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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE EVALUATING THE IMPROVEMENT PROCESS OF A TEACHER ONBOARDING PROGRAM IN A LARGE, URBAN, MIDWESTERN SCHOOL DISTRICT A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR of EDUCATION By CLAIRE SCHROEPFER Norman, Oklahoma 2021 EVALUATING THE IMPROVEMENT PROCESS OF A TEACHER ONBOARDING PROGRAM IN A LARGE, URBAN, MIDWESTERN SCHOOL DISTRICT A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY STUDIES BY THE COMMITTEE CONSISTING OF _________________________________ Dr. Timothy Ford, Chair _________________________________ Dr. Curt Adams _________________________________ Dr. Keith Ballard ________________________________ Dr.

Beverly Edwards _________________________________ Dr. Chan Hellman ©Copyright by CLAIRE SCHROEPFER 2021 All rights reserved. Acknowledgements To Bumble Ben, my best friend and (in a few short months) husband. Thank you for pushing me, celebrating me, and growing with me during this process.

With you I am consistently safe, incredibly loved, and unconditionally enough. You are the perfect partner and I love you more than I can express. I cannot wait to be your wife. To Matt Suprunowicz, my classmate and soul mate.

What a hilarious and wild ride we have been on together. I am not being dramatic when I say that I would not have made it this far without you. You provide me with accountability, tough love, and just enough absurdity to ensure we don’t take ourselves too seriously. I am so lucky to have gone through this with you.

Congratulations to you, (nearly) Dr. Suprunowicz! To Dr. Ford, my committee chair. Thank you for your encouragement, sense of humor, and unending patience while I took 3.5 years to do what I could have completed in one.

Without your support I would have disappeared a while ago. I am eternally grateful to you. To Bridget and Christopher, my cats. You got in the way of my screen more than anything, but I still love you for keeping my lap warm and my nerves at bay in the many months we have spent together finishing this document.

To Kesha, my hero. Don’t stop, make it pop. iv Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………….iv LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………………………….viii LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………………. x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY………………………………….………1 Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………………….2 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions………………………………………….…5 Organization of the Remainder of the Dissertation………………………………….6 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE…………………………………….7 Organizational Socialization and Onboarding………………………………………….…7 Primary Components of Onboarding……………………………………………….…10 Culture and Environment……………………………………….………11 Roles and Responsibilities………………………………………….14 Studies Related to Onboarding………………………………………………………….20 v Knowledge and Skills…………………………………………………………….23 Stages of Learning……………………………………………………….………25 CHAPTER THREE: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK……………………………….27 Developing an Onboarding Program in an Urban, Midwestern District……….…………27 Major Theoretical Frameworks………………………………………………………….33 Intent to Stay……………………………………………………………….34 Perception of Service Culture ……………………………………………………35 QuEST Process……………………………………………………….41 Theory of Action…………………………………………….44 CHAPTER FOUR: METHOD……………………………………………………………….54 Focal District Context……………………………………………………………………54 Research Design………………………………………………………………………….55 Participants and Sample………………………………….………………………………60 Measures and Instrumentation……………………………………………………………61 Variables and Data Sources………………………………………………………………63 Data Analysis……………………………………………………………….68 CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS…………………………………………………….71 Research Question 1: Self Efficacy………………………………………………………71 Research Question 2: Intent to Stay………………………………………………….73 Research Question 3: Service Culture……………………………………………………74 vi Research Question 4: Remaining Challenges………………………………………….76 CHAPTER SIX: DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES……………….

86 Restatement of Purpose ……………………………………………………………….86 Summary of Findings………………………………………………………………….87 Self-Efficacy……………………………………………………………………87 Intent to Stay………………………………………………………….91 Perception of Service Culture………………………………………………….94 Implications for Practice……………………………………………………………….100 Opportunities for Future Research……………………………………………………. Interview Protocol Questions …………………………………………. Novice Teacher Experience Program Roadmap ………………………. Novice Teacher Experience Program Performance Scorecard………….

Onboarding Milestone Update…………………………………………. Learning Outcomes for Novice Teacher Induction……………………. Panorama Teacher Perception Survey Items & Associated Variables…. Effects Matrix: Novice Teacher Experience…………………………….

Explanatory Effects Matrix: Novice Teacher Experience………….…147 vii List of Tables Table 1. Descriptive Results for All Variables…………………………………………. Overview of Research Design…………………………………………………. OLS Growth Analysis Regression of Self-Efficacy by Intervention Status.

OLS Growth Analysis Regression of Service Culture by Intervention Status. Summary Table of Effects Matrix……………………………………………………. Summary Table of Explanatory Effects Matrix……………………………………….82 viii List of Figures Figure 1. Onboarding Fish Diagram- Current State…………………………………….

Onboarding Process Evaluation Diagram- Current State……………………. Theory of Action for Novice Teacher Onboarding Process………………………. New Teacher Orientation Schedule……………………………………………. Linear Curve Estimation Model for Self-Efficacy……………………………….

Linear Curve Estimation Model for Service Culture………………………………….74 ix Abstract Employee onboarding is the first opportunity an organization has to create space for individuals to acclimate to their work environment, helping them adjust to the social, operational, and performance aspects of their roles while building the individual tools necessary to contribute to larger organizational goals. In education, particularly in schools characterized as low income, onboarding is all more important due to the difficulty schools often have in recruiting high quality teachers and retaining those teachers after their first 5 years. It is important, then, for school districts to hire highly-qualified candidates and ensure that those candidates are adequately prepared to assume their new teaching positions, thus improving their chances of becoming effective educators within their new district. Through the development of efficient processes for administrative onboarding, districts can provide opportunities for new teachers to steep in the vision, core values, and norms of the organization and engage in meaningful opportunities to practice essential skills prior to day one in the classroom.

Through a lens of organizational socialization and uncertainty reduction theories, the purpose of this study was to develop, implement, and evaluate a new onboarding process in a large, urban Mid-western school district. Using mixed-methodological approach, the researcher evaluated the effects of this onboarding process with respect to three key outcomes increased novice teacher self-efficacy, increased investment in the career (intent to stay), and increased feelings of support and connection to the district office (perception of service culture). Study findings reveal that the interventions in this study failed to improve intent to stay and perception of service culture over the study period. They did, however, appear to increase novice teacher’s perception of self-efficacy over time.

x Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study When becoming a part of an organization or social group, people want to feel a sense of belonging; they want to feel like they fit. It is important that an organization creates space for individuals to acclimate to their new work environment. One of the first opportunities that organizations have to create this space is through employee onboarding. Employee onboarding is the organizational support of new hires to help them adjust to the social, operational, and performance aspects of their roles while building the individual tools necessary to contribute to larger organizational goals (Bauer, 2010).

In order to hire top talent and build the strength of an organization, employers spend a significant amount of resources—time, financial, and personnel—to identify, recruit, and secure highly qualified candidates for any given position (Arnold, 2010; Hatva, 2012; Bausch & Svare, 2010). This is also true of educational organizations and public school districts, who aim to recruit top talent with limited resources (Odden & Kelly, 2008). Once talent is secured, employers must provide new hires with the information, direction, and support they need to be successful in their roles. This support, frequently referred to as employee onboarding, looks different across any given organization.

In order to transition employees from the point of hire into the work environment, employers must provide opportunities to complete the necessary paperwork and forms, define the roles and responsibilities, as well as create a positive environment for learning, development, and socialization (Doke 2014, Graybill et al. In education, onboarding is all more important due to the difficulty schools often have in recruiting high quality teachers and retaining those teachers after their first 5 years (Newburry & Allsop, 2017). This challenge is especially acute at low income and minority schools (Ingersoll 1 & Strong, 2011). Districts with high teacher attrition are often forced to hire less experienced teachers, which will likely result in poorer quality teaching and learning for the students who attend those schools (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Ronfeldt, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2013).

It is important, then, for school districts to hire highly qualified candidates and ensure that those candidates are adequately prepared to assume their new teaching positions, thus improving their chances of becoming effective educators within their new district. Statement of The Problem Newburry and Allsop (2017) report that when “it comes to leaving the profession, it has been found that up to 30-46% of new teachers quit teaching within the first 5 years and nearly 8- 14% of all teachers leave teaching in any given year” (p. In the past five years in this urban, midwestern school district, 20% to 23% of novice teachers left in their first two years of teaching; 1% of novice teachers left after their first semester. That number was as high as 30% in the 2016-2017 school academic year.

One potential cause of early departures from the teaching career may be ineffective onboarding programs. While there are various factors that lead to novice teacher burnout, one of those factors is that teachers lack the specific knowledge and skills necessary for success in their first 5 years of teaching. Many teachers enter the profession feeling confident about their knowledge of subject matter and content, but unprepared to handle other elements that are a part of being an effective educator such as: behavior management, scheduling, climate and culture, and individual human resource needs (Kidd, Brown, & Fitzallen, 2015; Pogodzinski, Youngs, & Frank, 2013; Smeaton & Waters, 2013; Zepeda & Mayers, 2011). One way to prepare teachers more effectively might be through the onboarding process they experience as they are hired into the school district.

2 Onboarding is a broad process, defined in terms of “… formal and informal practices, programs, and policies enacted or engaged in by an organization or its agents to facilitate newcomer adjustment (Klein & Polin, 2012, p. We know that organizations with well- rounded and stimulating onboarding programs show increased employee engagement, productivity, and lower attrition and turnover (Savitt, 2012). Onboarding programs for new teachers are invaluable because they create a sense of organizational belonging and buy-in, which aids in retention (Ingersoll & Strong, 2011; Savitt, 2012). Additionally, providing new hires with necessary information such as access to important networks, organization contact information, and setting expectations prior to their first day onsite gives all individuals a head start and reduces wasted time on the first day on the job (Steer, 2013).

As this need is recognized across organizations, employers are continually looking for better approaches, designs, and strategies for onboarding and orientation. Depending on the organization, onboarding can range from simply providing time to complete new-hire paperwork to handing out a welcome guide on the first day, to offering multiple-day workshops to help new employees transition to the uncertain work environment. More comprehensive onboarding programs begin during recruitment, carry through hiring and orientation, and often include mentoring during an employee’s first year or beyond. This being said, the current onboarding processes in most school districts need improvement.

Despite being among the top employers for recruiting talent, onboarding is limited in public schools districts due to limited resources and capacity (Odden & Kelly, 2008). Ironic as it might be, employers often spend the majority of their resources identifying, recruiting, and securing top candidates (McNeill, 2012; Nyman, 2010; Robinson, 2012), which limits the amount of time, effort, and financial resources available for onboarding programs. As it is, the 3 onboarding process consists of mostly of induction-related activities: completion of new-hire paperwork, initial introduction to team members, and addressing workspace needs. The main goals of induction are to define a new hire’s roles and responsibilities (Odden & Kelly, 2008), provide opportunities for learning and development related to the first few months of employment (Campbell, 2015), and establish a positive work environment or introduction to the culture of the organization (McNeill, 2012).

Some educational organizations have even expanded their onboarding programs to include mentoring for novice teachers in their first year or beyond, but this is not common or, if available, is provided on a limited scale (Arnold-Rogers, Arnett, & Harris, 2008). Onboarding programs that consist mainly of induction practices and limited mentoring provide only minimal guidance to new hires (Derven, 2008; Robb, 2012).