Compensation, school leadership and job and workplace satisfaction are factors associated with teacher turnover, according to the Learning Policy Institute’s (LPI) March report Teacher Turnover in the United States: Who Moves, Who Leaves, and Why.
Those with higher salaries are less likely to leave the school they work at, LPI found, as are teachers at schools with more effective leadership. Additionally, “the predicted probability of turnover for teachers with high job and workplace satisfaction was less than half that of teachers with low job and workplace satisfaction (8 percent vs. 22 percent),” the report states.
“High job and workplace satisfaction was measured based on teachers’ reported experiences of positive school environments, lack of stress and burnout, and willingness to stay in teaching,” the report continues. “On average, teachers who had higher levels of job satisfaction indicated they had greater support from their students’ parents, greater classroom autonomy, and more effective and supportive school leadership. Conversely, teachers who reported lower levels of satisfaction had more paperwork and administrative duties, longer work hours, larger class sizes, or test-related job insecurity.”
For this report, LPI considered the latest national data regarding public school teachers from 2020–21 and 2021–22.
The issue of teacher turnover, in addition to being costly, strains schools, hinders student learning and undermines the development of a strong, stable and diverse workforce. Each academic year, roughly one in seven public school teachers change schools or exit the profession.
The combination of fewer educators entering the field and high turnover creates staffing challenges and unfilled positions, leading some schools to bring on teachers who aren’t fully certificated or increase class sizes.
“Research shows that these staffing challenges can leave remaining teachers overworked, with reduced time for planning, and are a source of job-related stress,” according to the report. “These staffing challenges, more frequent in schools with larger shares of students of color and students from low-income backgrounds, diminish the overall quality of the education students receive and can also make it harder to retain teachers, fueling a cycle that is difficult to break.”
Findings
The national rate of teacher turnover remains high, with 15 percent of teachers moving schools or leaving the profession between 2020–21 and 2021–22 (8 percent moving schools and 7.1 percent leaving the classroom). According to the report, turnover rates were stable in the last two decades but are 27 percent higher than they were in the early 1990s, mostly due to the rate of teachers leaving the professions increasing more than 50 percent.
Among other key findings:
- The majority of turnover was voluntary and preretirement
- Almost half of those who moved schools stayed within the same district and about 40 percent who left teaching stayed in the education sector
- Turnover rates vary by factors including subject taught, type of school (grade-level), school composition, race and ethnicity, and certification level
Policy considerations
In the report, LPI presents policy recommendations related to salaries and compensation; school leadership; job and workplace satisfaction; and additional policies to address turnover among high-turnover groups. Some of the suggestions include:
- Ensuring that salaries and total compensation are competitive with other professions that require similar levels of education
- Offering compensation increases for teachers in high-need fields and location and for teacher expertise and leadership
- Providing access to ongoing professional and supports
- Redesigning schools to support collaboration and shared decision-making
- Ensuring equitable and adequate school funding and resources
Read the report and the accompanying brief, fact sheet and technical supplement to learn more.
