Teacher retention has been linked to student performance and, is considered a measure of teacher preparation and recruiting. Studies confirm that almost half of new teachers leave the profession within five years of teaching. The Georgia Department of Education stated 44% of their newly hired teachers leave the profession by the fifth year. The problem to be addressed in this multiple case study is that many teachers, within the first five years of teaching, choose to leave the classroom even though they invested time and money into entering the profession. This qualitative multiple case study will examine perceptions of the different certification methods in the state of Georgia and their perceived impact on teacher attrition. The population for this study will be 12 former Georgia teachers who were certified as a teacher either traditionally or alternatively and who left the teaching profession within the first five years of teaching. The study will address three questions: (1) What are teachers' perceptions of how the method of teacher certification contributes to their decision to leave the teaching profession? (2) What are teachers' perceptions of how the method of teacher certification contributes to their level of satisfaction as a classroom teacher? (3) What are teachers' perceptions of how the method of teacher certification contributes to their decision to remain in the teaching profession? Participants will be interviewed for approximately 45 minutes to an hour via Microsoft Teams. The information will be securely coded and entered into NVivo and analyzed by Narrative, and Discourse analysis. The results showed that teachers certified alternatively were at a disadvantage in the classroom then teachers certified traditionally. Being certified alternatively left the classroom teacher without the necessary skills to effectively and confidently manage task in the classroom. Future recommendations for research and practice include researching more states and more participants to analyze participant perceptions more deeply. As well as researching the perception of mentorship programs on teachers regardless of certification method. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]