Teacher and Administrator Experiences With Teacher Recruitment, Retention and Support in a California Charter-led Turnaround School

This qualitative study seeks to explore teacher and administrator perceptions of teacher recruitment, retention and support within a Californian turnaround high school run since 2007 by a charter management organization referred to here as New Schools. Upon the basis of previous research that has documented statistically significant improvements in student performance at this campus since New Schools’ arrival, this study uses interview data to explore teacher and administrator perceptions of the ways in which New Schools’ professional capacity (particularly its practices of teacher recruitment, retention, and support) help to explain this success. In short, participants attribute New Schools’ success to its extensive and rigorous hiring process, competitive retention rates, high quality professional development, and extensive administrative support (though the quality and rigor of such support is found to be somewhat variable).