Essay On Teacher Retention

Today, there seems to be a push to change the policy of teacher tenure. “Roughly 2.3 million public school teachers in the United States have tenure—a perk reserved for the noblest of professions (professors and judges also enjoy such rights).” (Stephey) Tenure refers to a policy which gives teachers a permanent contract that effectively ensuring them a guarantee of employment for life. Stephey continues to state, “Though tenure doesn’t guarantee lifetime employment, it does make firing teachers a difficult and costly process, one that involves the union, the school board, the principal, the judicial system and thousands of dollars in legal fees.”

The state of Arizona is facing a serious education crisis in the retention of qualified teachers. Personally, my school in Yuma, Arizona encountered an average of seven new teachers every year. Yuma High School District allowed for a teacher to teach chemistry when his/her Bachelor’s degree was in mathematics. According to the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ enacted in 2001, schools are required to provide “highly qualified” teachers to teach at all times (Educator Excellence). Having quality, long-term teachers is imperative to develop students in becoming productive members of society. Unfortunately due to federal budget cuts directly affecting education, Timothy L. Ogle, executive director of the Arizona School Boards Association, says, “Arizona has faced the most dramatic cuts to K-12 education spending of any state in the nation” (Lopez). As a result, administration is forced to have teachers make up for the lack of a certain subject by teaching it without qualifications. Due to this, out-of-state teachers leave within the first 5 years, and 25% all leave within the first year. Some reasons for this include a

Training and supporting new teachers is one of the most important jobs of an administrator and is a top priority for Pinecrest High School. The state of North Carolina during the 2016-2017 school year had a teacher turnover rate of 14.5%. Moore County School’s teacher turnover rate was slightly above the state’s average and Pinecrest High School was at 18.2%. This shows that Pinecrest has a teacher turnover problem at the school that needs to be addressed with increasing support for incoming new staff members (NCDPI, 2017).

Teachers in this district have been teaching an average of 12 years. Teachers with bachelor’s degrees are at 45% with the remaining 55% with a master’s degree or higher.

Fifty percent of new teachers quit with in the first five years of teaching (NEA, 2015), with this number being so alarmingly high it begs the questions: Why do so many teachers leave after going through years of college for this profession? Were teachers not prepared for the job, through college training, what should colleges teach in order to better prepare teachers?

Many school districts are gearing up to hire new educators for the next year of school year. For the high school teachers, it is not easy to get their jobs because job opportunities for high school teachers can vary by region and subject

Like leadership turnover in other professions, turnover rates at more challenging schools are on the higher end of that spectrum (Beteille, Kalogrides and Loeb 2011, Boyd, et al. 2008, Clark, Martorell and Rockoff 2009). For instance, large, urban districts have similar turnover rates: Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) is 22%, Milwaukee is 20%, San Francisco 26%, and New York City is 24% (Beteille, Kalogrides and Loeb 2011, Boyd, et al. 2008, Clark, Martorell and Rockoff 2009). However, within MDCPS, the turnover rate is higher for the district’s highest-poverty schools (28%), versus lowest-poverty schools (18%) (Beteille, Kalogrides and Loeb 2011). New York City school findings were similar (Clark, Martorell and Rockoff 2009). Low-performing, low-SES schools that lose an effective principal, often struggle due to having a replacement that is less-experienced and less-effective (Beteille, Kalogrides and Loeb 2011, Branch, Hanushek and Rivkin 2012).

Woullard’s and Coat’s (2004) article discusses the teacher shortage that has happened in the United States (Mississippi in particular), the causes of the shortage, and how a mentoring program for college students majoring in education can help to solve many of the issues that are causing the teacher shortage. The article begins by discussing the how the teacher shortage begin. According to Woullard and Coats (2004) it there was in increase in the amount of students who were attending elementary schools and secondary schools. However,

The issue of teacher shortage today is continuing to grow. The effects of the achievement gap are reaching the teachers, not just the students: “...good administrators and teachers, who are doing their best under difficult circumstances, will be driven out of the profession…,” (Boyd-Zaharias 41). The achievement gap is part of the reason teachers feel they are underpaid, which happens to be one of the leading cause in teacher shortage considering, “Teachers were paid two percent less [than comparable workers] in 1994, but by 2015 the wage penalty rose to 17 percent,” (Long). Being a teacher requires passion in order to stay in the field, especially if the money in teaching is decreasing. Money is an important aspect for people when it comes to their careers, therefore, fewer people want to become teachers. This lack of teachers and the lack of college students studying to become a teacher leads to unqualified teachers and larger classroom sizes (Ostroff). Both of these causes are eventually affecting students’ learning environments. I chose this issue in education for my project because I have personally felt these effects, and I know others who have as well. As a future educator, I want to see better wages and better benefits, but this can only happen with qualified, passionate teachers. I plan on being one of them, and I plan on sparking a change. I am a future educator fighting to end teacher shortage.

There is a consensus among the concerned stakeholders that the quality of teachers is the leading factor in determination of student performance. In the case of United States, the student performance can only be given an impetus by the efforts which the state can make, under all costs, to develop and retain high quality teachers. The measures undertaken determine the level of turnover of the school teachers. Lazear (2009) similarly argues the length of employment is a critical factor in averse risks of employment a trend contrary to teachers treatment. The turnover of public school teachers will refer to the rate at which the state, which is the teacher’s

When hiring the future educators of our school we insure that our future educators possess certain essential qualities. We look for teachers who live locally and plan on staying with us for long periods of time. When there are too many turnovers in schools there is no consistency and it can seem like each year is a practice year. The education world is constantly changing. There are always new techniques or changing standards, here at Statesboro Middle School we encourage all our teachers to pursue further degrees as well as keep their certifications up to date. Our administration highly appreciates all of the teachers who are employed at our school. We allow our teachers to dress down on Fridays as well as provide them with special lunches each Friday. Throughout the year we do special things for teachers of the month as well as our teacher of the year. Statesboro Middle School will always strive to hire highly qualified teachers. Young adolescents are going through several different physical, intellectual, emotional, and social changes and teachers

technology. At the same time, we must give every student access to a college degree.

One of the best ways to develop fluency with any research method is to read many peer reviewed journal articles. The following paper will summarize the topic, problem, purpose, design, and findings of five peer reviewed qualitative studies. All five peer-reviewed qualitative studies have one relation; student retention, the topic of a dissertation.

Most would ask, "What exactly is teacher tenure?". Well, in short teacher tenure is a permanent job contract for school teachers. Teachers can earn tenure by proving their teaching skills over a specific number of years while working at the same school. In most cases the number of years a teacher must work at the same school is anywhere from two to seven years. After receiving tenure a teacher cannot lose his or her job without just cause, for example obvious incompetence or severe misconduct. Tenure offers job security to teachers that have successfully completed their probational period of teaching. (Heard)

In the first year of teaching, four out of ten teachers quit. An educators job is not a walk in the park. In Kansas, we are facing a shortage of teachers. The most areas that are facing these shortages are Special Education, Adaptive and Functional Special Education, Early Childhood Handicapped, and hearing and visual impaired. It has been reported that Fewer students have chosen to major in education. There are many reasons that are causing the shortages, lack of