New teacher attrition has been a concern of principals, school districts and hiring agencies for many years. It has become common behavior for teachers to make their exodus out of the field between the first year and the fifth years (Avant, 2015). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 9.3% of teachers make an exit even before the first year is up (Certo & Fox, 2002; Sawchuk, 2014). These statistics are alarming and lead to further consideration to what degree new teacher retention impacts the profession.
According to Ludlow (2011) several elements were said to be leading teachers out of the field. Those elements included less than favorable working conditions, non-competitive salaries, a low level of preparedness and
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It was further noted that current trends in teacher preparation programs cite that traditional college teacher pre-service preparation programs are tackling the “changing risk factors that novice teachers” will likely face in their initial years. These forward thinking preparation considerations will contribute to the protective factors that will counteract the resulting stress that may be experienced by teachers (Doney, 2013). While this endeavor may help to better prepare the teacher with an education background, the teacher with alternative certification misses out on this safeguard.
Alternatively Certified for Teachers Program-ACT was introduced in 2004 to attract professionals from other careers and lead them to bring their skills into the classroom as teachers, it is not known if this express route to certification was helping or hindering longevity in new teachers (Rokita, 2014). A number of states, including Georgia, operate some derivative of the Alternative Certificate for Teachers Program or ACT. Created in 2004 as an initiative to attract professionals from divergent spheres of work to bring them and their accumulated skills into the rich and dynamic space of the classroom. (Sawchuk, 2013). The goal of these programs was to offer these professionals a greater level of
The differences were connected with a teacher’s original preparation for the teaching profession, licensing in the particular subject area to be taught, strength of the educational experience, and the degree of experience in teaching along with the demonstration of abilities through the National Board Certification, in which all of these facets can be addressed through policy (Darling-Hammond, 2010).America has not produced a national method containing supports and reasons to guarantee that teachers’ are adequately prepared and equipped to teach all children effectively when they first enter into the career of teaching. America also does not have a vast collection of methods available that will maintain the evaluation and continuing development of a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom, or support decisions about entry into the field of teaching and the continuance in the profession of teaching (Darling-Hammond, 2010). n order to reach the belief that all students will be taught and learn to high standards calls for a makeover in the methods our system of education in order to be a magnet for, train, support or uphold, and cultivate effective teachers in more efficient ways. A makeover that is contingent in a certain degree of how the abilities or skills are comprehended (Darling-Hammond, 2010).In the last few years there has been increasing
The new changes No Child Left Behind laws were passed earlier in 2010 stresses the importance of education has to be our main concern to ensure that our children are getting quality education. The legislation is called “Performance Counts,” It reevaluates tenure laws and evaluation. This means that teachers are evaluated and being laid off because of their performance in the classrooms. No matter how long the teacher has been in his/her position that still wouldn’t keep them in their position because of their low performance. Over the next 10 years the focus will be to prepare hundreds of new teachers in STEM science, technology, engineering, and math (Mclatchy, 2010). The program is to encourage students in the STEM field or alternative teacher certification programs to switch their careers if they choose to. For
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
In the year of 2011, there were 3.2 million teachers who were employed at public schools throughout the nation, which served close to 50 million children in grades kindergarten through twelfth (Feistritzer, 2011). Currently, to be employed as a teacher in the United States, one must obtain a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university, and be certificated in the state that one wishes to be employed. The certification serves as a teaching credential, which is needed for teachers in all states.
According to the Maryland Teaching Staffing Report, the annual attrition percentage continues to decrease, going from 13.3 percent in 2010-2011 to 11.1 percent in 2012-2013 and 9.3 percent in 2013-2014. Although the total attrition percentage is improving, PGCPS continues to have the greatest percentage of attrition compared to neighboring districts as well as the greatest number of teachers that exit the district with less than one to five years of experience. These data confirm that teacher retention is a major problem that significantly impacts PGCPS. These data also support Ingersoll (2003) and Perda (2013) studies regarding the significant number of teachers that leave the profession within their first five years of teaching.
