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theses

Teacher retention has a major effect on students, schools, and the education system. First-year teachers leave the field at a higher rate because they struggle with finding appropriate resources, teacher isolation, and a burdening workload (Andrews & Martin, 2003; Darling-Hammond, 2003; Rodgers & Skelton, 2014). First-year teachers feel inadequate because they are thrown into role with a low success rate and a lack of resources and supports. This is important because teacher turnover becomes perpetual, consistently having to train new teachers and first-year teachers have a much higher likelihood of being ineffective at reaching appropriate student gains (Darling-Hammond, 2003). In order to help reverse this trend, I introduced a protocol-based professional development program specifically designed to meet the needs of first -year teachers. The results of this study show that teachers were able to reduce isolation by connecting with one another through the shared experience of failure. Additional, the findings show how breaking down isolation among first-year teachers increases collaboration, thus increasing their exposure to different resources and supports, providing them opportunities to improve as teachers. This study highlights ways that facilitators can effectively create a professional development environment where connections and collaboration can take place to ensure teachers are reducing isolation while also improving their own teaching practice through various means.
For teachers and administrators who have never done this before, the initial implementation can be challenging, therefore I have included a professional development plan that will provide a curriculum and resources to help first time facilitators. Furthermore, I have included an article outlining the benefits to first-year teachers so administrators can identify ways this professional development could benefit their schools. This professional development, when facilitated and supported effectively helps first-year teachers with the common struggles that they face, most notably the isolation they experience as first-year teachers.

ETD_10121

Ed.D.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-j2k5-1y06

ETD doctoral

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