Time and Attrition
Posts on attrition here and here. Here are the posts on low pay, classroom management, intensity, administration, outside issues, and promotion.
Last week's issue of Time had a cover story on "How to Make Better Teachers." Included in that article is a survey, not available online, of former teachers as to why they left the profession. I have now purchased said issue of Time (for $4.95, which seems incredibly high to me. In fact, I bought an issue of Newsweek as well and the total came to more than ten dollars), and reproduce the results here for you (and while I'm not the smartest person in the world, I'm assuming teachers polled could cite more than one reason as these numbers add up to way more than 100):
Top Reasons Teachers Cited for Leaving the Profession in 2001
Lack of Time to Prepare-60%
Too Heavy a Teaching Load-51%
Class Size Too Large-50%
Poor Salary or Benefits-48%
Student Behavioral Problems-44%
Lack of Influence in School-42%
It is interesting to note that Student Behavioral Problems (or, put another way, classroom management) is second to last.
Of course, the overarching point is that all of the reasons are in relation to the pay. In other words, 50% leave the profession because class size is too large in relation to the pay. If the first-year teaching salary was a million dollars teachers leaving the profession would plummet and quality people entering the profession would skyrocket. It is all about incentives...
Further Reading:
My Groups
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Mississippi Teacher Corps Updated: 7 days ago
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Peace Corps Updated: Nov 28, 2007
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Mississippi Teacher Corps (host) Updated: May 15, 2007
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