This research is a qualitative, phenomenological study of the lived experiences of special education administrators within Intermediate Unit 08 in Pennsylvania. Through the reported lived experiences, the researcher developed motivation and hygiene themes from participant response that may impact retention and attrition within the field of special…

Turnover in the US early childhood education (ECE) workforce is associated with worse outcomes for children. Greater workplace spirituality, or the perception of meaningful work, sense of community, and alignment with organizational values, is associated with reduced turnover. However, this association has not been examined in ECE professionals.…

This phenomenological qualitative study focused on the perceptions and lived experiences of special education directors in Pennsylvania in relationship to job satisfaction and retention in public school districts. This study analyzed data collected from participants through semi-structured interviews. The study engaged with six participants from…

As we approach this Labor Day, the Pennsylvania economy is growing steadily. Working families are sharing in prosperity in a more sustained way than at any point since 1980--although many families still struggle to make ends meet and, in our polarized nation, a big partisan divide exists in perceptions of whether the economy is better than four…

Teacher turnover is especially pronounced among teachers of color who play critically important roles in the success of students of color. A growing literature points to racial isolation as one factor that is associated with Black teacher job satisfaction in particular, which in turn could play a role in a teacher's decision to remain in a school.…

This quantitative non-experimental cross-sectional study aimed to determine the cause(s) of teachers exiting their current employment to migrate to neighboring districts. To predict and alleviate the burden that the loss of experienced teachers imposes, the study examined teachers' intent to migrate by surveying teachers currently working in a…

Agricultural education, like many other disciplines, is experiencing a shortage of school-based agricultural education (SBAE) teachers. We examined the perceptions of Pennsylvania SBAE teachers regarding extended contracts as they have been identified as a possible tool to improve recruitment and retention. The purpose of the study was to sample…

We used longitudinal staffing data from Pennsylvania to explore differences in special education personnel attrition across personnel categories, individual characteristics, and district characteristics. Special education administrators and school psychologists had the highest attrition rates among special education personnel, with special…

Research for Action (RFA) studied why Black teachers were leaving their jobs more than White teachers in Allegheny County from 2014 to 2020. RFA analyses found that the number of Black teachers in the area was consistently dropping, more than the decrease in the overall Black population. The data gathered from speaking directly with 38 current and…

School districts across the United States are facing a teacher shortage that has the potential to become a national crisis. While teacher attrition rates prior to the COVID-19 pandemic were high, the pandemic and its aftermath have exacerbated the problem. The number of teachers leaving the profession continues to increase at an alarming rate.…

The current brief provides an overview of the 2021-2022 school year student-to-school psychologist ratio for every United States territory, using the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) counts of school psychologists. In addition to this, data are presented on the percentage change in student-to-school psychologist ratio from the…

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented economic and policy challenges to the United States and other countries. Navigating out of the pandemic slowdown is another novel experience, which makes it more difficult to answer the question addressed each year in the "State of Working Pennsylvania": How is the Pennsylvania economy…

This qualitative phenomenology investigated the job-related experiences of early career Catholic elementary school principals (N = 13) in the Mideastern region of the United States. Data were collected from an introductory survey, semi-structured interviews, two focus groups, and a participant designed plan for professional development. The…

The COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about the possibility of increased staff attrition from the public school sector, as it did for other occupations during the Great Resignation that followed the pandemic's onset. Recruiting and retaining education staff were pressing challenges even before the pandemic began. Since March 2020, education staff…

Principal retention is a growing concern for educational leaders in the United States. This comes at a time when millennial educators are also rising into positions of leadership with the reputation of a high turnover generation. Millennials have named mentorship as a preferred method for professional growth. Decades of research speaks to the…