United Way Bright Beginnings on Professional Development and Retention Among Administrators and Teachers

It is well known knowledge that retaining administrators and teachers in the field of education is a challenge faced each year within the United States and is costly to the education system. Attrition rates of teachers within their first few years in the profession are alarmingly high with many educators citing lack of support for leaving the profession before the age of retirement. Moreover, many educators feel they must “sink or swim” in the current educational environment. The fast rate of attrition of educators concerns administrators and policy makers alike. As such there is a need to prepare new and effective teachers as well as to support administrators to sufficiently staff their schools and create nurturing environments for students and teachers alike. This training extends to administrators providing quality professional development that is viewed as increasingly important in order to promote high-quality educational programs that serve every student. Participating centers in the United Way Bright Beginnings program were administered quarterly professional development courses to improve teaching and administrative skills. The participants included directors and teachers from seventeen centers. Results indicated that the self-efficacy of administrators and teachers alike were enhanced as well as retention rates of staff were higher than national averages