Data Mining -> Staff Factors -> Percent Change in Turnover

How has teacher turnover changed over time (1988 – 2005)?

Why is this question important?  Teacher turnover is an enormous cost for education systems, both in terms of student performance and dollars.  High turnover results in increased numbers of inexperienced teachers, a loss of trained teachers, and a cost in dollars for recruitment, hiring, and training new teachers.

See further discussion below.

Source:   IES National Center for Educational Statistics;  Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS)

Results:  This graph shows that the highest increase in turnover was teachers who left the profession from public schools, which showed a 50% increase from 1988/89 to 2004/05.

Implications:  Efforts at improving teacher retention have not been successful overall.  This failure represents a major obstacle to long term school improvement.

Author(s):  National Center for Education Statistics

Publisher:  National Center for Education Statistics

Study Description: In the mid-1980's, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a number of separate surveys concerning schools and school personnel. In 1985, NCES undertook a critical review of its elementary and secondary school data system, identifying gaps in content and in design. As a result of this review, NCES redesigned the SASS survey system to emphasize teacher demand and shortage, teacher and administrator characteristics, school programs, and general conditions in schools. SASS also collects data on many other topics, including principals' and teachers' perceptions of school climate and problems in their schools; teacher compensation; district hiring practices and basic characteristics of the student population.  In 1999-2000, public charter schools were also included in the sample. For the 2003–04 SASS, a sample of public charter schools are included in the sample as part of the public school questionnaire. http://nces.ed.gov/Surveys/SASS/index.asp 

Definitions::  Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the base year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year but had moved to a different school after the base year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the base year.