55%, responded that their college education had not prepared them to work with the
social/emotional needs of students.
The results of the study have implications for lowering the teacher attrition rate of
certified teachers in the state of Texas, if not in other states as well. Public school district human
resource directors, superintendents, principals and administrators are encouraged to look at the
findings and consider how they could be properly implemented. According to the review of
literature and also suggested in the study findings, some of the changes are relatively easy and
inexpensive to make. As such, this individual research paper has direct implications for
education policy, for changes in the ways in which school systems mentor teachers, and for
changes in the curriculum in teacher education programs.
E. Implication for Action.
Outcomes from this study could lead to changes in Colleges of Education in their teacher
preparation programs. Moreover, changes in policy and practice could occur at the state level
concerning how school systems support and mentor their beginning teachers. With teacher
education currently experiencing a dynamic transformation (American Association of Colleges
for Teacher Education, 2006), Colleges of Teacher Education need to include in their teacher
preparation programs ways in which to prepare their graduates to be more successful in the
schools to which they are most likely to be assigned.
Section II: Outcomes and Methods
A. Learner/Participant Outcomes.
Participants will learn about the extent to which teachers who have left the teaching
profession indicate their reasons for leaving were personal, monetary, organization, and/or
social/emotional in nature.
Participants will become familiar with the most common reasons that teachers who have
left the teaching profession give for not returning to teaching.
B. Methods.
In this individual paper, participants will be presented with highlights of survey
instruments completed by 61 teachers who left the teaching profession the year before. Their
responses were consistent and congruent with the extant literature. In addition, participants will
be provided with a copy of these findings and of the reviewed literature.
Convention