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Imagine if each year a company lost about a quarter of its staff, and after five years over half the employees were new. That’s what’s happening with teachers in public schools in D.C., according to a new report commissioned by D.C.’s State Board of Education.
This puts D.C.’s rate of teacher attrition far above the national average. And national studies have shown that teacher churn not only costs billions — it also affects student performance.
According to data analyzed for the board by consultant Mary Levy, the average teacher turnover rate in public schools has consistently remained at about 25 percent. Across the United States, the rate is about 16 percent. And on average, in larger urban areas, turnover varies between 16 and 19 percent.
Board officials say these high turnover rates are problematic for a school district seeking to improve academic performance.
Graph courtesy of Mary Levy, data from the D.C. State Board of Education. Mary Levy / State School Board
“One of the issues we suspected affected the quality of education in DCPS and public charter schools was the rate of teacher turnover,” says Board President Karen Williams, explaining why the group commissioned the report.
DCPS officials consistently say that they retain highly effective teachers longer, but Williams says teachers don’t become effective overnight, and to build a stronger teaching force, school leaders need to find a way to support and hold on to teachers who have the potential to become highly effective.
Why Are Teachers Leaving?
The report has some significant limitations. For instance, it doesn’t identify why teachers are leaving. It also doesn’t say how many of the teachers quit, how many were fired and how many transferred to other schools. The board says this study is just the start of finding out why teachers leave. Even without this information, the new study yields some interesting observations about why teachers are leaving.
For years critics have pointed to the D.C. Public Schools teacher evaluation system IMPACT — put in place by former Chancellor Michelle Rhee in 2007 — as a reason for churn in the system. IMPACT uses student test score results as a large part of its evaluation for teacher performance. But the report shows that traditional public schools and charter schools — which are not subject to IMPACT — have similarly high turnover rates.
One thing that’s not likely to be driving teachers out of the profession is compensation. Educators in the District are some of the highest-paid in the nation. Even after the average salaries are adjusted for cost of living, they still compare favorably.
A Comparison of Teacher Salaries by State. Graph by Jenny Abamu, Data from the National Center For Education Statistics. Jenny Abamu / WAMU
So why are relatively well-compensated teachers leaving the profession?
Kaitlin Pennington, a senior analyst with the nonprofit consulting group Bellwether Education Partners, recently co-produced a report on this question. Looking at public exit survey data from teachers who left traditional public schools during 2015-2018, her report noted that the top three reasons teachers left were: a desire for greater work-life balance in the form of more flexible schedules; dissatisfaction with school leadership; and to pursue other careers.
“I think the biggest problem was the treatment of teachers,” says Chelsea Pink, who worked for a D.C. charter school between 2013 and 2016. Pink says she left because she didn’t feel like school leaders supported their staff.
“[Administrators] being so focused on upward facing data, meaning what is the data going to look like according to the people we report to…then, what are quick fixes to force teachers to comply, and a lot of times that was to the detriment of students and staff culture,” Pink says, describing her experience.
It’s unclear what the next steps will be now that the board’s report is out. DCPS officials issued an unapologetic response, saying that their system is designed to keep the most effective teachers.
“DCPS will continue to focus on ensuring we have high-quality educators in every school and providing them with the supports they need to put every student on a path to success,” the statement says.
Scott Pearson, the executive director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board says in a statement that his team is working with schools and city leaders on strategies to reduce turnover.
State School Board representatives say they are hoping to open host more dialogs with DCPS and charter board officials on the matter.
This story originally appeared at WAMU.
