Masters Thesis

Understanding why high school math teachers leave: the perceptions of California educators in the Central Valley

The state of California has greater teacher shortages than other states. Beginning teachers have the highest departure rate and mathematics teachers at the high school level are leaving at a greater rate than other teaching areas. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the perceptions of high school educators on the issue of high school math teachers leaving the profession within the first five years of teaching. The objective of this study was to answer three questions: (a) Are high school educators in the Central Valley of California aware of the struggle to keep beginning high school math teachers in the profession, (b) What are their beliefs on why they leave the profession and (c) What are their ideas on how to keep them in the profession. There were two phases of the study. The first phase was an electronic survey addressing the questions given to the high school teachers and administrators in one school district, three high schools, in the Central Valley of California. The second phase of the study was to per- form interviews with selected educators identified by the researcher to gather data and more insight into beginning math teacher retention. After examining the data from the surveys and interviews, information indicating possible reasons and solutions to the beginning math teacher retention issue in California were determined. Findings suggest the high school teachers and administrators agreed that there was a problem keeping beginning math teachers in the profession although the problem might be retaining beginning teachers across all subjects. Some possible reasons mentioned in the study consist of the lack of support from administration, classroom management issues, the classes assigned to new teachers, and low salary. Respondents’ thoughts on possible solutions included increased collaboration, a mentor or partner teacher, quality professional development, increased administrative support, and salary increases.

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