Date of Graduation

Fall 12-16-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Curriculum & Instruction

Thesis Chair

Karen L. B. Burgard, Ph.D.

Abstract

Even before the global pandemic, but especially after COVID-19, the teacher retention numbers have been on the decline and the number of teachers who express teacher burnout has steadily risen. Teachers continue to face behavioral issues, work overload, and high student achievement expectations. Teaching is a stressful, intensive, and complex job that requires teachers to facilitate and support students’ personal growth and enable school performance (Johnson et al., 2014). Years of overload and high occupational stress often send teachers to early retirement and sometimes into different professional fields. Through a qualitative case study approach, this research explores the reasons some teachers are considering leaving the profession. The findings represented in this paper illustrate issues that may help administrators and school districts to fight the issue of teacher attrition and retention.

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