Retaining Teachers: Teacher Retention, Attrition, and Mobility Studies
Welcome to RetainingTeachers.com The place on the web for teacher retention, attrition, and mobility studies.
Teachers hold 3.8 million jobs in elementary and secondary U.S. public and private schools, representing approximately 4% of the total civilian workforce (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, 2006). According to Strizek, Pittsonberger, Riordan, Lyter, and Orlofsky, (2006), there were 3.25 million public school teachers in the United States in 2003-04 school year. Over three-quarters of the teachers were females with eighteen percent of the teaching force newly hired (Strizek et al., 2006). Despite the number of newly hired teachers, in an average school year, approximately 1,000 teachers quit each school day and on an average school day an additional 1,000 teachers migrate from one school to another. On average, a third of the newly hired teachers leave during their first three years; almost half leave during the first five years (National Commission on Teaching and America's Future [NCTAF], 2003). This turnover rate fluctuates each year (Broughman & Rollefson, 2000). For example, the highest numbers occurred during the 1999-2000 school year in which 539,778 individuals left the classroom, including retirees (NCTAF, 2003).
Ingersoll (2002) compared the teacher replacement rate and attrition rate to an analogy of a hole in a bucket; new teachers are entering the profession and quickly leaving. Teacher shortages, therefore, are due to retaining teachers and not due to a lack of recruitment. Haberman (2005) provided a different perspective by suggesting 93% of the individuals entering college and university teaching certification programs never receive a job or quit after a few years of employment. Laird, DeBell, and Chapman (2006) stated the high school student drop out rate is less than 26%; Therefore, in comparison to the high school student dropout rate, the teacher turnover rate over an equivalent four-year period is greater than the student population dropout rate.
Not all researchers interpret the teacher attrition data in the same manner. For example, Wayne (2000) suggests only one in 20 new teachers leaves the profession and many of those who leave will return. Plus, according to Wayne, the reasons cited most often for leaving are personal reasons and not job dissatisfaction.