Abstract
Teacher turnover and burnout remains a significant concern in education. These concerns have been heightened at Title I schools, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. Although several studies have researched practical and innovative methods to improve achievement at Title I schools, few have focused on the workplace essence of Title I schools and the impact it has had on the emotional labor of its teachers. This dissertation in practice sought to examine the workplace essence of Title I schools and the impact it had on psychological capital (PsyCap) of veteran teachers and their intent to stay at the workplace. Some negative emotions were included to examine intent to leave motivation. A phenomenological qualitative design advanced by Moustakas (1994) allowed for the perspective of a co-researcher, or the researcher as a participant. All participants were veteran teachers (six or more years) and had taught at their current workplace (a Title I school), for at least five continuous years. Semi-structured interviews were used to acquire data, which was then analyzed. PsyCap was used to construct questions and establish coding categories. Participants confirmed emotional labor (emotional arousal, emotional intelligence, emotional dissonance) existed at the workplace. Heightened levels of PsyCap and related positive dispositions/emotions strongly indicated a connection between PsyCap and intent to stay motivation. Suggestions included the use of emotional intelligence and PsyCap for organizational transformations. Proposals for future research were also presented.