Defining sense of community as a feeling of belongingness within a group, this article reviews research about students' sense of acceptance within the school community to address three questions: Is this experience of belongingness important in an educational setting? Do students currently experience school as a community? And how do schools influence students' sense of community? Conceptually, the review reflects a social cognitive perspective on motivation. This theoretical framework maintains that individuals have psychological needs, that satisfaction of these needs affects perception and behavior, and that characteristics of the social context influence how well these needs are met. The concern here is how schools, as social organizations, address what is defined as a basic psychological need, the need to experience belongingness. The findings suggest that students' experience of acceptance influences multiple dimensions of their behavior but that schools adopt organizational practices that neglect and may actually undermine students' experience of membership in a supportive community.

Students' Need for Belonging in the School Community:

Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge

Getting to YES. Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of programs offering support, guidance, and orientation for beginning teachers during the transition into their first teaching job. This study examines whether such programs—collectively known as induction—have a positive effect on the retention of beginning teachers. The data used in the analysis are from the nationally representative 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey. The results indicate that beginning teachers who were provided with mentors from the same subject field and who participated in collective induction activities, such as planning and collaboration with other teachers, were less likely to move to other schools and less likely to leave the teaching occupation after their first year of teaching.

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What Are the Effects of Induction and Mentoring on Beginning Teacher Turnover

In recent years, researchers and policymakers have told us again and again that severe teacher shortages confront schools. They point to a dramatic increase in the demand for new teachers resulting from two converging demographic trends: increasing student enrollments and increasing numbers of teachers reaching retirement age. Shortfalls of teachers, they say, are forcing many school systems to lower their standards for teacher quality (National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 1997). Comments Copyright © 2003 by Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Reprinted by Permission. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development is a worldwide community of educators advocating sound policies and sharing best practices to achieve the success of each learner. To learn more, visit ASCD at www.ascd.org. Reprinted from Educational Leadership, Volume 60, Issue 8, May 2003, pages 30-33. This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/gse_pubs/126

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The Wrong Solution to the Teacher Shortage.

This article, based on a longitudinal interview study of 50 new teachers in Massachusetts, presents respondents’ reasons for staying in their schools, moving to new schools, or leaving public school teaching within their first 3 years of teaching. Although the respondents’ prior career orientations, financial situations, and preparation played a role in their career decisions, their experiences at the school sites were central in influencing their decisions. Teachers who felt successful with students and whose schools were organized to support them in their teaching—providing collegial interaction, opportunities for growth, appropriate assignments, adequate resources, and schoolwide structures supporting student learning—were more likely to stay in their schools, and in teaching, than teachers whose whose schools were not so organized.

Pursuing a “Sense of Success”: New Teachers Explain Their Career Decisions:

Background/ContextEducational policy makers have begun to recognize the challenges posed by teacher turnover. Schools and students pay a price when new teachers leave the profession after only 2 or...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/016146811211401004

How Context Matters in High-Need Schools: The Effects of Teachers’ Working Conditions on Their Professional Satisfaction and Their Students’ Achievement

List of Tables, Figures, and Exhibits Preface Acknowledgments The Authors 1 Greater Expectations, Higher Demands (Coauthor: Morgaen L Donaldson) 2 The Next Generation of Teachers (Coauthor: Heather G Peske) 3 What Teaching Pays, What Teaching Costs (Coauthor: Edward Liu) 4 Seeking Success with Students (Coauthor: Sarah E Birkeland) 5 Schools That Support New Teachers 6 Filling the Curriculum Void (Coauthor: David Kauffman) 7 Professional Culture and the Promise of Colleagues (Coauthor: Susan M Kardos) 8 Making Better Matches in Hiring (Coauthor: Edward Liu) 9 Supporting New Teachers Through School-Based Induction (Coauthor: Susan M Kardos) 10 Sustaining New Teachers Through Professional Growth (Coauthor: Morgaen L Donaldson) 11 Finders and Keepers Epilogue Notes Appendix A: Background and Methods Appendix B: Interview Protocols References Index

Finders and Keepers: Helping New Teachers Survive and Thrive in Our Schools

Teachers At Work: Achieving Success In Our Schools

Background/ContextOver the past three decades, teacher turnover has increased substantially in U.S. public schools, especially in those serving large portions of low-income students of color. Teach...

Susan Moore Johnson

Papers

Pursuing a “Sense of Success”: New Teachers Explain Their Career Decisions:

How Context Matters in High-Need Schools: The Effects of Teachers’ Working Conditions on Their Professional Satisfaction and Their Students’ Achievement

Finders and Keepers: Helping New Teachers Survive and Thrive in Our Schools

Teachers At Work: Achieving Success In Our Schools

Teacher Turnover in High-Poverty Schools: What We Know and Can Do: