Teacher Retention In The United States

While salary is a contributing factor to poor retention, administrators must investigate measures to adequately support their teachers. Greiner et al. (2005) created a five step plan to increase teacher retention. Their plan included designing collaborative training programs, developing flexible scheduling, strengthening relationships between experienced teachers, and developing partnerships between schools and local school districts.

Across the United States, schools are facing a major teacher shortage as they try to fill positions in science, math, special education, bilingual education, and other fields. The shortage mainly lies in the schools serving low-income or colored students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the student population will increase by about three million in the next decade. While the number of students is multiplying, teacher enrollment in preparation programs is down remarkably, falling 35 percent nationwide in the last five years (Long 2). Not only are more people not entering the teaching profession, multiple teachers are reaching retirement age. Because of the shortage, several states have been loosening their certifications

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

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).

If the Department of Education decreased the amount of teachers that are being recruited from the mainland, there would be less worry about accommodating and retaining them. According to an employment report conducted by the Department of Education for the school year 2015-2016, 12.6% newly employed teachers were non-residents (Hawaii 7). Though this may be a small number, it may be due to the fact that not many of them want to feel the burdening cost of living in “paradise”. If more teachers were enlisted locally, however, they would be less likely to leave their home. People want to give back to their communities. With the advantage of understanding how their communities work and what each school is like, the process of teaching will be much more engaging and easier than it would be for an

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

School districts should have mentors that continue to support new and intermediate teachers. Educators are the people who are responsible for so many facets of a child’s success, and generally spend more time with them than parents Monday- Friday. Standards should be set at a national level, set high so that our children at no longer graduating from High school with subpar knowledge as compared to our global society. Our children and our teachers deserve a restructuring of the educational system that will support effective teachers and weed out non- effective ones. Lowering our academic outcomes to appease standardized testing that is required is not producing well rounded, well spoken, critical thinking graduates, our kids are not ready for higher learning or real life scenarios because the emphasis of a quality education has fallen waist side. Once, we were the nation to whom others compared their systems to, as of today this is no longer the case. We are no longer the baseline of measurement as we have fallen below the global

All conscientious teachers are interested in their students’ success, believing fervently that success in the classroom can propel success in life. Student achievement becomes the teacher’s motivating force; those devoting their lives to education do so emboldened by a recognition of education’s promises and prospects.

Based on the research, it is recommended that Queensland primary schools acknowledge the poor teacher retention rates and investigate what factors are present in different schools. Government and private

Teacher retention is a serious problem in the United States. So many teachers leave after their first few years as a teacher. In regards to teacher retention, Tennessee has the highest because they have a bonus pay for any high-level teachers who decide to teach in the low-performing schools.

Teachers at rural schools face difficulties that often lead to less learning opportunities for their students. Smaller schools often equates to less teachers, therefore the

Between 40 and 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years of teaching. This low retention rate effects students as well as school districts in negative ways. Not only do teachers fail to act as a positive and consistent role model for students, but they also cost schools thousands of dollars. A recent study found that teacher “attrition that costs the United States up to $2.2 billion annually” (Amos). In addition to teachers leaving the profession, there are many who remain but are consistently absent. Teacher absenteeism adversely influences students because inattentive teachers fail to create and maintain meaningful relationships with their students. This issue is especially a problem in urban, low-income schools because many of the students do not have positive role models or steady relationships at home and the only adults they may count on are their teachers. Professionals in the education field are tackling this teacher drop-out issue. They have found that while most would think that teachers would ask for a higher paycheck, what the majority of them want is flexibility in order to allow them the power to decide how to teach their students. Teachers want to have a voice in their own classroom. In addition, researchers found that most schools lack a support system for first-year teachers. Carol McNulty found that administrators play a great

The current educational scene has loads of high expectations based on local, state, and national standards and policy. Progressively, policymakers, administrators, and general society expect teachers to teach children to high standards, paying little attention to students’ background or socioeconomic status. With data pouring in from local, state, national, and global assessments, comparisons between schools, districts, states, and nations lead much higher expectations (Klein et al., 2005).Furthermore, the writing comprehensively sees teacher quality as a champion among the essential factors in student learning (Loucks-Horsley et al., 2010; Wei, Darling-Hammond, Adamson, 2010), many elementary teachers find themselves inadequately prepared

A shortage of teachers in CTE is a problem that can only be solved by keeping teachers in the profession. Addressing teacher turnover is critical in Family and Consumer Science because CTE teachers are difficult to replace. The article, “Factors Affecting the Retention of Secondary Family and Consumer Science Teachers,” explains the results of a study in Kansas that looked at specific factors affecting the retention of Family and Consumer Science teachers. A major finding was that support from administration and student respect were important to teachers. FACS teachers also said they wanted to improve student performance and student engagement and incorporate new ideas into their classrooms. It was important to them to know that they were doing a good job. As as student studying to become a Family and Consumer Science teacher, this article interested me because it is a study about people in my desired career. The article provided insights to what people in my career are thinking about their jobs, where they would like to see improvements made, and how they feel about what goes on in the classroom.

The concept and practice of teacher leadership have gained momentum in the past two decades. Teachers are assuming more leadership functions at both instructional and organizational levels of practice. Empirical literature reveals effects of teacher leadership practice, teacher leader characteristics, and conditions that promote and challenge teacher leadership.