Erin ROTHERAM FULLER, Daniel, Kelly Olson STEWART

Beginning Teacher Support Model: Elementary Teachers’ Resilience and Retention in Arizona

In the United States, beginning teacher retention rates are extraordinarily low; only 50% of teachers remain in the classroom after five years. In particular, the state of Arizona has been recruiting significant numbers of teachers from out of state and attempting to retain them with minimal success. This persistent problem has led the neediest of students to have teachers with lower levels of experience, leaving those students with continually lower achievement gains. Drawing on integrated action research and grounded theory methodology, this study used a Creating Authentic Resilient Educators (C.A.R.E) model to support six new, out-of-state teachers in an elementary school district located in a high-poverty neighborhood in Arizona. In face-to-face group sessions and individual assignments, participants reflected on their experiences and examined multiple topics focused on persistence and resilience to reduce beginning teacher attrition. Participant responses showed that teachers must be nurtured and cared for in order to allow them to focus their time and energy on effectively caring for the students in their classrooms. Increasing support for new teachers has the potential to keep effective teachers in the classroom and improve the culture of teaching within schools.

Keywords:

Teacher retention, Teacher attrition Elementary education, Teacher resiliency, Teacher support,

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