Teacher Retention in a Teacher Resiliency-Building Rural School

In regard to experimentation, the observations and the small group interviews provided ample evidence that the teachers view risk-taking behavior as a normal part of their work day. Perhaps the teacher attitude toward risk-taking may be summed by the teacher comment, "I have taught at other places, but I have never felt comfortable with trying new ideas until I got here. In fact, one of the reasons why I was able to encourage a colleague to follow me here was that I told her she would be able to make things happen at Nurtureville."

Students and faculty are all engaged in the identification of rules for student behavior. The evidence of this involvement relates to the low number of referrals for disruptive student behavior and/or student suspensions. To be sure, students get into mischief just as many preadolescents do; the difference is, Nurturville students take responsibility for their actions because they have had input into developing the consequences. Teachers' perceptions of the student body are that they are well mannered children, for the most part, and this fact has enhanced the image of the school. One new teacher stated, "I love coming to school every morning because the students are so nice." Another teacher indicated "I have been here a lot of years and I can honestly say that I have never had a disorderly group of kids. Antsy, yes! Disorderly, no!"

Meaningful Participation

One of the strongest factors in the retention of Nurtureville Elementary teachers has been the significant level of meaningful participation. Not one individual teacher even inferred that his/her voice could not be heard. Policy formulation and implementation issues can be addressed through the committee and team meeting structure or in individual conferences with the principal. There are some avenues of participation that are voluntary (e.g., planning sessions, site-based committee) and some that are mandatory (e.g., team meetings, accountability updates, and faculty meetings), but no one is over-extended. Another interesting observation is that the amount of meaningful participation increases with years of experience, the thought being that the new teachers need to devote more of their time to classroom responsibilities. Perhaps the most interesting observation was that the majority of the teachers were not interested in pursuing meaningful participation through increased administrative responsibilities. On the contrary,, the teachers appear to enjoy the high level of participation they experience as teachers.

No doubt, many rural schools have elements of the retention plan that Rosenholtz (1989) has identified. However, if these elements have not been purposefully put together in a coherent action plan, the results will be spotty, at best. In isolation, these elements may or may not be effective, because a one-dimensional approach cannot resolve the multi-dimension challenges that are related to teacher retention. What we suggest is needed is that administrators consider the Henderson and Milstein (2003) approach to a teacher resiliency-building school, because it provides a model for organizing all the elements of an effective teacher recruitment and retention plan into three major dimensions of Caring and Support, High Expectations, and Meaningful Participation. A plan organized in this manner addresses the possible barriers to a teacher resiliency-building school and adds a coherent sense of direction on which to build a retention program that can be monitored and systematically evaluated.