Teachers' Reports of the Effects of a Whole-School Literacy Reform Model on Teacher Turnover

In this study I explored the reported effects of Literacy Collaborative, a whole-school literacy reform model, on teacher turnover through in-depth telephone interviews with 16 randomly sampled teachers. Although 8 of the teachers said Literacy Collaborative would have no effect on whether they stayed at or left their respective schools, the interviews suggested that Literacy Collaborative had professional implications. Eight teachers attributed a stronger and more supportive professional community to Literacy Collaborative, and 12 teachers said their teaching skills and their students' academic outcomes had improved because of the model. The strongest negative themes that were reported by 5 teachers were feelings of disempowerment and increased workload attributed to the model. These negative feelings did not independently drive teachers out but instead interacted with already extant feelings of dissatisfaction and disempowerment. Finally, 5 teachers reported that the school and district administration's understanding of Literacy Collaborative and the level of support teachers felt they received in implementing the model mattered in how teachers perceived their work environment and considered their career decisions.