Teacher Attrition 

and Mobility

Results from the Teacher

Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

U.S. Department of Education E.D.Tabs

Institute of Education Sciences

NCES 2004–301
Teacher Attrition 

and Mobility

Results from the Teacher

Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

E.D.Tabs

August 2004

U.S. Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences

NCES 2004–301

Michael T. Luekens

Deanna M. Lyter

Erin E. Fox

Education Statistics 

Services Institute/

American Institutes 

for Research

Kathryn Chandler

Project Officer

National Center for 

Education Statistics

Schools and Staffing Survey

SASS
ii Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

U.S. Department of Education

Rod Paige

Secretary

Institute of Education Sciences

Grover J. Whitehurst

Director

National Center for Education Statistics

Robert Lerner

Commissioner

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Suggested Citation

Luekens, M.T., Lyter, D.M., and Fox, E.E. (2004). Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey,

2000–01 (NCES 2004–301). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S.

Government Printing Office.

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Acknowledgments iii

Many people contributed to the production of this report, and the authors would like to thank several in particular. At the American Institutes for Research, Education Statistics Services Institute, special thanks goes to Greg

Strizek for overseeing much of the project, Dan McGrath, Sarah Kaffenberger, Erica McKnight, Perry Grossman,

Mike Planty, and Gerard Rainville for editing and review, and Heather Block for graphic design work.

At the National Center for Education Statistics, Kathryn Chandler, Kerry Gruber, Stephen Broughman, and

Lynn Zhao of the Elementary/Secondary and Library Studies Division reviewed several drafts of the report and

provided valuable feedback and guidance. Marilyn McMillen Seastrom, Chief Statistician for NCES, was the statistical standards reviewer for this report. Their suggestions improved the final product.

The tables in this report were generated by the U.S. Census Bureau under the direction of Steven Tourkin,

Demographic Surveys Division, and Howard McGowan, Education Surveys Programming Branch. Jennifer

Peterson produced many of the tables and was a great help in responding to questions. The authors appreciate

their hard work and attention to detail.

Finally, the authors wish to thank the respondents to the Teacher Follow-up Survey. This report would not be

possible without their participation.

The draft manuscript of this report was reviewed within NCES by Tai Phan, Chris Chapman, and Kristin Perry.

Acknowledgments
iv Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01
Table of Contents v

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .iii

List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Data Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Organization of the Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Selected Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Who Is Most Likely to Move or Leave? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Why Do Teachers Move or Leave? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Where Do These Teachers Go When They Move or Leave? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Who Is Most Likely to Move or Leave? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Why Do Teachers Move or Leave? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Where Do Teachers Go When They Move or Leave? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Appendix A: Standard Error Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Appendix B: Technical Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Appendix C: Description of Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Table of Contents
vi Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01
List of Tables vii

Table 1. Number and percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers, 

by sector: 1988–89, 1991–92, 1994–95, and 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Table 2. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers, by selected school 

and teacher characteristics: 1987–88 to 1988–89, 1990–91 to 1991–92, 1993–94 to 1994–95, and

1999–2000 to 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Table 3. Number and percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers, 

by selected school and teacher characteristics: 1999–2000 to 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Table 4. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers with various average

reported income levels during the base year, by selected school 

and teacher characteristics: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Table 5. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers that reported plans 

to remain in teaching: 1999–2000 and 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Table 6. Percentage of public and private school teacher movers who rated various reasons as very 

important or extremely important in their decision to move from their base year school, by 

selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Table 7. Percentage of public and private school teacher leavers who rated various reasons as very 

important or extremely important in their decision to leave the teaching profession, by selected 

school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Table 8. Percentage of public school teacher leavers collecting a pension from a teacher retirement system, 

and percentage of leavers collecting a pension reporting that various factors were very important 

or extremely important in their decision to retire, by selected school and teacher characteristics:

2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Table 9. Percentage of public and private school teacher movers and leavers who strongly agreed or 

strongly disagreed with various statements about their former schools: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Table 10. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers who indicated the 

instructional leader in their base year school was very effective or extremely effective at 

performing various activities: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Table 11. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers and movers who strongly agreed or 

strongly disagreed with various statements about the administrators and staff at their base year

schools: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Table 12. Percentage of base year teachers moving across schools, school districts, and sectors: 1999–2000 

to 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Table 13. Current main occupational status of public and private school teacher leavers: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . .24

