Title page
Contents
Why this report? 5
Analysis steps 8
Step 1. Stating research questions 9
Step 2. Determining administrative units and timeframe 13
Step 3. Defining mobility and retention 15
Step 4. Determining data requirements 21
Step 5. Preparing data 24
Step 6. Calculating rates 28
Next steps 32
Appendix A. Matrices of research articles and data elements 34
Appendix B. Preparing data 38
Appendix C. Summaries of research articles 41
References 51
Table 1. Typical teacher characteristics to consider and their sample definitions 16
Table 2. Sample data elements for the three example scenarios 22
Table 3. Example of common data structure for analyzing retention and mobility 25
Table 4. Example of attrition at different administrative units 29
Table 5. Examples of retention and mobility rate at different administrative units and with different timeframes 29
Figure 1. Steps to conduct research on teacher mobility and retention 8
Boxes
Box 1. Example scenarios used in this report 6
Box 2. Key terms 7
Box 3. Methods used to inform this report 9
Box 4. Turning questions into empirical researchable questions 10
Box 5. Formulating research questions 11
Box 6. Sample research questions for the example scenarios 12
Box 7. Units and timeframes of example scenarios 14
Box 8. Sample definitions of "teacher" 18
Box 9. Sample definitions of "stayer," "mover," and "leaver" 20
Box 10. Samples of data preparation 26
Box 11. Calculating the retention rate for example scenario 1: Mobility and retention among beginning teachers 30
Box 12. Calculating the retention rate for scenario 2: Mobility and retention in high-need schools 31
Box 13. Calculating the retention rate for scenario 3: Relationship between where a teacher is prepared and teacher retention 32
Table A1. Analytic characteristics of the research articles reviewed for this report 34
Table A2. Data elements of the research articles reviewed for this report 36