Review of The Reasons Teachers Stay: Lessons from High-Retention Schools, Districts, and Communities, by D. B. Larkin & S. P. Patzelt

Authors

  • Elsie Szecsy Arizona State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/er.v33.4664

Author Biography

Elsie Szecsy, Arizona State University

Elsie Szecsy is an emerita research professional at Arizona State University, where her research interests were on intersections among teaching, learning, and leadership, with institutional, organizational, and instructional arrangements in linguistically and culturally diverse education settings. She was involved in several documentation research projects in metro New York and metro Phoenix, Arizona, that aimed to improve Latino representation among high school and college graduates and among faculty and administrators in K-12 and higher education. Her research interests have since expanded to include humanities-based approaches to discover racial and other injustices in schools and other educational settings. Dr. Szecsy holds an Ed.D. in Educational Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University.

References

American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. (n.d.). Higher Education Act. https://www.aacrao.org/news-advocacy/advocacy/advocacy-issues/higher-education-act/

Anderson, J. (2026, February 26). Why teachers stay: What research reveals about retention. [Audio podcast episode]. The Harvard EdCast. https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/edcast/26/02/why-teachers-stay-what-research-reveals-about-retention

Diorio, G. L. (2019). No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. EBSCO. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/education/no-child-left-behind-act-2001

Dragoset, L., Thomas, J., Herrmann, M., Deke, J., James-Burdumy, S., Graczewski, C., Boyle, A., Tanenbaum, C., Giffin, J., & Upton, R. (2016). Race to the Top: Implementation and relationship to student outcomes (NCEE 2017-4001). National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://ies.ed.gov/use-work/resource-library/report/evaluation-report/race-top-implementation-and-relationship-student-outcomes

Higher Education Act, Pub. L., No. 89-329 (1965).

Ingersoll, R. (2001). Teacher turnover and teacher shortages: An organizational analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 38(2), 499-534. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312038003499

Jacob, B., & Dee, T. (2010). The impact of No Child Left Behind on students, teachers, and schools. Education Policy Initiative. https://doi.org/10.1353/eca.2010.0014

Lee, T. W., Burch, T. C., & Mitchell, T. R. (2014). The Story of Why We Stay: A review of job embeddedness, Annual Review of Organization Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 199-216. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091244

Lee, T. W., &Mitchell, T. R. (2011). Working research teams: Lessons from personal experiences. Management and Organizational Review, 7(3), 461-69. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8784.2011.00224.x

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425 (2002).

Pressley, T., Marshall, D. T., Walter, H. L., Kyla Ganey, M, A., Rader, A., Creed, E., & Andre, I. (2026). Why teachers leave: Insights from teachers leaving or preparing to leave the profession, Teaching and Teacher Education, 169, Article 105285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2025.105285

Steiner, E. D., Levine, P., Doan, S., & Woo, A. (2025). Teacher well-being, pay, and intentions to leave in 2025: Findings from the State of the American Teacher Survey. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1108-16.html.

Tan, T., Wei, W., Carver-Thomas, D., & García, E. (2026). Teacher turnover in the United States: Who moves, who leaves, and why. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/248.479

Weiss, E. (2013). Mismatches in Race to the Top limit educational improvement: Lack of time, resources, and tools to address opportunity gaps puts lofty state goals out of reach. Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/race-to-the-top-goals/

[Book reviewed] Larkin, D. B., & Patzelt, S. P. (2026). The reasons teachers stay: Lessons from high-retention schools, districts, and communities. Harvard Education Press.

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Published

2026-09-30

How to Cite

Szecsy, E. (2026). Review of The Reasons Teachers Stay: Lessons from High-Retention Schools, Districts, and Communities, by D. B. Larkin & S. P. Patzelt. Education Review, 33. https://doi.org/10.14507/er.v33.4664

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Section

Book reviews