How Novice Arkansas Teacher Corps Teachers in the Arkansas Delta Stabilize in their Profession: A Dissertation

Abstract

Foundational research exists on the teacher life cycle, novice teacher struggles, and the role of burnout on public sector employees, including teachers (Huberman, 1989; Veenman, 1984; Maslach & Jackson, 1981). However, less research explores teachers\u27 perceptions about what allows them to move through the profession’s life cycle and past initial struggles and avoid burnout. There is a significant gap in the literature about why some teachers persist while others leave the profession at alarming rates (U.S. Department of Education, 2007; Alliance for Excellent Education, 2005). Seven phases exist in a teacher’s life cycle: survival/discovery, stabilization, experimentation/activism, reassessment/self-doubts, serenity, conservatism, and disengagement (Huberman, 1989). This qualitative case study explores what teachers feel contributes to their professional stability and burnout in the Arkansas Delta as they attempt to move from the survival/discovery phase to the stabilization phase in a teacher’s life cycle. The Arkansas Delta comprises ten million acres of land in Eastern Arkansas and is one of the six natural subregions of Arkansas (Gatewood, 1993). The Arkansas Delta is rural and poor, and “virtually all statistical indices relating to education have persistently pointed to the Delta’s educational deficiencies” (Gatewood, 1993, p. 13). I hope a better understanding of how novice teachers achieve stabilization while working in challenging environments can inform the teacher education process, allow more teachers to remain in the profession, and improve K-12 student achievement scores