The College of Education announces the final Dissertation of

Cammesha Sims

for the degree of Doctor of Education

November 13, 2017 at 10:00 am in Ball Hall 123

Major Advisor: Charisse Gulosino, PhD

Holistic Approach to Professional Development Using Competing Values Framework and the Impact on Job Satisfaction, Teacher Turnover, and School Performance

ABSTRACT: Abstract Holistic Approach to Professional Development Using Competing Values Framework and the Impact on Job Satisfaction, Teacher Turnover, and School Performance The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between educators’ perceptions of the quality of professional development to which they have been exposed and three outcomes related to school productivity: specifically, teacher retention, teacher satisfaction, and student proficiency in basic skills. For that purpose, secondary data extracted from the 2013 administration of the Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning Questionnaire (TELL) were merged with pertinent school demographic information archived on the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) website. Once combined, these data were subsequently used to identify some 1425 schools with complete information on all variables of interest. Representing the independent variable was the scale mean computed across the thirteen items constituting the professional development subsection of the TELL. Serving as dependent variables were the percentage of respondents who intended to return to their present schools the following year, the mean level of respondents who agreed that their school was “a good place to work and learn,” and separate elementary and secondary indices of student achievement. The results of a hierarchical multiple regression indicated that the teacher-perceived quality of professional development appears to make a substantial contribution to teachers’ “staying” on the job, increasing the proportion of variance explained in the percent of returning teachers by roughly 12%. Similarly, a second hierarchical multiple regression showed that the teacher-perceived quality of professional development was linked to teachers’ finding their school overall “a good place to work and learn,” amounting to a 13% increase in the proportion of variance explained in satisfaction. Finally, after controlling for student demographic characteristics, a statistically significant association between the teacher-perceived quality of professional development and students’ basic skills proficiency was also observed, but proved to be only slight regardless of school level, albeit larger at elementary than secondary institutions.