Elementary School Teachers' Reasons for Staying in Their Current Schools: A Comparison Study

This study examines elementary school teachers' reasons for staying in their current schools, specifically, comparing two schools, one from a low-income district and one from a high-income district. The researcher assesses similarities and differences among teacher's perceptions of these factors in these two schools. The researcher reviews literature on factors that explain teacher turnover and retention. Furthermore, literature on theories of motivation, such as Herzberg's two-factor theory and Vroom's expectancy theory to motivation was reviewed and also used as a methodological approach to analyze the data. To examine elementary school teachers' reasons for staying in their current schools a quantitative and qualitative design is conducted. A self- administered survey is used to gather data from 20 teachers per school. Additionally, participants volunteered to participate in focus groups. The findings suggest that most teachers are motivated to stay in their school by the work itself. Additionally, although important, satisfiers such as recognition and advancement are not a motivation for teachers in the high-income school to their decision to stay in their school contrary to the low-income teachers.