How Much Does Teacher Turnover Matter? the Mediating Impact of Teacher Turnover upon Student Socioeconomic Status and Student Achievement

Background: Teacher turnover continues to be a problem for schools, particularly in schools serving large populations of low-income students. Research acknowledges the existence of a gap in educational opportunities afforded students in low-income schools but has not considered teacher turnover as one source of that gap. Higher teacher turnover may help partially explain low achievement in low-income schools and in turn, may create or add to an opportunity gap for low-income schools. The goal of this quantitative study was to explore that partial mediation relationship in Texas schools. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine at the school level the mediating effect of teacher turnover across urban, suburban, and rural school contexts and across school level on the relationship between student socioeconomic status and student achievement. The following questions guided this study: (1) To what extent does teacher turnover partially mediate the relationship between student socioeconomic status and student achievement for Texas school campuses? (2) Does the nature of this relationship differ across urban, suburban, and rural schools? (3) Does the nature of this relationship differ across school level? Methods: This study used a cross-sectional, correlational design to test teacher turnover as a partial mediator between the percentage of low-income students served at a school and the percentage of students passing all of their state-required testing. The sample included all traditional public schools in the state of Texas. Key measures included school-level student achievement on the end-of-year STAAR and ECO exams, teacher turnover rates, and campus economically disadvantaged student rates. Subsamples were created based on schools’ urbanicity and school level. The percentage of non-White students at each campus was included as a covariate. Multiple regression analysis was used to test for partial mediation. A Sobel’s test was performed to determine the statistical significance of teacher turnover as a mediator. Findings: The partial mediation of teacher turnover on the relationship between student socioeconomic status and student achievement was found to be significant across all school contexts and across school levels. In all cases, the null hypotheses were rejected. Partial mediation was found to exist across all campuses in Texas as well as in the limited subsamples, though the partial mediation of teacher turnover was the strongest in suburban schools and in elementary schools. Conclusion: The study results suggest the existence of a “gap” in educational inputs for Texas students in terms of teacher turnover. In this way, the findings point to teacher turnover as a partial explanation for the relationship between school performance and the proportion of low-income students at a school. The results further suggest that, by addressing teacher turnover, school leaders may be able to improve achievement, even in low-income schools. Suburban district and school leaders in particular should pay attention to teacher turnover and seek to retain teachers. Future research should address some of the study’s limitations, including its cross-sectional nature and the lack of additional controls. Future research also should dig deeper into the effect of teacher turnover in suburban schools.Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Department o