Studies about factors specific to rural middle-school teachers' decisions to remain in the profession are limited. Within a framework of Boylan's spheres of influence, the purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to investigate the factors that teachers considered to be most important in decisions to remain teaching in a rural middle school setting. The research questions addressed retention factors of middle school teachers. Semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and a survey were tools for data collection. The participants were 12 teachers from 1 middle school who had a minimum of 5 years of teaching experience. Miles and Huberman's 6-step analytic technique was used to identify teachers' perspectives of retention. The study results revealed that administrative support, relationships, and school culture were the factors most important for teachers who stayed, while discontentment with rural living, lack of administrative support, and evaluation were most important for teachers who left. A primary study recommendation is that district-level and school-level administrators, in hiring teachers, become aware of and use these factors that promote retention of rural middle school teachers. This study contributes to social change by identifying the factors that can improve teacher retention in rural schools, especially with high teacher turnover rates that can negatively influence student achievement. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]