There are many contributing factors to low teacher turnover, however, the main issue is a lack of support and respect for our teachers. Instead of working on maintaining and providing support for our current educators, the conversation usually surrounds expensive and often ineffective recruitment programs. The harsh fact is that it is very expensive to live in our valley and the current teacher salary/benefits are not enough to attract top talent. We need to have a serious conversation with our teachers in order to learn what incentives they need to be successful in their roles as well as to maintain a comfortable living. Teachers are the one profession that truly molds the future of our
This is another factor which could lead to high teacher turnover in the United States. The current teacher average salary has just gone higher by less than 4 percent from the salary of nearly two decades ago. This way, the teachers are not able to cope with the high inflation and escalated cost of life with this pay. This makes teachers to have high mobility rate in search for better jobs or the so called greener pastures.
The Times article assigned to this candidate quotes statistics about the lack of qualified teachers nationwide since the great recession of 2008 specifically that, “nearly two-thirds of the teachers who leave the profession do so before retirement age and cite dissatisfaction with their job as the reason.” (1) Principle among the more obvious causes would be the fact that teachers earn less money than their peers and the Times gives a specific statistic, wherein, “teachers make about 20 percent less than other college graduates and that teacher salaries have
According to studies like those done by the Harvard Report, research has shown that high levels of teacher turnover negatively affects student achievement. There are additional studies like those done by the Teachers College Record, that indicate low teacher retention rates are often caused by poor working conditions within high-poverty schools. A school’s leadership, culture, and relationships within the school all affect working conditions and teacher satisfaction, which ultimately plays a role in teacher retention. Fortunately, these components are within the grasp of those working inside the schools and can be addressed without depending on changes by policymakers. Currently there are studies which show how
In the United States, starting salaries for teachers who have completed a four-year degree are far lower compared to many other professions, which also require a four-year degree. In most states, teachers must undergo testing and other rigorous certification requirements, but they are given the same consideration or status as beginning professionals in other areas. Although attractive incentives are offered, the compensation does not compare to the long hours of work and schooling required for a teaching career.
Maryland. The study evaluated the perceptions of principals, teachers, and support personnel concerning specific teacher attributes, characteristics, and behaviors that influence retention. It did not identify the actions principals take to promote retention. While the findings of these studies and others provide valuable data regarding the bigger issue of teacher retention, it is believed that more in-depth exploration will provide greater understanding of the role of the principal and the strategies they employ to reduce teacher retention. DeAngelis and Presley (2014) conducted a study to provide an overview of the findings of previous studies, paying particular attention to distinguishing between factors that have been found to influence teachers’ decisions to leave the profession vis a vis those factors
The nation’s teacher-training programs do not adequately prepare would-be educators for the classroom, even as they produce almost triple the number of
“We know that almost all U.S. children, no matter where they live, will be academically endangered if they have poor teachers for three years in a row. We also know that low-income elementary students who have good teachers three years in a row will have test scores that are more like those of their middle-class peers. And we know that the scale of the "problem" of creating a high-quality teaching workforce is astonishing: There are nearly 4.5 million teachers in the U.S.” (Wilson) A 1996 study by William Sanders supports Wilsons claim that there is a three year increase or decrease in student performance. The study by Sanders reported a difference of 50 percentile points in student achievement between students who encountered three consecutive years of teachers at or above the 80th percentile of performance and those students who encountered three consecutive years of teachers in the bottom 20th percentile of performance. This based on data from several Texas school districts further highlighted the importance of effective teaching by concluding that if a student encounters an above-average teacher for five years in a row, that
Society always has said that kids need to go to school so that they can get a better education. The research pointed a lot to the opportunities for new management control and performance measurements for teachers. The early years, Elementary, Middle and High school, are considered the most important and fundamental stepping stone for kids. There has always been talk in the news with relation to principals getting fired because they started manipulating student test scores on state exams to help receiving funding for the school. Many of these issues and problems were not at the principal level, but always higher. When looking at school districts, such as an example of the Atlanta School District, they had to
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