Teacher Retention in New Haven > Roosevelt Home > Yale > Education > Teacher Retention
We propose to study the problem of attracting and retaining experienced teachers in New Haven public schools. We plan to do a statistical analysis of the rates of New Haven teachers’ migration (teaching in other districts or other schools within the district) and attrition (exiting the profession altogether). We then will look at examples in other cities around the country that have been successful in retaining experienced teachers. We will then make recommendations about what New Haven can do to improve its teaching corps. No time is more important to a child’s education than that spent in the classroom with a teacher. For this reason, who teachers are and what experience they have are critical factors in education. As studies have found that a teacher’s experience directly correlates with his/her students’ academic success, it is unfortunate that the least experienced teachers are often working in the worst performing schools. A series of studies, most prominently those by Prof. Richard Ingersoll of the University of Pennsylvania, attribute this fact not to a “teacher shortage,” but to high attrition and migration rates, which are worst in poor-performing, urban schools. In other words, with the popularity of programs like Teach for America, many educated, young, energetic people are interested in teaching; they simply don’t remain teaching at the neediest schools for very long. Some teachers remain in the profession, but “migrate” to suburban districts where pay is generally higher and there are fewer “at-risk” children. Many other teachers, however, quit teaching entirely. In fact, one study found that after 5 years, the attrition rate for teachers was 40%-50%. Such turnover for New Haven public schools is doubtless detrimental for students. The intangibles are obvious: teachers are not able to create lasting relationships with students or with other faculty and administration; students cannot benefit from the tutelage of a seasoned teacher who knows his way around the classroom and knows what makes his students tick. However, the costs of this turnover are not always taken into account, as districts scramble to hire, on average, half of their teachers every five years. One study found that the cost nationally is nearly $5 billion, and in Connecticut more than $67 million, and none of those costs take retiring teachers into account. Finally, though New Haven hasn’t followed suit, many districts around the country have responded to the hiring crunch by lowering standards for first year teachers. The good news is that some states and districts have found methods of increasing retention. The surprising and even better news, especially for tax-payers, is that most of these methods do not involve raising salaries. California, for instance, has employed a variety of strategies that has resulted in an 80% retention rate after four years. Studies show that teacher induction programs, master teacher/mentoring initiatives, and more professional development were all as critical as—if not more than—the tax breaks and grants. Indeed, one of Ingersoll’s studies found that teachers were as likely to cite as their reason for leaving school working conditions as they were salary. A similar explanation seems likely for the Achievement First charter schools of New Haven and New York, where teacher attrition is less than 15% per year, but salaries are no higher than those in public schools; the difference is an extensive induction program, mentoring relationships, and professional development. Group members:
Sam Brill
Abby McCartney
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