Factors affecting satisfaction and retention of African-American and European-American teachers in Columbus Public Schools

This study examined and compared the retention rate of African-American teachers and European-American teachers, the relationship between salary levels and demographic factors of race, gender, age, and teaching level in Columbus Public Schools, and the relationships between race, gender, age, teaching level, and gender controlled for race, and teacher satisfaction with various aspects of teaching in Columbus Public Schools.;The review of the literature addressed major issues related to the critical shortage of minority teachers, and was undertaken to provide background for this study on the need for retention of such teachers in the Columbus Public Schools.;The sample comprised 390 African-American teachers and European-American teachers. A survey instrument entitled "Characteristics or Stayers" from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) was used to collect data about the demographic data of respondents, retention rates of African-American teachers and European-American teachers, salary levels and demography, and the relationship of African-American teachers and European-American teachers in regard to satisfaction levels with various aspects of teaching. The level of significance for hypotheses testing was at the.05 alpha level,.0025 alpha level, and.00125 alpha level. Post hoc testing was done with the Bonferroni adjustment to the alpha level. Chi square test of independence was used to estimate the likelihood that some factor other than chance (sampling error) accounted for a relationship.;The findings suggest that the majority of the teaching respondents who completed the survey were females, and were in the 25-35 age category. Over one-half of the respondents worked in elementary schools. Most male respondents came from the middle and high-school level.;Since the retention rate was higher each year for African-American teachers in relationship to European-American teachers (in light of the severe shortage of minority teachers), it will be important to study the results of the levels of satisfaction and dissatisfaction of African-American and European-American teachers.