Does Investing in Teachers’ Professional Development Impact Teacher Retention?

Abstract

Many teachers across the United States are leaving their posts preretirement. While some teachers leave for personal reasons, there has been an increase in teacher turnover for school-based factors. One way administrators can support their faculty is through professional development opportunities. This study aimed to investigate whether there was a relationship between the total amount of instructional staff training expenditures and teacher retention while controlling for factors influencing teachers’ decisions to stay or leave. A cross-sectional, restricted maximum likelihood mixed-effects multiple regression model was used to analyze and examine the relationship between instructional staff training expenditures and teacher retention during the 2018–2019 school year. The relationship proved to be significant, albeit directionally negative. However, school climate, a highly cited variable in retention literature, emerged as a salient covariate. Scholars and educational leaders can use the recommendations found in this article to further research and support school administrators’ efforts to mitigate teacher turnover.