Anyone following education policy over the past several years has most likely read a headline along the lines of this: “Disgruntled New Teachers Leave the Profession in Droves.” Despite such recent education policy stories, the picture since 2007 has been decidedly rosier: Fully 70 percent of beginning teachers stay in the profession for at least five years. The Center for American Progress calculated this much-higher statistic of new-teacher retention using several national surveys from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.
The findings suggest that far more beginning teachers stay in teaching than has been reported elsewhere, and this is a promising development. Of course, some attrition is good, as some teachers might find they are not a good fit for the profession. But overall, more teachers staying in the profession is clearly good for teachers, schools, and students.
Perhaps most encouragingly, teachers in high-poverty schools are staying at very statistically similar rates as all teachers.
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