Keeping Our Best? A Survival Analysis Examining a Measure of Preservice Teacher Quality and Teacher Attrition

Abstract

Preparing, recruiting, and retaining high-quality teachers into the profession has been a concern of policy makers and practitioners for some time. Teacher attrition is problematic and costly for schools and districts. However, relatively few studies have investigated the relationship between preservice teacher quality and teacher attrition. In this study, we analyze data from an apprenticeship-style teacher preparation program to understand the relationship between a measure of preservice teacher quality—student teachers’ observational scores—and their decisions to (a) enter into the profession, and (b) stay in the profession within the first 2 years after graduation. We find that more qualified student teachers are more likely to enter into the profession and stay in the profession, even after controlling for student teachers’ demographic characteristics and their academic achievement.

Prosociality as a mediator between teacher collaboration and turnover intention

“…Recently, teacher collaboration has attracted the attention of researchers for its potential to improve educational organisational effectiveness (Goddard et al , 2007). Meanwhile, a high rate of teacher turnover is not only a problem for work force and resource planning but also an indicator of the poor quality of schools (Vagi et al , 2019; Smethem, 2007). Acting on the assumption that collaborative practices enhance teachers’ commitment to teaching at their school, researchers have shown considerable interest in the relationships between collaborative practices in schools and their effect on turnover intention, as an indicator of organisational effectiveness (e.g.…”

Examining Clinical Teaching Observation Scores as a Measure of Preservice Teacher Quality

“…Despite the use of observational evaluations in the clinical teaching context (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 2018), there is little systematic evidence about whether these observations accurately distinguish between high and low performers. To our knowledge, only a handful of studies have incorporated PST observation scores, in which these scores were one of a number of other measures that signaled an underlying construct of PST quality (Henry et al, 2013;Vagi et al, 2019aVagi et al, , 2019b. Instead, research on observation scores is almost exclusively confined to the in-service context, focusing on the reliability and validity of these scores as well as their connection to labor market outcomes (e.g., Bacher-Hicks et al, 2019;Cohen & Goldhaber, 2016;Doherty & Jacobs, 2013;Grissom & Bartanen, 2019;Kraft et al, 2020;Whitehurst et al, 2014).…”

Cumulative risk and newly qualified teachers’ professional well-being: Evidence from rural Ghana

“…Rots and colleagues (2010) found that student-teachers’ experiences significantly predicted commitment and intention to enter the teaching profession, controlling for initial motivation and labor market characteristics. Similarly, Vagi et al (2019) found significant associations between pre-service teacher quality and decisions of student-teachers to enter and stay in the profession within two years of graduation. Specifically, compared to a low-performing teacher, a high-performing student-teacher was seven percentage points more likely to enter the profession, and three percentage points less likely to leave in the first two years of teaching.…”

“…Such programs could help address different personal and professional risks that are related to low professional well-being among student-teachers. Further, studies also show how student-teachers’ experiences are associated with their intentions to stay in the teaching profession within the first two years of teaching (Rots et al, 2010; Vagi et al, 2019). Therefore, such programs could also help retain new teachers in the education system.…”