| During this age of high-stakes testing and accountability, the current status of morale for the American teacher represents the most imminent threat to the schools in America. Teachers experience insecurities as a result of the heightened focus on students' academic achievement, accountability, standardization, and centralization as required by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and Race to the Top (RttT). The purpose of this qualitative research case study was to investigate high school teachers' perspectives of major factors that diminished teachers' morale, the role that high school teachers' morale played in creating students' academic achievement, and some specific strategies for building high school teachers' morale and improving school culture. The qualitative case study consisted of a sample of six fully-certified high school teachers from Turmeric County Comprehensive High School (TCCHS). The data collection method was semi-structured telephone interviews that were audio-taped recorded, and the qualitative software MAXQDA 11 was used to compile and analyze data. Six major themes emerged to support the three research questions. Three major emerging themes were found for research question 1: (a) discipline problems, (b) accountability, and (c) lack of administrative support. Two major themes emerged to support research question 2: (a) role teachers' morale played in creating students' academic achievement and (b) teachers' collaboration. Question 3 was supported by one major emerging theme: (a) strategies for building high school teachers' morale and improving school culture. The results contributed to findings that although teachers have morale issues, there were strategies for building teachers' morale. Recommendations for future research included (a) quantitative research comparative study of high school teachers morale issues with elementary and middle school teachers, (b) a qualitative case study using purposive sampling to select research participants by means of age, gender, race, and years of service, in other words, determine if males and females, veteran or beginning teachers have the same issues and if so, how do they process, and (c) a qualitative phenomenology research study to include high school teachers' morale as an important component of the school improvement plan. |