Table 14. Percentage of public and private school teacher leavers who were working that rated various 

aspects of their current main occupation as better than teaching, not better than teaching, or no 

difference: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

List of Tables
viii Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Appendix A: Standard Error Tables

Table A1. Standard errors for table 1: Number and percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, 

movers, and leavers, by sector: 1988–89, 1991–92, 1994–95, and 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Table A2. Standard errors for table 2: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and 

leavers, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 1987–88 to 1988–89, 1990–91 to 

1991–92, 1993–94 to 1994–95, and 1999–2000 to 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Table A3. Standard errors for table 3: Number and percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, 

movers, and leavers, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 1999–2000 to 2000–01 . . . . . . .31

Table A4. Standard errors for table 4: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and 

leavers with various average reported income levels during the base year, by selected school 

and teacher characteristics: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

Table A5. Standard errors for table 5: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and 

leavers that reported plans to remain in teaching: 1999–2000 and 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Table A6. Standard errors for table 6: Percentage of public and private school teacher movers who rated 

various reasons as very important or extremely important in their decision to move from their 

base year school, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Table A7. Standard errors for table 7: Percentage of public and private school teacher leavers who rated 

various reasons as very important or extremely important in their decision to leave the teaching 

profession, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Table A8. Standard errors for table 8: Percentage of public school teacher leavers collecting a pension from 

a teacher retirement system, and percentage of leavers collecting a pension reporting that various 

factors were very important or extremely important in their decision to retire, by selected school 

and teacher characteristics: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Table A9. Standard errors for table 9: Percentage of public and private school teacher movers and leavers 

who strongly agreed or strongly disagreed with various statements about their former schools: 

2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Table A10. Standard errors for table 10: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and 

leavers who indicated the instructional leader in their base year school was very effective or 

extremely effective at performing various activities: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Table A11. Standard errors for table 11: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers and movers 

who strongly agreed or strongly disagreed with various statements about the administrators and 

staff at their base year schools: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Table A12. Standard errors for table 12: Percentage of base year teachers moving across schools, school 

districts, and sectors: 1999–2000 to 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Table A13. Standard errors for table 13: Current main occupational status of public and private school teacher

leavers: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Table A14. Standard errors for table 14: Percentage of public and private school teacher leavers who were 

working that rated various aspects of their current main occupation as better than teaching, not 

better than teaching, or no difference: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
List of Tables ix

Appendix B: Technical Notes Tables

Table B1. Number of selected teachers in the SASS sample, by teacher type: 1999–2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Table B2. TFS sample allocation: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Table B3. TFS final interview status, by 1999–2000 SASS final interview status: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Table B4. TFS data collection schedule: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Table B5. TFS Image Data Capture Quality Assurance Summary: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Table B6. TFS survey response rates, by sector and teaching status, unweighted and weighted: 2000–01 . . . . . .59

Table B7. Survey response rates for the 1999–2000 SASS Teacher Listing Form, 1999–2000 SASS Teacher

Questionnaire, and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey, weighted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Table B8. Summary of TFS item response rates, unweighted: 2000–01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
x Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01
Summary 1

Introduction

Between the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 school years, approximately 8 percent of public and private school teachers transferred to a different school and 7 percent and 13 percent of public and private school teachers, respectively, chose to leave the teaching profession (table 1). Teachers who change schools or leave the teaching profession create difficulties for school administrators who must spend valuable time and resources to adequately

staff their classrooms. Additionally, teachers moving and leaving raise questions about the professional satisfaction of teachers. In order to gain an understanding of the professional motivations of teachers who leave their

positions, three related questions must be examined. First, who is most likely to move or leave? Understanding

trends in teachers moving and leaving will enable policymakers to target those teachers who are most likely to

leave their positions. Second, why do teachers move or leave? It is important to understand the underlying reasons for these decisions to develop strategies to retain teachers. Finally, where do teachers go when they move or

leave? Information about what teachers do after they leave their position, and how these new positions compare

to teaching, provides insight about the professional needs of teachers. This report seeks to shed light on these

questions by examining the characteristics of teachers who left the teaching profession between the 1999–2000

and 2000–01 school years (“leavers”), teachers who continued teaching but changed schools (“movers”), and

teachers who continued teaching in the same school in 2000–01 (“stayers”).

