Relationship between Select Variables and Teacher Rentention

The major purpose of this study, conducted during the spring and summer semesters of 2003, was to determine the relationship between the following variables and teacher retention: Professional Development Examination for the Certification of Educators in Texas (PD ExCET) scores, Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) reading scores, age at time of passing the PD ExCET, ethnicity, completion of a field-based teacher education program or emergency permit teacher education program, gender, and undergraduate grade point average. The quantitative study identified students from a single Texas senior-level university who passed the PD ExCET between September 1, 1996 and August 30, 2000. Five research questions were developed for the study. Research questions number one and two addressed descriptive characteristics of PD ExCET successful students who completed the field-based teacher education program and chose to enter the teaching profession and those who chose not to enter the teaching profession. Research questions number three and four addressed descriptive characteristics of PD ExCET successful students who completed the field-based teacher education program and returned to the profession for a second year and those who chose not to return to the profession for a second year. Research question number five addressed the relationship between the following variables and teacher retention: PD ExCET scores, T ASP reading scores, age at time of passing the PD ExCET, ethnicity, completion of a field-based teacher education program or emergency permit teacher education program, gender, and undergraduate grade point average. An attempt was made to develop a logistic regression equation predicting teacher retention. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Widows Release 11.5 was used to conduct the statistical analyses. However, an acceptable overall model could not be developed. Instead, a point-biserial correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between the following variables and teacher retention: PD ExCET scores, age, T ASP reading scores, and GP A; and a phi coefficient was used to determine the relationship between the following variables and teacher retention: ethnicity, teacher education program completed and gender. The results of the study show that there is no relationship between the selected variables and teacher retention