{"id":27005,"date":"2026-10-29T17:48:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/?p=27005"},"modified":"2026-10-30T14:56:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T14:56:59","slug":"why-teachers-stay-nau-and-flagstaff-schools-explore-what-keeps-educators-in-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-education\/blog\/why-teachers-stay-nau-and-flagstaff-schools-explore-what-keeps-educators-in-classrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Teachers Stay: NAU and Flagstaff Schools Explore What Keeps Educators in Classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What makes a teacher choose to stay in a school, a district, or a community? For decades, conversations about teacher retention have often focused on why educators leave. But what if understanding why teachers stay could offer a more productive path forward? That question brought Dr. Douglas Larkin<\/strong>, a professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Montclair State University, to Flagstaff for two days of conversations with Northern Arizona University faculty, students, and local school leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Portrait<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dr. Douglas Larkin of Montclair State University visited NAU and Flagstaff Unified School District to share research on teacher retention.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cosponsored by NAU’s Center for STEM Teaching and Learning<\/a>, Department of Educational Leadership<\/a>, and College of Education<\/a>, the visit connected research on teacher retention with practical strategies for supporting educators in Arizona schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning the teacher retention question around<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On October 22, approximately 80 participants joined Larkin’s seminar, Looking at the Reasons Teachers Stay: Teacher Embeddedness in Schools, Communities and the Profession of Teaching<\/em>, in COE 190 and online through Microsoft Teams. Larkin shared findings from a five-year, National Science Foundation-funded research project that examined what high-retention school districts do differently. Using 11 years of staffing data from New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, the research team identified districts with exceptional science teacher retention. They then studied 13 districts in depth, ranging from small rural and island communities to large urban systems. Rather than beginning with teacher turnover, the researchers investigated the conditions that encouraged educators to build lasting careers.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Book<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Their findings are presented in Larkin’s new book, coauthored with Suzanne Poole Patzelt, The Reasons Teachers Stay: Lessons from High-Retention Schools, Districts, and Communities<\/em> (Harvard Education Press, 2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding teacher embeddedness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the seminar’s central ideas challenged a common assumption: teacher retention is not simply a matter of job satisfaction. Teachers sometimes leave positions they enjoy, while others remain in positions where they are less satisfied. Understanding these decisions requires looking beyond the workplace alone. Larkin introduced the concept of teacher embeddedness<\/strong>, which examines how educators become connected to their schools, profession, and communities. The framework considers three factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n