Data Source

The Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) is a one-year follow-up of a sample of approximately 8,400 teachers who

were originally selected for the teacher component in the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). The Schools and

Staffing Survey is an integrated set of surveys of public and private schools, principals, teachers, library media

centers, and public school districts throughout the United States of America. There have been four data cycles

for the Schools and Staffing Survey, and likewise, four Teacher Follow-up Surveys.

The 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey data in this report link responses from the 2000–01 school year to characteristics of those same teachers who participated in SASS during the 1999–2000 school year. Within this

report, there are some data that are drawn directly from the 1999–2000 SASS. These data are termed “base

year” because the SASS sample is the “base” for the teachers who are selected for the Teacher Follow-up Survey.

Base year characteristics include personal and professional descriptors of the teacher (age, sex, race/ethnicity,

teaching assignment field), as well as characteristics of the school in which the teachers worked in 1999–2000

(whether the school was public or private, region of the country in which the school was located, and the community type or locale of the school). These “base year” characteristics provide the context for the data collected

in the Teacher Follow-up Survey.

The purpose of the Teacher Follow-up Survey is to provide information about teacher mobility and attrition. For

example, how do teachers who remain teaching at the same school from year to year (“stayers”) compare with

those who do not? How many teachers move from one school to another school (“movers”)? What percentage

of teachers leave the profession between one year and the next (“leavers”)? These types of questions can be

answered with data from the Teacher Follow-up Survey. For teachers who leave the profession, TFS asks about

Summary
2 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

their occupational status (are former teachers working, retired, or caring for family members?) or whether they

are seeking further education, and reasons for leaving teaching, as well as recommendations for how schools

might retain teachers. Those who remain in teaching are asked about changes in teaching assignment, opinions

about retaining teachers, and retirement plans. Teachers who move from one school to another are asked to

describe the type of school to which they moved. Furthermore, data from the Teacher Follow-up Survey can be

used to compare attrition and mobility across the public and private school sectors.

Approximately 3,300 stayers, 2,200 movers, and 2,800 leavers were included in the initial 2000–01 Teacher

Follow-up Survey sample. A questionnaire for former teachers was mailed to leavers, while stayers and movers

were mailed a separate questionnaire for current teachers. The unit survey response rate for the TFS was 90 percent (90 percent for current teachers and 89 percent for former teachers), and 97 percent of questionnaire items

had a response rate of 90 percent or higher. The cumulative overall response rate for the Teacher Follow-up

Survey is based on the response rate to the SASS teacher listing form, the SASS teacher questionnaire response

rate, and the TFS response rate. Because TFS estimates are based on a sample, they may differ somewhat from

the values obtained from administering a complete census using the same questionnaire, instructions, and procedures. For more detailed technical information about the Teacher Follow-up Survey, please see appendix B of this

report.

Organization of the Report

The body of this report is organized around the three previously described questions related to teacher attrition

and mobility in the United States: Who is most likely to move or leave? Why do teachers move or leave? Where

do these teachers go? A set of tables with data from the 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey is presented for each

question.

The first section, “Who Is Most Likely to Move or Leave?,” presents basic information on base year (1999–2000)

teachers who left the teaching profession (“leavers”), as well as corresponding characteristics of teachers who

remained in their base year schools (“stayers”) or who moved to another school to teach during the 2000–01

school year (“movers”). The number and percentage of stayers, movers, and leavers are reported along a number of selected teacher, school, and job characteristics, as well as teachers’ plans to remain in teaching, as reported in SASS in 1999–2000. This section also includes the average income levels of stayers, movers, and leavers

during the 1999–2000 school year.

The second section, “Why Do Teachers Move or Leave?,” includes current and former teachers’ satisfaction with

their base year schools, their perceptions of the administrators, instructional leaders, and staff at their base year

schools, and the reasons movers and leavers gave for leaving the school in which they taught in 1999–2000.

