Approximately 70 percent of beginning teachers stay in the profession for at least five years, according to the Center for American Progress. Eighty-seven percent of teachers stay for at least three years. These numbers show a roughly 10 percentage point improvement in teacher retention, in comparison to past studies.
It is unclear why teacher retention is rising. “Between 2003 and 2007, there were not any major structural changes to the teaching profession that can explain the increase to 70 percent,” according to policy analysts Robert Hanna and Kaitlin Pennington. “Teacher salaries generally grew by less than the rate of inflation, and the economy was strong over this period.”
It would be inaccurate to claim the economic recession trapped teachers in their jobs. “We saw teacher retention rates this high several years after the recession officially ended in 2009,” Hanna and Pennington wrote.
There are many possible factors that could be responsible for the rise in retention.
The unionization rate of those in education, training or library occupations has been falling since 2000, the earliest available data. The percentage of employees in those occupations represented by unions has fallen from 44.7 percent in 2000 to 39.1 percent in 2013. The percentage who are members of a union fell from 39 percent in 2000 to 35.3 percent in 2013. If new teachers are finding unions less bothersome today than in the past, it may be a factor in higher retention rates.
School choice programs have been rising in the United States over the past decade, possibly offering teachers new options for teaching environments. More diversity in schools makes them compete for the most-talented teachers. More options and competition for great teachers could make the profession more attractive for those entering the field.
Another possibility: During the recession, many schools had to lay teachers off. Last-in, first-out layoffs based on seniority forced out newer teachers. But layoffs using this method have been on the decline. Twenty states now ban administrators from using seniority as the primary criterion in layoffs, according to Students Matter. Without last-in, first-out, many new teachers may have escaped layoffs in the recession and managed to stay on the job.
Teaching conditions in schools may also be improving. Teachers unions typically point to poor conditions as a reason to increase funding for schools. As Jia Lee, a special education teacher, testified before the Senate education committee on Tuesday, “Teachers’ working conditions are inextricably linked to students’ learning conditions.” Higher retention may mean that teaching conditions are better today than 15 years ago.
Any of these factors could be affecting the improving retention rate. Still, it is important to note that not everyone who tries to be a teacher should stay one. “The optimal level of teacher retention is not 100 percent,” Hanna and Pennington wrote. Only effective teachers should be retained, they said.
