The effect of teacher influence at school on first-year teacher attrition: A multilevel analysis of the Schools and Staffing Survey for 1999–2000

This paper studied the effect of perceived teacher influence over school policy on first-year teacher attrition. Data came from the National Center for Education Statistics' Schools and Staffing Survey 1999 – 2000 and Teacher Follow-up Survey 2000 – 2001. First-year teacher status and teacher influence over school policy were related to teachers' odds of leaving the teaching profession in a weighted hierarchical generalized linear model. First-year teachers stand a higher risk of leaving the teaching profession than experienced teachers, and strong teacher influence over school policy can mitigate first-year teachers' propensity to leave the teaching profession. The implications of the results for teacher retention and teacher empowerment were discussed.