Finally, the section titled, “Where Do Teachers Go When They Move or Leave?,” reports the current main occupational status of former teachers, as well as how those teachers perceived their current jobs relative to their former teaching positions. The percentage of base year teachers moving across schools, school districts, and sectors

is also considered in this section, as are data on base year teachers who retired from the teaching profession

between the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 school years.

Many of the tables found in this report present findings by a set of selected teacher and school characteristics.

Included among these characteristics are the sector (public or private) and level of the school (elementary, 
Summary 3

secondary, or combined-grade) at which the respondent taught during the 1999–2000 school year, the main

assignment field (e.g., mathematics, science) and teaching status (full-time or part-time) of the respondent in

1999–2000, and the current or former teachers’ years of teaching experience, age, sex, and race/ethnicity1.

Public school teachers include those who teach in public charter schools as well as in traditional public

schools.

The final portion of this report includes three appendices that provide supporting information for the data

reported. Standard error tables for every table included in this report are located in appendix A. Technical

notes, located in appendix B, include an overview of the survey content, target populations and estimates, sample design and implementation, data collection procedures, response rates, imputation procedures, and weighting. Finally, appendix C provides a brief description of the SASS and TFS variables used to produce the tables

in this report.

This report was written to be understandable to readers with little statistical background. For more information concerning survey design and collection, the statistical procedures used in the report, and the accuracy of

estimates, please see appendix B. Additional information concerning the Teacher Follow-up Survey is also

available on the World Wide Web at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/SASS. All differences discussed in this report

were tested and found to be statistically significant at the .05 level. However, not all statistically significant differences are discussed. As this is a descriptive report, readers should not attempt to draw causal inferences from

the findings.

Selected Findings

Who Is Most Likely to Move or Leave?

■ Between the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 school years 85 percent of all public school teachers remained at the

same school, 8 percent moved to a different school, and 7 percent left the teaching profession (table 1). A

higher proportion of public school teachers left the profession between the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 school

years compared to the 1990–91 to 1991–92 and 1987–88 to 1988–89 school years.

■ Between 1999–2000 and 2000–01, private school teachers were more likely to leave teaching (13 percent)

than their public school counterparts (7 percent) (table 1). Conversely, public school teachers were more likely to stay, and 8 percent of the teachers in both sectors moved.

■ Public and private school teachers with fewer than 10 years of teaching experience were more likely than

their more experienced colleagues to move to a different school between the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 school

years (table 2). Additionally, private school teachers with one to three years of experience were more likely

to leave the profession than more experienced teachers. 

■ Public and private school teachers who were younger than age 30 were also more likely to move than older

teachers in both sectors (table 3). In public and private schools, respectively, 16 percent and 13 percent of

teachers who were less than 30 years old transferred to another school. Public school teachers who were older

than 50 years of age or younger than 30 years of age were more likely to leave the teaching profession after

1999–2000 than other public school teachers, while private school teachers younger than 30 years old were

also more likely to leave than their older counterparts. 

1 For more information on these and other variables used in this report, please see appendix C.
4 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

■ Approximately 34 percent of public school movers earned $40,000 or more in 1999–2000, in comparison to

50 percent of public school stayers and leavers (table 4). Additionally, both public school movers and leavers

were more likely to earn less than $30,000 (23 percent and 21 percent, respectively) compared to public school

stayers (16 percent). Similar trends appear among private school teachers. For example, 69 percent of private

school leavers and 68 percent of movers reported earning less than $30,000 in annual income, compared to

54 percent of private school stayers. For more information regarding public and private school teachers’ average salaries and earned income, please see tables 76–79 in the Digest of Education Statistics 2002 (NCES

2003–060), U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

■ Many public and private school leavers did not plan to leave the teaching profession when asked during the

2000–01 school year (table 5). Twenty-seven percent of public school leavers and 40 percent of private school

leavers stated in 1999–2000 that they planned to remain in teaching as long as they were able. Nineteen percent and 32 percent of public and private school leavers, respectively, were undecided about their future plans

to remain in teaching when asked during the base year.

Why Do Teachers Move or Leave?

