Browsing by Author "Wilkins, Marion"

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    A Study of the Recruitment of Teachers in a Rural School Division in Southeastern Virginia
    Wilkins, Marion (Virginia Tech, 1998-03-31)
    This is a case study of how one rural school division in Virginia used continuous process improvement to change the way it recruited teachers. The report includes the step-by-step process used by a team of school personnel to: (1) gain support of upper-level management, (2) define the current process, (3) analyze the current process, and (4) redesign the recruitment process. Team members were the vice-chairman of the Surry County School Board, the principals of the three schools located in Surry County, the Clerk of the School Board, the Central Office Receptionist, twenty-seven teachers, one individual from each of three rural school divisions, and the researcher. All participants except the twenty-seven teachers and the individuals from the three rural school divisions were interviewed individually to collect data to define the recruitment process that was in place at the beginning of the study. The twenty-seven teachers completed a questionnaire that addressed how teachers became aware of positions available in Surry County Schools, factors that influenced them to accept employment in Surry County Schools, and other employment offers from neighboring school divisions. Telephone interviews were conducted with the three people from the rural school divisions not located in Virginia. The purposes of these interviews were to collect data for benchmarking and to collect examples of strategies that could become a part of Surry County Schools' teacher recruitment process. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. The Continuous Process Improvement Team examined and analyzed all data from the individual interviews, the teachers' questionnaires, and the telephone interviews. The team's analysis included: defining the current teacher recruitment process, identifying factors that affect the recruitment of teachers in Surry County, identifying "root causes" for concerns with the process, and developing changes to improve the process. The new teacher recruitment process is a centralized process with personnel assigned specific responsibilities. In the new process, strategies are identified to eliminate problems that existed in the old process, and an evaluation component is included.
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    A Study on Teacher Attrition in Two Small School Districts in Southeastern Virginia
    Clemons, Walter Richardo (Virginia Tech, 2009-11-03)
    All students deserve the opportunity to receive a high quality education that will enable them to reach their full potential and become productive members of society. Teachers play a vital role in the academic development of students and therefore school districts across the country need to do all they can to ensure that all students have highly qualified teachers in their classrooms. Many school districts across the country are having major difficulty retaining the very best educators. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that impact teacher attrition in two small school districts in Southeastern Virginia. This study through survey responses gathered data from teachers who left both districts after the 2007-2008 school year on the factors that impacted their decisions to leave and the challenges they perceived both school districts face that impact teachers attrition. Other data from the survey responses identified characteristics of the teachers who left both school districts after the 2007-2008 school year. Additionally, 2007-2008 demographic data on the total teacher population in both school districts were collected from the Human Resources departments of both school districts. Results from the study revealed that 54 out of 240 (22.5%) teachers combined left both school districts after the 2007-2008 school year. Of the 54 teachers who left, 52 were mailed surveys. A total of 40 responses were received from the survey population of teachers. This represented a 77% survey response rate. A variety of reasons for leaving were given by the teachers who left both school districts, but a major reason given for leaving was student discipline. The biggest challenge that both school districts face that impacts teacher attrition as perceived by teachers who left was geographical location. Of the 54 teachers who left both school districts, the majority were White and female. The majority of teachers who left both school districts combined had five years or less of total teaching experience. The majority of the teachers who left indicated they entered the teaching profession with the desire to impact the lives of children.