| dc.description.abstract | For our study on belongingness among independent school educators, we partnered with the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) to explore how feelings of belonging influence faculty retention in these schools. We created a survey, including validated survey tools, demographic questions, and three open-ended questions, that was distributed by NAIS to a sample of NAIS members, with over 800 educators completing the survey in its entirety. For the analysis of close-ended responses, we focused on descriptive statistics, correlations, and regression analysis. For the open-ended responses, we coded comments using both inductive and deductive codes. From this analysis, we found that the top three factors contributing to feelings of belongingness were social connections, support, and recognition. We also found that feelings of belongingness strongly influenced faculty decisions to remain at a school, relationships with colleagues and others within the school community increase feelings of belongingness for independent school faculty, and school leaders have an outsized impact on the workplace climate. | |
