School environment key to retaining teachers, promoting student achievement, study finds

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/bu-sek102616.php

Public Release: 26-Oct-2016
School environment key to retaining teachers, promoting student achievement, study finds
New research identifies four organizational and administrative factors that can decrease teacher turnover and lift student test scores in math
Brown University

A school is more likely to retain effective teachers, a new study reports, if it is led by a principal who promotes professional development for teachers, is characterized by collaborative relationships among teachers, has a safe and orderly learning environment and sets high expectations for academic achievement among students, a new study reports.

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The authors also found evidence that improving a school's climate may help promote gains in students' academic achievement. Improvements in two dimensions -- school safety and academic expectations -- predicted faster growth in math test scores, according to Kraft.

"The degree to which students and teachers feel their school is a safe, orderly learning environment is of central importance for student achievement in the New York City middle schools we studied," the authors wrote.

These findings "replicate and extend previous research findings that schools with higher-quality school contexts have students who experience larger achievement gains," the researchers wrote. They also noted that organizational improvements that take place over time correspond with increases in student achievement gains.

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