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IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Stronge & Associates: Why Teachers Leave & the Continual Recruitment Cycle

By Xianxuan Xu
30-May-17
Stronge & Associates: Why Teachers Leave & the Continual Recruitment Cycle


Research suggests that curriculum, class size, funding, family and community involvement, and many other factors contribute to school improvement and students’ achievement (Hattie 2009). Despite these important influences, both practice and research suggest that the classroom teacher is the single most important school-related factor in student achievement (e.g., Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff 2014; Stronge, Ward, & Grant 2011).
If we want students to reach their maximum potential, it is paramount that there be an effective teacher in every classroom working with every student. For this reason, wisely recruiting, selecting, and retaining effective teachers is essential. In this column we will provide a series of articles to address some of the most prominent questions related to the issues of teacher recruitment, selection, and retention.
The first question we will broach is this: Why do schools face a shortage of effective teachers? In the United States, teacher shortages are projected to increase due to: 1) declines in teacher education enrollments, accompanied by 2) student enrollment growth, 3) policies reducing pupil-teacher ratios, and 4) ongoing high teacher attrition rates (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond, & Carver-Thomas 2016). Teacher shortages are particularly severe in special education, mathematics, science, and bilingual/English learner education.
Additionally, there are perennial shortages more broadly in locations with lower wages and more challenging working conditions. In total, the United States needs a 20 percent increase in the annual teacher supply from 2015 levels, which is equivalent to 316,000 teachers per year by 2025 (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond, & Carver-Thomas 2016).
The amount of turnover accounted for by retirement is relatively minor in comparison with other reasons, such as teacher job dissatisfaction and seeking better careers (Ingersoll 2001; Ronfeldt, Loeb, & Wyckoff 2013). Furthermore, teaching is portrayed as a “revolving door” occupation in the United States, referring to the phenomenon by which large numbers of teachers flow in and out of schools each year. And the picture isn’t much different in international English-medium schools. A study of teacher retention in Near East South Asia (NESA) international schools found the average annual turnover rate is 17 percent (Mancuso, Roberts, & White 2010). Another study found an average annual teacher turnover rate of 28 percent among U.S. accredited schools in South America (Desroches 2013).
About 40 to 50 percent of teachers leave teaching in the first five years (Ingersoll 2003). Nationally in the U.S., about 8 percent of teachers turn over each year, and for some large urban school districts such as New York, the attrition rate is as high as 18 percent annually. In many urban districts, the teacher dropout rate is actually higher than the student dropout rate. By comparison, the teacher turnover rates in other countries that achieve the highest results on international achievement tests are much lower; turnover is just over 1 percent annually in Korea, 2 percent in Finland, and 3 percent in Singapore (Auguste, Kihn, & Miller 2010).
However, beyond these few highest-performing countries, teacher turnover and attrition are a global phenomenon. The annual attrition rate in in Australia is 5 percent, New Zealand 9.9 percent, Europe between 4 and 9 percent, and Sub Saharan Africa between 3 and 10 percent (Mulei et al. 2016). Additionally, the attrition rate in Canada can be as high as 30 percent in the first five years of service (Karsenti & Collin 2013).
Why this continuing, almost universal, teacher drop-out phenomenon? Interestingly, teachers all over the world leave a school or the teaching profession for a similar set of reasons, including heavy workload or burnout, poor working conditions, testing pressure, low wages and benefits, poor school leadership, and lack of professional development opportunities (e.g., Aslami, 2013; Kalai 2016; Karsenti & Collin 2013).
Teacher turnover is costly, both for the students who lose the value of being taught by experienced teachers, and to the schools and school districts that must recruit and train replacements. It is estimated by one study that the average per-leaver cost is US$14,509 in the United States (Synar & Maiden 2012).
According to a report from the Alliance for Excellent Education (2014), teacher attrition costs the U.S. up to US$2.2 billion each year. This high turnover rate hits high-poverty schools particularly hard and compromises the efforts to ensure that all students have equal access to skilled and effective teaching. Unfortunately, this is one point where international independent schools seem to differ. Here, the teacher turnover cost can be much higher. International schools have to absorb the additional costs of international travel for recruitment fairs and on-boarding costs such as paid travel to work site for the employee and family, moving assistance, and the like.
Teacher turnover is inevitable. In reality, an appropriate degree of teacher mobility is actually healthy. Mobility is an indicator of economic opportunity and a dynamic, well-functioning economy. Effective schools use recruitment to replace low-performing teachers with high-caliber ones (Ingersoll 2011). Still, recruitment is not cost-free. Thus, when vacancies occur, they should be addressed as a growth opportunity through quality recruitment—whether for teacher expansion or teacher turnover. We will examine the best practices in recruitment more closely later in this series.
References:
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2014). On the path to equity: Improving the effectiveness of beginning teachers. Available: http://all4ed.org/wp-content/ uploads/2014/07/PathToEquity.pdf.
Aslami, H. (2013). Teacher attrition: Why secondary school teachers leave the profession in Afghanistan. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Auguste, B., Kihn, P., & Miller, M. (2010). Closing the talent gap: Attracting and retaining top-third graduates to careers in teaching. Retrieved from click here.
Chetty, R.,Friedman, J. N., & Rockoff, J. E. (2014). Measuring the impacts of teachers II: Teacher value-added ad student outcomes in adulthood. American Economics Review, 104, 2633-2679.
Desroches, S. M. (2013). Exploring teacher turnover in American-accredited schools in South America. Unpublished Dissertation. Lehigh University.
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to student achievement. New York: Routledge.
Ingersoll, R. (2001). Teacher turnover and teacher shortages: An organizational analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 38(3), 499–534.
Ingersoll, R. M. (2003). Is there really a teacher shortage? Center for the Study of Teching and Policy. Retrieved from http://depts.washington.edu/ctpmail/PDFs/Shortage-RI-09-2003.pdf.
Karsenti, T., & Collin, S. (2013). Why are new teachers leaving the profession? Results of a Canada-wide survey. Education, 3(3), 141-149.
Mancuso, S., Roberts, L., & White, G.P. (2010). Teacher retention in international schools: The key role of school leadership. Journal of Research in International Education, 9, 306-323.
Mulei, K. O., Waita, K. J., Mueni, K. B., Mutine, M. J., & Kalai, J. (2016). Factors influencing teacher attrition in public secondary schools in Mbooni-East Sub-County, Kenya. International Journal of Education and Research, 4(3), 367-382.
Ronfeldt, M., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2013). How teacher turnover harms student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 50(1), 4-36.
Stronge, J. H., Ward, T. J., & Grant, L. W. (2011). What makes good teachers good? A cross-case analysis of the connection between teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Journal of Teacher Education, 62(4), 339-355.
Sutcher, L., Darling-Hammond, L., & Carver-Thomas, D. (2016). A coming crisis in teaching? Teacher supply, demand, and shortages in the U.S. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.
Synar, E., & Maiden, J. (2012). A comprehensive model for estimating the financial impact of teacher turnover. Journal of Education Finance, 38(2), Available at http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_education_finance/v038/38.2.synar.html#b6.




