Teacher Job Satisfaction and Student Achievement: The Roles of Teacher Professional Community and Teacher Collaboration in Schools

TLDR

Teacher job satisfaction’s effect on student achievement is unclear, particularly regarding how broader school culture may modify any benefits. This study investigates whether teacher job satisfaction predicts elementary students’ math and reading growth and how school culture moderates that relationship. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, the authors examined these questions. They found a modest positive association with reading growth but none with math, and that school culture and teacher job satisfaction jointly influence achievement in both subjects, implying reforms should focus on both.

Abstract

Studies have not conclusively established whether teacher job satisfaction improves student achievement or whether the advantages to students from having satisfied teachers vary with the broader school culture. In this article, we investigate two research questions: (1) Is there a relationship between teacher job satisfaction and students’ math and reading growth in elementary school? (2) How do schools’ organizational cultures moderate the relationship between teacher job satisfaction and student achievement growth? We examined these questions using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey and found that teacher job satisfaction has a modest but positive relationship with students’ reading growth but no relationship with students’ math growth between kindergarten and fifth grade. However, school culture and teacher job satisfaction interactively affect student achievement in both math and reading. We argue that future education reforms should place special emphasis on improving teacher job satisfaction and school culture.