The Effects of Education on Teacher Retention

Literature on the study of teachers' career choices and retention rates is broad and encompassing. It can be found under several titles, including teacher attrition, teacher survival, teacher retention, teacher burnout, and teacher turnover. At times, there appears to be no clear taxonomy and often these terms may overlap. Authors often discuss teacher attrition or teacher survival in their articles as if teachers were leaving the profession. However, upon a close examination of their sample, it may be apparent that the authors are studying teacher turnover using a sample from a particular geographic location. An author may be using data from a state or local data bank and assume that if a teacher drops from the data bank from one year to the next, that the teacher may have left teaching (or did not "survive" teaching). In fact, the teacher may have moved to a neighboring district or state, he may be taking a break from teaching, or the district may have laid him off or terminated him. A few panel or longitudinal studies of teachers have been performed (Chapman & Hutcheson, 1982; and Chapman, 1984), but the samples in these studies have tended to be small and regional. However, results from at least one major national study, the National Longitudinal Study of 1972 performed by the Center for Educational Statistics, are interesting. The study found that 18.3% of experienced teachers (those who had taught for at least one year) had taken a break from teaching and re-entered it at some point in their careers (Heyns, 1988). A Review of Previous Studies Much of the previous research on the relationship of education to teacher retention has focused on some measure of academic achievement, such as scores on the National Teachers Examination, or on subject specialty, for instance the difference between physics teachers and English teachers. According to Schlechty & Vance (1981 & 1982), teaching attracts the less academically able students and, of those who begin teacher training, the more academically able students are more likely to change their majors from education to some other field. In the Schlechty and Vance articles, a longitudinal study of teachers in North Carolina found that the most academically proficient teachers, as measured by their scores on the National Teachers Examination are the most likely to leave teaching. Likewise, the least academically able students were the most likely to remain in the classroom. Schlechty and Vance admitted that the National Teachers Examination was not designed to measure academic ability but said that, ". significant correlations have been demonstrated between National Teachers Examination scores and established measures of academic ability, e.g., grade point averages, Graduate Record Examination scores, and Scholastic Aptitude Test scores" (Schlechty & Vance, 1981, p. 107). A much larger study by the Center for Educational Statistics found that: Former teachers in the aggregate scored slightly better than current teachers on SAT tests and on high school achievement tests in math and slightly worse on tests of verbal skill. These differences, however, are quite small and not significant. But current teachers tended to receive higher grades in both high school and college, and they were significantly more likely to have graduate training and advanced degrees. (Heyns, 1988, p. 28) It would appear that teachers who leave the profession may score higher on tests which correlate with measures of academic ability, but that teachers who stay in teaching score higher on what Schlechty and Vance refer to as "established measures" of academic ability such as grade point averages and degree attainment. A study by Murnane (1987) in Michigan found that chemistry teachers and physics teachers were more likely to leave after a few years than biology teachers and history teachers. Another study by Murnane, Singer, and Willett (1989) in North Carolina found that chemistry/physics, biology, and English teachers were more likely to leave teaching after only one or two years than mathematics and social studies teachers. …