■ Among the reasons that public school teachers gave in 2000–01 for moving to a new school were an opportunity for a better teaching assignment (40 percent), dissatisfaction with support from administrators (38 percent), and dissatisfaction with workplace conditions (32 percent) (table 6).

■ Like public school movers, private school movers frequently cited an opportunity for a better teaching assignment (42 percent) and dissatisfaction with support from administrators (41 percent) as reasons for changing

schools following the 1999–2000 school year (table 6). However, private school movers more frequently reported changing schools to obtain a better salary or benefits (48 percent) than public school movers (19 percent).

■ Twenty-nine percent of public school leavers reported in 2000–01 that they left the teaching profession in

order to retire and about 20 percent each reported that they left to pursue another career and obtain a better

salary or benefits (table 7). Private school leavers also frequently reported that they left teaching to pursue

another career (31 percent) or obtain a better salary or benefits (28 percent). However, private school leavers

were less likely than public school teachers to report that they left in order to retire (11 percent).

■ Among public and private school teachers who left the teaching profession between 1999–2000 and 2000–01,

larger percentages of women than men cited pregnancy/child rearing and health as very important or extremely important reasons in their decision to leave teaching (table 7). Conversely, men were more likely than

women to report leaving their public or private school teaching position for a better salary or benefits, to pursue another career, or to take courses to improve their career opportunities within or outside the field of education. 

■ One-half of all black, non-Hispanic public school leavers in 2000–01 cited retirement as a very or extremely

important reason in their decision to leave teaching, compared to 28 percent of white leavers (table 7). Black,

non-Hispanic public school leavers (44 percent) were also more likely to report that they left teaching to pursue a better salary or benefits than white, non-Hispanic (17 percent), Hispanic (13 percent), and American

Indian or Asian (13 percent) leavers.

■ Of public school teachers who left teaching after the 1999–2000 school year and who were drawing a pension in 2000–01, about three-quarters indicated that their eligibility to receive full pension benefits was a

very or extremely important factor in their decision to retire (table 8). Eligibility for an early retirement

incentive was also an important factor in the decision to retire for about one-quarter (27 percent) of these

former teachers.
Summary 5

■ Public school movers were generally more likely to report dissatisfaction with their teaching experience in their

former school than public school leavers (table 9). For example, movers were more likely to report that they were

not satisfied with their salary at their 1999–2000 school (29 percent) than leavers (22 percent). Additionally,

public school movers were more likely to report that student behavior was a problem (25 percent) than leavers

(13 percent).

■ A comparison of private school movers’ and leavers’ levels of satisfaction with aspects of their 1999–2000

school shows that movers were less satisfied than leavers with the salary and benefits they received (table 9).

Private school movers were also more likely than leavers to report that they had neither enough influence over

the school’s policies and practices nor enough autonomy and control over the classroom in 1999–2000.

■ Movers were more critical of the instructional leader at their 1999–2000 school than stayers, in both public

and private schools, on all eight measures included in the Teacher Follow-up Survey (table 10). Public school

movers were also less likely than leavers to report that their 1999–2000 instructional leader was very or

extremely effective at communicating respect and value of teachers, encouraging teachers to change teaching

methods if students were not doing well, encouraging professional collaboration among teachers, and working

with teaching staff to solve school or department problems. Private school movers were more critical of their

previous year’s instructional leader than private school leavers on one measure: encouraging teachers to change

teaching methods if students were not doing well.

■ Private school movers and leavers were less likely than private school stayers to rate their former instructional leader as being effective on a variety of measures (table 10). For example, 66 percent of stayers, 41 percent

of movers, and 46 percent of leavers reported that their instructional leader was effective at encouraging 

professional collaboration among teachers in the 1999–2000 school year. Sixty-three percent of stayers, 39

percent of movers, and 40 percent of leavers reported that their instructional leader was very or extremely

effective at facilitating and encouraging professional development activities of teachers. Additionally, 70 percent of stayers reported that their instructional leader was very or extremely effective at communicating respect

and value of teachers compared to 52 percent of movers and 61 percent of leavers.

■ Movers were generally less satisfied than stayers with their former school’s administrators and staff (table 11).

For example, fewer public and private school movers strongly agreed that there was a great deal of cooperative effort among staff members at their 1999–2000 school compared to public and private school stayers.

