Date of Award
3-7-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Leadership, Ed.D.
First Advisor
Topeka Singleton
Committee Members
Allen Boyd, Ella Benson
Call Number
ISBN 9798308195351
Abstract
The topic of this study identified characteristics of successful educators who had persisted as secondary classroom teachers in western Oklahoma. The problem that was studied was the teacher shortage that was impacting students in school districts throughout Oklahoma. The purpose of the study was to find the characteristics of individuals who had persisted in the field of education as classroom teachers. Human Capital Theory was the guiding theoretical framework, which provided a lens that views humans as the critical component in the success of systems. The methodology of this qualitative, narrative study included interviewing secondary classroom teachers in western Oklahoma school districts with at least fifteen years of experience. These participants were interviewed as a part of the qualitative, narrative analysis to gain understanding on the characteristics these individuals. The original study design called for three to five teachers to be interviewed, but saturation was not reached until six participants. Participants underwent semi-structured interviews consisting of two demographic questions and six content questions. Each interview was conducted using Zoom teleconferencing technology, which contained the ability to generate raw transcripts of the data. The transcripts from each interview were cleaned and edited for clarity and accuracy, and then data analysis took place first by coding, and then organizing the codes into themes. The results of the study showed that this sample of participants were motivated to engage with students to make a positive impact in their lives, felt supported through collegial relationships, found the profession intrinsically rewarding, and their careers were focused on student success and learning. These results provide possible solutions for both educational preparation programs and pre-kindergarten through grade 12 schools on the preparation and professional development of educators. It is the recommendation of the researcher that, equipped with this information, these institutions should employ strategies that foster these findings in the hopes of retaining more educators to assist in addressing the teacher shortage.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Yount, Reggy, "Teacher Persistence: A Narrative Study on the Perceptions of Career Oklahoma Teachers" (2025). Student Theses and Dissertations. 1.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/1
