Stress is defined as an unpleasant emotional experience linked with specific environmental triggers and associated with feelings of anger, tension, frustration, and anxiety (Kyriacou, 2001). Teacher stress specifically has been associated with such negative outcomes as depression, burnout, physical illness, poor quality of life, and increased staff turnover (Fantuzzo et al., 2012; Yang et al., 2009). In addition, stress can negatively impact teachers’ effectiveness within the classroom while contributing to poor teacher-student rapport (Abel & Sewell, 1999; Kokkinos, 2007). The most prominent and empirically supported model of teacher stress is the JobDemand-Control Support (JDCS) model, where work-related stress develops under perceptions of excessive job demands combined with low control and lack of social support (Payne & Fletcher, 1983; Siegrist, 2002). Satisfaction has been conceptualized as a related but distinct construct from stress (Pelsma, Richard, Harrington, & Burry, 1989). Although satisfaction is less prominent in the literature, high job satisfaction among teachers has been associated with lower anxiety (Ho & Au, 2006), decreased desire to leave one’s job (Johnson, Kraft, & Papay, 2012), and increased overall school effectiveness (Hung, 2012). Teachers in urban schools serving predominantly minority and low income students experience significantly greater stress and lower job satisfaction compared to their colleagues serving students in higher income, suburban, and rural settings (Markow, Moessner, & Horowitz, 2006).

Predictors of Teacher Stress and Satisfaction

A number of contributors to teacher stress have been identified, including personal coping strategies and available social supports (Kyriacou, 2001; Roeser et al., 2013), perceived self-efficacy (Klassen & Chiu, 2010), test-based accountability policies (von der Embse, Pendergast, Segool, Saeki, & Ryan, 2016), and the larger school climate (Grayson & Alvarez, 2008). The most common predictors of teacher satisfaction include student academic success in the classroom (Turner, 2007) and organizational influences such as positive principal leadership styles and a positive school climate (Duyar et al., 2013; Ghavifekr & Pillai, 2016). Not surprisingly, stress and satisfaction often display inverse relationships with similar predictors. For instance, negative teacher-student relationships create stress (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009), while positive teacher-student relationships are associated with greater job satisfaction (Veldman, van Tartwijk, Brekelmans, & Wubbels, 2013). Similarly, perceptions of poor communication and limited connections with colleagues adds stress, while positive communication and collegiality corresponds to higher satisfaction (Kyriacou, 2001). Previous studies have found that organizational factors most consistently predict stress and satisfaction, and are more frequently reported by teachers as significant contributors to stress (Dorman, 2003; Shernoff et al., 2011). Multiple organizational factors come together to form a school’s overall organizational health. A school is considered “healthy” when administrators are perceived as capable of properly educating students and obtaining necessary material supplies, the principal demonstrates both high expectations and concern for the welfare of school staff, students demonstrate a strong academic focus, and teachers feel socially satisfied and connected to both their colleagues and students (Hoy & Woolfolk, 1993).