Where Do Teachers Go When They Move or Leave?

■ Between the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 school years, private school movers were much more likely to transfer

to the public school sector (53 percent) than public school movers were to transfer to the private school sector (2 percent) (table 12). Additionally, switching to the public school sector was more common among private school teachers with less than 5 years experience (61 percent) than among those with 5 or more years

experience (48 percent).

■ About half (53 percent) of public school movers chose to move to a public school in a different school district for the 2000–01 school year, while 45 percent moved to a different school but remained in the same

public school district (table 12).

■ Public school leavers were most likely to specify “retired” as their main occupational status in 2000–01 (28

percent), whereas private school leavers were most likely to report that they were working in an occupation

outside the field of education (30 percent) or were caring for family members (24 percent) (table 13). About

20 percent of public school leavers and 14 percent of private school leavers continued to work in a K–12 school

in 2000–01, but were no longer teaching.
6 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

■ Of leavers who reported that their main occupational status in 2000–01 was working, private school leavers

(67 percent) were more likely than public school leavers (32 percent) to be employed in the private sector

(table 13). Fifty-nine percent and 23 percent of public and private school leavers whose main occupational

status was working, respectively, reported being employed by the local, state, or federal government.

■ Leavers who were working in a non-teaching position in 2000–01 were asked to compare their current position to their 1999–2000 teaching position on 17 occupational characteristics, like salary, intellectual challenge,

availability of resources, and recognition and support from administrators or managers (table 14). Of leavers

who did not report “no difference” between the two positions, public school leavers indicated that 15 of the

17 characteristics were better in their current position than in teaching, with the exception of benefits and job

security. Similarly, private school leavers were more likely to report that 16 of the 17 characteristics were better in their current position than better in teaching, with job security being the lone exception.

■ In comparing their new positions with teaching, half or more of both public and private school leavers who

selected working as their main occupational status reported that the manageability of their workload, opportunities for professional advancement, professional prestige, and general work conditions were better in their

current (2000–01) positions (table 14). Private school leavers were more likely to report that they received a

better salary in their current position (65 percent) than were public school leavers (44 percent).
Who Is Most Likely to Move or Leave? 7

Who Is Most Likely to Move or Leave?
8 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table 1. Number and percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers, by sector: 1988–89, 1991–92,

1994–95, and 2000–01

Sector and year Total base year teachers1 Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

Public

1988–89 2,386,500 2,065,800 188,400 132,300 86.5 7.9 5.6

1991–92 2,553,500 2,237,300 185,700 130,500 87.6 7.3 5.1

1994–95 2,555,800 2,205,300 182,900 167,600 86.3 7.2 6.6

2000–01 2,994,700 2,542,200 231,000 221,400 84.9 7.7 7.4

Private

1988–89 311,900 242,500 29,700 39,700 77.8 9.5 12.7

1991–92 353,800 287,100 23,200 43,500 81.1 6.6 12.3

1994–95 376,800 310,100 21,700 45,000 82.3 5.8 11.9

2000–01 448,600 354,800 37,600 56,200 79.1 8.4 12.5

1

The total number of base year teachers for any year is slightly lower than previously published counts, as all teachers who responded to SASS but were ineligible for the TFS (died or moved out

of the country) were removed from the weighted count of base year teachers.

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Total numbers are rounded to the nearest

100. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former

Teachers"); and U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Characteristics of Stayers, Movers, and Leavers: Results from the Teacher Followup Survey: 1994–95

(NCES 97–450).

Number Percentage
Who Is Most Likely to Move or Leave? 9

Table 2. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 1987–88 to 1988–89, 1990–91 to 1991–92, 1993–94 to 1994–95, and 1999–2000 to 2000–01

School or teacher characteristic Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

