Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Richmond Public Schools (RPS) is experiencing low rates of teacher satisfaction, with only 32% of teachers reporting they are satisfied with their work environment. These low rates of satisfaction pose a problem for RPS, as research suggests that they may influence other outcomes such as teacher retention and student academic performance. The division is looking to improve satisfaction as a component of its strategic plan, Dreams4RPS, and has set a goal of increasing the current rate of satisfaction by 20 percentage points over the next four years. In order to achieve this goal, RPS needs to develop a plan to uncover and address the underlying causes of low satisfaction across the division. This Applied Policy Project will serve as a program evaluation that will provide a descriptive analysis of teacher satisfaction data that RPS collected in January, 2020 as part of its Mid-Year Teacher Satisfaction Survey. It will then use this analysis to describe potential methods and policy alternatives that RPS can implement to work towards improving satisfaction.