Curricular coaches’ impact on retention for early-career elementary teachers in the USA: Implications for urban schools
International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education
ISSN: 2046-6854
Article publication date: 4 May 2018
Issue publication date: 23 May 2018
Abstract
Purpose
Researchers have found that curricular coaches have had an impact on student achievement by supporting classroom teachers in providing high-quality instruction. However, few studies examine the association between curricular coaches and teacher retention, especially in urban areas. Given the high cost of teacher turnover and the high percentage of early-career teachers who leave the profession each year, the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the presence of curricular coaches in elementary schools reduces turnover among early-career teachers.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the authors analyzed the observational data from the 2007-2008 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). The SASS is a nationally representative cross-sectional survey that has been administered repeatedly to public and private kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers in the USA approximately every four years by the National Center for Education Statistics and the US Census Bureau.
Findings
The authors found that the presence of a curricular coach was associated with a substantial reduction in early-career teacher turnover. This finding suggests that curricular coaches could be a particular benefit to urban schools.
Research limitations/implications
This study was national in scope; therefore, it does not examine causes of attrition specific to local contexts.
Practical implications
Curricular coaches may indirectly save urban school districts thousands of dollars because of their impact on reducing early-career teacher attrition.
Social implications
In this study, the authors found a statistically significant and practically meaningful association between the presence of curricular coaches in schools and the retention of elementary teachers, especially in urban areas.
Originality/value
The model predicted that among early-career teachers, teachers in schools without curricular coaches are approximately twice as likely to leave the profession the next year compared to teachers in schools with curricular coaches.
Keywords
Citation
De Jong, D. and Campoli, A. (2018), "Curricular coaches’ impact on retention for early-career elementary teachers in the USA: Implications for urban schools", International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 191-200. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMCE-09-2017-0064
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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