ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2968-3859

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Education (Ph.D)

Department

Curriculum and Instruction

First Advisor

Dr. Aliya E Holmes

Second Advisor

Dr. Elizabeth Chase

Third Advisor

Dr. Bonnie J Johnson

Abstract

For decades, teacher attrition has continued to plague education, especially urban schools serving marginalized communities (Berry, 2004; Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017; Jacob, 2007; Ronfeldt et al., 2013). It is well documented that almost 50% of educators leave the profession within the first five years of teaching (Allen et al., 2019; Palma-Vasquez, 2022; Sims & Jerrim, 2020), and it is unsurprising that literature primarily focuses on why teachers leave. As a result, there is limited research that focuses on why teachers remain, and my dissertation contributes to this underdeveloped line of research. Embracing a multicase study design, I examine the experiences of educators who choose to work in and remain working in elementary schools that serve marginalized communities. This study features eight elementary school educators who have taught for a minimum of 5 years in schools serving marginalized communities. The participants include three teachers and one principal from an elementary charter school serving a marginalized community in New York City, as well as three retired teachers and one retired principal from the New York City Department of Education who formally left the profession in the last three years. Through this dissertation research, I highlight the experiences of teachers and administrators who have chosen to work in and have remained working in elementary schools serving marginalized communities. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of culturally relevant pedagogy, care, and resilience, these three theories work in concert to highlight the values, relationships, and interactions imbued in the educators’ experiences. Overall, this dissertation sheds light on the interconnection of six key factors that appear across all the participants’ experiences: a sense of safety, opportunities for creativity, valuing students, belonging to a collective, the leadership of the principal, and ongoing capacity building. The examination of the data in light of these six themes calls attention to the values, relationships, interactions—dynamics that not only shape the educators’ experiences, but also inform the responsive practices that support the students and the teachers in schools serving marginalized communities.

Download

Share

COinS