Stopping the Revolving Door: Increasing Teacher Retention

Abstract

Schools around the nation are facing an alarming phenomenon: beginning teachers are leaving schools at a startling rate. Thirty‐three percent of teachers leave their schools in the first three years, 46 percent after five years. These high attrition rates result in inexperienced teachers, high economic costs as teachers must be continually hired and trained, and a lack of continuity that makes institutional development and planning difficult. There is a plethora of causes for teacher attrition, although most involve nonsalary‐related dissatisfaction, such as excessive workloads and high‐stakes testing, disruptive student behavior, poor leadership and administration within schools, and views of teaching as a temporary profession. Likewise, the most successful remedies to increase teacher retention are not salary‐based. Several studies have found that moderate salary increases are only marginally effective; raises of 20 percent would be needed to make a significant impact. Rather, improving teachers' work environment and professional development are more cost effective and influential in convincing teachers to remain. An induction and mentoring program in California, for example, reduced teacher attrition by 26 percent in just two years. We conclude, therefore, that well‐operated induction and mentoring programs are the best method for increasing teacher retention.