Retaining good teachers is a debate that has yet to find consensus after almost a century of discussion. Each year thousands of new teachers enter the profession, only to leave a few years later. Though some teachers stay until retirement, others leave earlier for many reasons including the teaching environment and personal reasons.
Teacher Mobility Data
Educators hold approximately 3.8 million, or about 4%, of the available jobs in the United States. During the 2004-2005 school year 621,000, or almost 17%, of teachers left their position. Slightly less than half of those teachers transfer to a different school. That represents a rate of almost 1000 teachers per day who quit teaching and 1000 teachers per day who transfer to a new school across the US. When schools with large levels of poverty are considered separately the percentage jumps from 17% to 21%.
Richard Ingersoll's research into teacher attrition and mobility suggests that the shortage of good teachers is a skewed perception. He frequently cites the high turnover of new teachers; nearly a third in their first three years of teaching and half by the fifth year. Labor statistics also show that nearly 18% of new hires are considered to be new teachers, or within their first three to five years of teaching. Ingersoll's empirical research has suggested that the ones who remain are dedicated to stay long term, thus skewing the data which appears to show a large number of retiring teachers when only around 2% of teachers leave for retirement.
Reasons Teachers Leave Education
Whereas 2% of teachers leave education for retirement, two-thirds of the other 15% primarily cite job dissatisfaction and the pursuit of a new career. The other major reason cited is family or personal reasons, including pregnancy and caring for children, health problems and the family moving.
Ingersoll reports three primary reasons for teachers leaving due to dissatisfaction or pursuit of a new career. The primary reason is low salary. The other two reasons provided by leaving teachers are student discipline problems and lack of administrative support.
Though the data can be analyzed as showing a need to retain good teachers, especially those who are in their first five years of teaching, it does not specifically state how. What it does show, however, is that the focus needs to be placed on improving job satisfaction so that new teachers are not as inclined to leave teaching for other professions.
References: National Center for Education Statistics
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