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Comments

01/07/2020 - Meadow
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2014). On the path to equity: Improving the effectiveness of beginning teachers. Available: http://all4ed.org/wp-content/ uploads/2014/07/PathToEquity.pdf

Aslami, H. (2013). Teacher attrition: Why secondary school teachers leave the profession in Afghanistan. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Auguste, B., Kihn, P., & Miller, M. (2010). Closing the talent gap: Attracting and retaining top-third graduates to careers in teaching. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/social%20sector/our%20insights/closing%20the%20teaching%20talent%20gap/closing-the-teaching-talent-gap.ashx.

Chetty, R.,Friedman, J. N., & Rockoff, J. E. (2014). Measuring the impacts of teachers II: Teacher value-added ad student outcomes in adulthood. American Economics Review, 104, 2633-2679.

Desroches, S. M. (2013). Exploring teacher turnover in American-accredited schools in South America. Unpublished Dissertation. Lehigh University.

Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to student achievement. New York: Routledge.

Ingersoll, R. (2001). Teacher turnover and teacher shortages: An organizational analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 38(3), 499–534.

Ingersoll, R. M. (2003). Is there really a teacher shortage? Center for the Study of Teching and Policy. Retrieved from http://depts.washington.edu/ctpmail/PDFs/Shortage-RI-09-2003.pdf.

Karsenti, T., & Collin, S. (2013). Why are new teachers leaving the profession? Results of a Canada-wide survey. Education, 3(3), 141-149.

Mancuso, S., Roberts, L., & White, G.P. (2010). Teacher retention in international schools: The key role of school leadership. Journal of Research in International Education, 9, 306-323.

Mulei, K. O., Waita, K. J., Mueni, K. B., Mutine, M. J., & Kalai, J. (2016). Factors influencing teacher attrition in public secondary schools in Mbooni-East Sub-County, Kenya. International Journal of Education and Research, 4(3), 367-382.

Ronfeldt, M., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2013). How teacher turnover harms student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 50(1), 4-36.

Stronge, J. H., Ward, T. J., & Grant, L. W. (2011). What makes good teachers good? A cross-case analysis of the connection between teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Journal of Teacher Education, 62(4), 339-355.

Sutcher, L., Darling-Hammond, L., & Carver-Thomas, D. (2016). A coming crisis in teaching? Teacher supply, demand, and shortages in the U.S. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.

Synar, E., & Maiden, J. (2012). A comprehensive model for estimating the financial impact of teacher turnover. Journal of Education Finance, 38(2), Available at http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_education_finance/v038/38.2.synar.html#b6.


01/05/2020 - rasha Sharif
Hello,

Can you please share the references used in this article? Thank you.

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