Abstract
The context of this qualitative grounded theory dissertation in practice study was to explore the experience of teachers who at one time left the employ of a private Christian school. The purpose of this study was to discover what elements played into teachers’ decisions to leave and to investigate the role supervisory leadership behaviors played in their decision to leave Christian schools. The aim was to educate Christian school leaders to understand and practice whatever traits or skills emerge from this study and to increase Christian school leaders' awareness of these behaviors and potentially help improve teacher retention, teacher experience, and student achievement. The grounded theory qualitative approach was used as a design of inquiry in which the researcher developed a general abstract theory grounded in the views of the participants. The proposed solution consists of three parts, all related to the aim of leadership awareness:|1. To publish an article in national school leadership magazines, such as Christian School Education (CSE) magazine, to help make leaders aware of the results of this study.|2. To create a training session for leadership seminars, such as the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) Leadership Conference, to educate leaders on why teachers leave Christian schools and how leadership behaviors affect this. |3. To include case study scenarios from these interviews to incorporate into training sessions. School leaders will benefit from this study by becoming aware of the reasons why teachers leave Christian schools, specifically relating to leaders’ behaviors. By having that knowledge, leaders can modify their behaviors to improve teacher retention, thereby improving student achievement.