UC Santa Cruz

The distribution of well-prepared and experienced teacher has been a policy concerns for decades. Research has established that schools serving concentrations of historically underserved students struggle disproportionately to attract and retain teachers, resulting in the most vulnerable students being taught by the least qualified teachers--teachers with minimal professional preparation or experience (Boyd, Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2005; Lankford, Loeb & Wycoff, 2002). These schools have also been found to struggle the most with high degrees of teacher turnover (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Shen, 1997). However, research has also documented that while many schools serving high-need student populations struggle mightily with teacher turnover, some do not, and turnover differences between schools with similar student demographics are more significant than between schools with different student demographics (DeAngelis & Presley, 2011; Ingersoll,1995; Johnson, Kraft & Papay, 2011). Furthermore, a compelling link between teacher turnover and student achievement (Ronfeldt, Loeb & Wyckoff, 2013) has incited policy interest on how to recruit and retain more well-prepared and experienced teachers to the schools that need them the most.

This dissertation examines teacher recruitment and retention at one high-need urban school that demonstrates all of the markers of high teacher turnover but, in fact, does not struggle to attract and retain experienced teachers. The study utilizes a single-case case-study design and ethnographic methods to investigate what attracts teachers to the school, how teachers are recruited and hired, and what organizational conditions contribute to their decisions to remain teaching at the school (i.e., retention). The study was conducted over the course of an academic year and data sources include thirty-two semi-structured interviews with teachers and administrators, field notes of observations, and school-related documents. Findings revealed that a hiring orientation to finding teachers that "fit" at the school played a significant role in teachers experiencing job satisfaction and demonstrating high organizational commitment, two variables that are associated with retention. Findings also found that the school's culture and organizational identity were fundamental in attracting teachers to the school who shared the school's orientation to urban teaching, contributing to the phenomenon of "fit." This dissertation makes a contribution to two bodies of literature. First, it contributes to studies on urban teacher hiring by documenting the mechanisms that bring experienced teachers to a high-need school. It also adds to organizational analyses of schools as workplaces by investigating the conditions that support and retain teachers.