The purpose of this study was to update the analysis of the traditional viewpoints associated with increasing national and local teacher turnover rates by exploring alternative contributors to this challenge. Numerous studies have demonstrated the national focus on this topic consistently and predictably attributes to the growing attrition…

This study focused on factors related to life satisfaction of Navy senior enlisted Sailors (E7-E9), n=150, who have attended the Navy Career Development Board (CDB) program and are preparing for post-military careers. Life satisfaction readiness for post-military careers were assessed using Heppner's (1998) Career Transition Inventory (CTI) and…

In Chapter 1, I investigate the migration response of college students to tuition differences between states, using variation introduced by tuition regional reciprocity agreements. Out-of-state students generally pay higher tuition than in-state students, but reciprocity agreements reduce the premium paid by students from other states in the…

This study explored the relationship between overall wellness and job satisfaction in counselor educators. Full-time counselor educators employed in higher education programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) completed the Five Factor Wellness Inventory to measure overall wellness…

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to explore and discover what motivates Bahamian minority women to pursue doctoral degrees. Furthermore, the exploratory study addressed the research problem: it is not known what factors motivate Bahamian minority women to pursue doctoral degrees. To answer the overarching research question,…

In school districts across the United States, it has become increasingly difficult to recruit and retain STEM teachers. This is due, in part, to the limited number of candidates in teacher preparation school compared to other disciplines, as well as greater opportunities for STEM teachers in other employment sectors when compared to teachers in…

Over the last several decades we have seen a fundamental transformation of higher education. Fifty years ago, 75% of faculty were in highly paid and secure tenure-track jobs, but today 75% are in non-tenure-track, or contingent positions. University administrators argue that this shift, and the low wages that accompany these positions, are…

Chapter 1 investigates asks the question how do financial frictions affect the type of human capital investments that students make in college? To study this question, I build a novel dataset covering more than 700,000 U.S. students, merging commencement records with address histories, credit bureau records, and professional resumes. I document…

Qualified teachers are the backbone of K-12 education. Unfortunately, fewer teachers are enrolling in teacher education programs and new teachers are quitting the profession at an alarming rate. This has placed a burden on school districts to implement out-of-the box measures to fill vacant slots. Such measures include offering provisional…

This is a study of district internal salary distribution practices and its effect on retention. The study is a replication study as recommended by Jacobson (1986) and Lankford and Wyckoff (1997) whereby their research shows the prevalence of "back loading" and ineffectiveness relative to retention. In the case of this study, the…

Understanding how the behaviors and actions of building principals impact student achievement is a major goal of educational leadership, in which both direct and indirect factors exist. There is a wealth of research which focuses on the importance of school leadership and demonstrates that building level administrators are second only to classroom…

Teachers are the primary drivers of student outcomes and are crucial to the life and health of our education system. And yet, teacher attrition in American schools has steadily risen over the past three decades, becoming the source of growing concern among education leaders, researchers, and policymakers (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Sutcher,…

Perceptions of prestige, status, and esteem of the teaching career were explored in this study. The population consisted of 1,127 high school seniors and college undergraduates. The study included 51 statements where participants rated their perceptions of teaching's prestige, status, and esteem on an 8 point Likert scale. The data was factor…

This study examined the relationship between PK3-12 teacher's perceived Leader Member Exchange with his/her principal and teacher job satisfaction. A demographic survey, the Leader Member Exchange Questionnaire 7 (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995) and the Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1994) were completed by 252 teachers from the researcher's…

The purpose of this study was to analyze employment outcomes and leadership practices of graduates from a Leadership Excellence for Middle Managers program conducted at a state-operated university from 2007 to 2014. The target population of the leadership development program graduates included representatives from the public and private sector,…