Teacher Morale, Student Engagement, and Student Achievement Growth in Reading: A Correlational Study

This research study explored the current state of teacher morale in fourth and fifth grade classrooms in three low socio-economic schools in North Carolina. Additional research questions address correlational relationships among the variables of teacher morale, student engagement, and student achievement growth as measured by the NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey, Van Amburg Active Learning Inventory Tool, and the NC End of Grade reading tests, respectively. This study found no significant relationships among the primary variables of teacher morale, student engagement, and student achievement growth. However, significant relationships were found between increasing student engagement and an increase in the number of adults present during reading instruction, as well as an increase in student engagement with small group instruction. A final positive relationship discovered in this study was between the teacher morale construct of teacher leadership and student achievement growth