Complete 8 page APA formatted essay: Summary and Proof For Own Writing.Download file to see previous pages... While Ingersoll discussed the specific reasons for teacher turnover, Nieto, another resear

Complete 8 page APA formatted essay: Summary and Proof For Own Writing.

While Ingersoll discussed the specific reasons for teacher turnover, Nieto, another researcher, (2003) decided to look at the problem from a different perspective. She questioned why teachers might stay in their jobs instead of why teachers leave. She believes that urban teachers would be much more effective if they were given more professional development and support. Both Ingersoll and Nieto found that there was high demand in the education system for teachers who were willing to influence, inspire, and persist within their profession. Although I am not an American citizen, I experienced the difficult process of finding a good school for my three children. At first, locating a high quality school was not easy because I was unfamiliar with the system, but it did not take long before I understood the pattern. I knew that if I wanted my children to attend a good school, I would have to avoid the ones with a high number of minority students. Back then, I wondered what school I might place my children in if I was a recent emigrant. If I were in this predicament, I might have ended up enrolling my children in an urban school. As I entered the graduate program, I kept thinking about that matter. I thought about issues such as equity, multicultural education, and social justice. The issues of motivation and persistence, however, were not yet a part of my thought processes. As I delved deeper into my own education and gained experienced in certain fields, I started to develop a clearer vision about the research that I wanted to do. I started to think about the teachers who stayed in the urban schools to help minorities and those with lower socioeconomic statuses (SES). What kept them there and how did they persist? Background The annual teacher attrition rate in high-needs schools in the United States is approximately 20% (Ingersoll, 2001). Teacher attrition is a result of teachers deciding to leave their professions, often after just a few years. There are several factors that contribute to teacher attrition such as budget cuts, classroom overcrowding, and unavoidable high-stakes testing (Ingersoll, 2001). Furthermore, Smith and Ingersoll, (2004), and Steinberg and Kincheloe, (2004) reported that, nationally, high-poverty schools located within urban communities have higher teacher attrition rates when compared to the more affluent school districts. The United States’ history of inequity in education has created many ill-equipped and understaffed inner city schools as well as rural school districts. These under-resourced schools tend to be racially segregated as well. They are particularly lacking in the fields of science, technology, and mathematics (Darling- Hammond, 1999. Tate, 2001). Ingersoll (2001) reports that teacher turnover in urban districts results in schools with many part-time and substitute teachers, new and unqualified teachers, and often requires individuals to teach out of their field of expertise. Urban schools are also more likely to fill vacancies with teachers who are less-than qualified and require additional on-the-job training (Ingersoll &amp. May, 2009). In the field of science education, there is increasing concern about teachers who are leaving too. Darling-Hammond (2003) hypothesized that the high reason of turnover was because of the dissatisfaction with the low salaries in the teaching career.