrators based on personal characteristics, and finally, (d), to determine the differences between teachers' and administrators' perceptions of factors retaining teachers in rural school districts. This quantitative study examined the perceptions of teachers and administrators in rural areas in Nebraska and the factors they rated as most related to higher retention rates among teachers. The focus of this study was to determine what factors are identified by both groups as critical to retaining teachers in Class C and D schools in Nebraska. There were 794 teachers and 124 administrators who participated in the study. Five hundred forty-eight teachers and 91 administrators participated in the rank-and-order question that examined the importance of administrative support, mentoring, positive school and community culture, and financial incentives factors on teacher retention. Both teachers and administrators ranked and ordered all four factors of administrative support, mentoring, positive school and community culture, and financial incentives the same. Administrative support received the highest ranking from both groups. The findings of this study suggest that administrative support and positive school and community culture are the most critical factors in rural teacher retention.
Subject Categories
Educational Administration and Supervision
Keywords
administrators, Nebraska, perception, rural, teacher retention, teachers
Number of Pages
83
Publisher
University of South Dakota
Recommended Citation
Offner, Andrew, "TEACHER RETENTION: PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION IN RURAL SCHOOLS IN NEBRASKA" (2023). Dissertations and Theses. 102.
https://red.library.usd.edu/diss-thesis/102