Should I Stay or Should I Go? a Multilevel Examination of High School Staff Connectedness and Burnout

Introduction: Oftentimes the focus of school-based youth violence prevention programs is on fostering a positive school climate where staff and student feel both safe and supported (Bradshaw et al., 2010; Domitrovich et al., 2008; Thapa et al., 2013). However, schools may struggle to sustain school-wide programs due to turnover among faculty and administration. Recent national data suggest that 10% of public school teachers leave the profession after one year and an additional 12% leave after two years of teaching (Kaiser, 2011). Teacher attrition hinders the school climate and limits the fidelity of program implementation from year-to-year (Borman & Dowling, 2008). Yet teacher connectedness to their school has been associated with bullying prevention efforts (O’Brennan et al., 2013), increased focus on student success, and a more positive school climate (Bevans et al., 2007; Hoy & Woolfolk, 1993). Nevertheless, there is limited multilevel research identifying factors associated with staff connectedness and burnout among educators in a high school setting.

Methods: Data come from 3,228 high school staff (66% teachers, 20% student support personnel, 3% administrators, 11% other) across 58 Maryland high schools that are a part of a state-wide Safe and Supportive Schools Initiative. To assess the primary aims a series of 2-level hierarchical linear models (HLM) were tested for the two separate school staff outcomes: (1) perceptions of personal connectedness to their school and (2) reports of burnout. Staff demographics (gender, ethnicity, role in school), connection to students, and efficacy for dealing with disruptive students were taken into account; in addition school-level variables indicative of disorder were examined (e.g., location, student mobility, suspension rates, school climate).

 

Results: For staff connectedness, personal safety, student-teacher relationships, efficacy, and school-wide suspension rates were associated with higher rates of connection to school (p < .05). For burnout, higher levels of personal safety, student-teacher relationships, efficacy, and being African American, and male were associated with reductions in burnout (p < .05). Teachers were more likely to report higher levels of connectedness and burnout as compared to other staff members (p < .01).

 

Conclusions: Results indicate high school staff members’ relationships with students and ability to deal with behavior problems are related to their connection to school, over and above physical indicators of school disorder. These findings can help inform staff professional development on behavior management and relationship building as part of school-wide climate programming.