In a new paper from TeachPlus, public charter school teacher turnover and its effects on student achievement is addressed. According to recent research, the teacher turnover rate at public charter schools is about 25% annually. Teacher turnover has been shown to negatively impact student achievement.
Retaining Public Charter Teachers for Student Success offers several recommendations to school leaders and charter management organizations to help reduce teacher attrition in public charters:
- Build a culture of mutual feedback for continuous improvement. This means that communication must be a two-way street: teachers must be able to approach school leadership with suggestions for improvement and building a professional learning community.
- Protect teachers’ time for great teaching. Schools should be giving teachers ample planning time, and creative solutions to minimize additional responsibilities (i.e., lunch duty) should be found to prevent teacher burnout.
- Establish clear career pathways for teachers.
- Establish practices that respond to the personal needs of teachers. Like professionals in all fields, teachers have higher job satisfaction when their workplaces allow them to fulfill their personal needs.
To read the full report, please visit http://www.teachplus.org/uploads/Documents/1340224253_WhyAreMyTeachersLeaving062012.pdf
