Teacher Turnover
What to Know About Teacher Turnover in 2023 In most industries, it’s important to keep a close eye on workforce turnover rates as an indicator of economic status. For the education marketplace, teacher turnover is more important to watch because of its wide impact on education in America. Within the past three years, educators have been leaving their jobs at a greater rate than years prior. But what are the historic rates of teacher turnover in America and how will the future of education be impacted by educator employment? Here, we will go into a deep dive into teacher turnover and its likely effects.
What is Teacher Turnover? To put it simply, turnover is the rate at which employees leave a particular workforce and are replaced. This includes attrition, which is the rate at which employees leave an organization for any reason, such as voluntarily departing, termination, and retirement. Turnover takes into account the number of new workers entering the workforce. Ideally, the attrition rate will match the number of people joining the labor force.
In general, employee turnover is a valuable metric because it can signal potential issues in the industry. In most cases, a high turnover rate can act as a canary in the coal mine and could mean that problems are coming down the pipeline for the organization or marketplace. In regular business, a high turnover rate could mean that the compensation structure and accompanying benefits are not ideal.
In education, especially public education, teacher turnover rates raise a red flag in a similar manner. However, unlike a typical business, public education must continue in some capacity. In a typical business, a high attrition rate might mean that the business will fail out of the marketplace, but a public education institution must continue operations, which could have serious impacts on students, the future workforce, and much more.
According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 300,000 K-12 educators
Average Teacher Turnover Historically A 2016 EdWeek ⅔ of teachers
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Despite the fact that the pandemic was raging at its worst over three years ago, it’s clear that its impacts will be felt for many years to come. Committing to the classroom as a long-term career teacher has always taken a toll on educators, from mental health to extreme burnout. According to the RAND Corporation, stress was the number one reason that most K-12 teachers left their jobs before the pandemic.
But with the addition of the anxiety that came from the health crisis, the report found that “almost half of the public school teachers who voluntarily stopped teaching in public schools after March 2020 and before their scheduled retirement left because of the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
Many teachers and students were unprepared for the at-home learning required to enhance public safety in 2020, with about 93% of parents
This was proven by a national report by the RAND Corporation, which found that ¼ of teachers did not want to leave their job before the pandemic. It’s clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted teachers’ commitment to working in the classroom as their ongoing career choice.
Teacher Turnover in 2023 In the years after the pandemic, students and teachers worked hard to make up for learning loss and other issues that came as a result. Still, stress and burnout remained, encouraging educators to find different jobs and career paths.
In 2022, more teachers left their jobs and the classroom, most likely due to the high stress that came with being an educator during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. According to a Chalkbeat report, the turnover rate in some states was higher than in the past three decades
Taking a closer look at 2023 attrition rates and other important educational trends impacting turnover rates, we can see that teacher shortages are still high this year. Let’s look at some key indicators for particular states:
Texas : The state had a 12% attrition rate Maryland : In 2022, more than 5,500 teachers left Pennsylvania : Leaders in this state project that public schools will need thousands Kansas : NPR reports that Kansas is dealing with its “worst-ever teacher shortage.” Going into the 2022-23 school year, the state was in need of 1,400 teachers Nevada : In August of 2022, ABC News reported that there were over 3,000 school jobs Arizona : According to Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association, “over 25% of teacher vacancies across the state this year remain unfilled while 44% of the vacancies are filled by teachers who do not meet the state’s standard certification requirements.”
It’s easy to see how this trend could apply to almost all 50 states. Just one quick look at the national roundup by News Nation Now will reveal that there were about 36,000 teacher vacancies 163,000 teachers
Impacts of Teacher Turnover In most professions, turnover is expected and even necessary in some cases. Education is not an exception, but the impacts of teacher turnover have serious ramifications. Let’s take a look at some of the most common effects, and what we can expect in the future if the current rates continue to rise.
Student Learning When more teachers leave, students are often the ones that suffer the long-term consequences. A Science Direct
Teachers are the single most important factor Vanderbilt study
The learning disruptions are especially dangerous when teachers leave in the middle of a school year. An educator switch can lead to failure in the continuity of the learning experience. Increasing teacher turnover hurts the student-teacher relationship and weakens the overall academic support system for students.
The Disparity in Effects Teacher Turnover Despite the fact that teacher turnover affects all learning outcomes across the board, there is a higher impact on already-disadvantaged students. For example, school districts that are struggling with funding and can be labeled as “high-poverty” will be impacted by teacher turnover at an increased rate. A high-poverty school
A study released in 2021 showed evidence that teachers in schools that are high-poverty are more likely to leave their jobs
How to Improve Turnover Rates In order to change turnover rates, it’s valuable to understand why teachers are leaving. We have briefly touched on some potential reasons, but it’s time to dig a little deeper.
Working Conditions It may seem obvious but the environment that an employee works in every day seriously affects their productivity and the sustainability of their job. In addition, working conditions impact morale — which, if continuously low, could lead to increased turnover. Administrators have at least some of the power to influence a positive working environment
Compensation Teacher pay has been a constant discussion, as many states struggle to offer educators a competitive salary. The Learning Policy Institute reports that the pay for employees in education is 20-30% less stronger salary schedules
Mental Health Awareness Due to the stress and requirements of the job, administrators need to provide mental health services to educators. This could help teachers deal with burnout and its effects to continue working and supporting students’ learning. For example, districts could partner with national organizations to focus on not only students’ well-being but also their educators.
Mentorship Creating a supportive workplace could also mean mentoring new teachers so they feel confident as they continue their career path. Whether this be through administrative assistance or tenured co-workers, this additional support after the initial hiring could reduce teacher turnover rates. When the job becomes difficult, a new teacher would have a mentorship pipeline to rely on.
Reducing Turnover and Increasing Retention Between focusing resources on bettering the working environment and increasing teacher compensation, there are a multitude of ways that teacher turnover could be reduced. However, funding for public education is currently being used to stopgap dangerous learning gaps from the pandemic. The vast majority American Rescue Plan
Change can begin in small ways, however, and if you are ready to find the tools you need to assist educators in coping with the high stress of their in-classroom jobs, external support may be necessary. Reach out to Agile Education Marketing
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