A Retention Study of Career-Based Intervention Teachers in Ohio

Teacher retention has been of interest to educational researchers for over three decades. Various reasons for teacher attrition have been cited, including student discipline and motivation problems, working conditions, low salary, and a lack of administrator support. This descriptive survey research sought to determine the present status of completers of a career-technical/vocational education teacher licensure endorsement program in Career-Based Intervention at a state-supported university. Career-Based Intervention programs are designed for middle/high school students at-risk for dropping out of school, and seek to provide work-based learning coupled with academic instruction to allow students to develop employability skills and acquire appropriate academic knowledge to graduate from high school. The study sought to determine if teachers completing the licensure endorsement program were still teaching in Career-Based Intervention programs, why they may have left, and to obtain their perceptions of the preparation program's effectiveness in working with the student population in Career-Based Intervention programs.