Total 86.5 7.9 5.6 87.6 7.3 5.1 86.3 7.2 6.6 84.9 7.7 7.4

Full-time teaching experience

1–3 years 77.4 14.3 8.3 79.7 13.1 7.2 79.6 12.7 7.8 78.2 13.3 8.5

4–9 years 82.9 11.1 6.0 84.8 9.9 5.3 83.0 9.9 7.1 83.3 10.2 6.5

10–19 years 89.3 6.7 4.0 91.0 6.5 2.4 89.1 6.6 4.4 86.9 6.6 6.5

20–24 years 93.6 4.1 2.2 93.3 3.3 3.4 92.5 2.8 4.6 93.6 3.5 3.0

25 years or more 84.9 4.1 11.0 85.9 3.1 11.0 84.9 4.1 11.1 85.3 3.5 11.2

Not reported1 95.0 2.5 2.5 † † † † † † † † †

Age

Less than 25 years 78.7 17.0 4.3 73.8 17.2 9.1 81.1 15.2 3.8 76.4 14.4 9.3

25–29 years 75.0 16.1 9.0 76.6 14.3 9.0 76.3 13.7 10.0 74.1 16.2 9.7

30–39 years 85.2 9.0 5.8 85.9 9.9 4.2 84.8 8.6 6.7 84.9 8.6 6.5

40–49 years 91.2 6.4 2.4 92.5 5.5 2.0 89.9 6.1 3.9 88.7 6.7 4.6

50–59 years 90.4 3.9 5.7 89.3 4.0 6.7 88.9 4.8 6.3 88.1 3.8 8.1

60–64 years 72.0 4.5 23.4 71.0 2.2 26.8 68.0 1.5 30.5 72.1 2.2 25.7

65 years or more 83.3 # 16.7 48.9 10.3 40.9 63.2 ‡ 34.1 80.4 3.1 16.6

Not reported1 77.9 9.3 8.5 † † † † † † † † †

Sex

Male 87.7 7.3 5.1 89.1 6.4 4.5 88.2 6.6 5.2 86.7 6.0 7.4

Female 86.1 8.1 5.8 87.1 7.6 5.3 85.6 7.4 7.1 84.3 8.3 7.4

Not reported1 81.8 11.0 7.2 † † † † † † † † †

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 86.5 7.8 5.7 87.6 7.3 5.1 86.7 6.8 6.5 85.0 7.6 7.5

American Indian or Alaska Native 95.0 1.9 3.1 96.3 2.0 1.7 90.0 6.6 3.5 87.9 4.7 7.5

Asian or Pacific Islander 73.7 22.1 4.2 84.7 8.2 7.0 87.8 9.8 2.4 81.7 16.2 2.1

Black, non-Hispanic 86.2 8.8 5.1 85.5 8.3 6.1 84.9 8.5 6.6 84.3 8.3 7.4

Hispanic 88.9 8.2 2.9 89.6 6.0 4.4 79.4 11.5 9.1 85.4 7.1 7.5

Not reported1 86.1 7.9 6.1 † † † † † † † † †

Region

Northeast 89.9 5.6 4.5 89.2 6.6 4.1 88.7 5.1 6.2 88.5 5.5 6.0

Midwest 86.5 7.6 5.9 89.7 5.9 4.4 85.3 6.5 8.2 86.6 6.9 6.5

South 84.7 9.3 5.9 86.1 8.1 5.9 85.1 8.4 6.5 81.8 9.5 8.7

West 86.0 8.3 5.7 86.0 8.3 5.7 87.3 7.9 4.8 84.8 7.6 7.7

School level

Elementary 86.0 8.8 5.2 86.6 8.0 5.3 85.4 7.8 6.8 84.7 8.6 6.8

Secondary 88.1 6.5 5.4 89.5 5.6 4.9 87.5 5.7 6.7 85.2 6.2 8.6

Combined 87.5 5.6 6.9 83.2 11.5 5.3 87.8 7.0 5.2 87.6 4.8 7.7

Not reported1 82.9 8.9 8.2 † † † † † † † † †

See footnotes at end of table.

From 1987–88 to 1988–89 From 1990–91 to 1991–92 From 1993–94 to 1994–95 From 1999–2000 to 2000–01

Public 
10 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table 2. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 1987–88 to 1988–89, 1990–91 to 1991–92, 1993–94 to 1994–95, and 1999–2000 to 2000–01—Continued

School or teacher characteristic Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

Total 77.8 9.5 12.7 81.1 6.6 12.3 82.3 5.8 11.9 79.1 8.4 12.5

Full-time teaching experience

1–3 years 70.6 13.5 15.9 73.5 9.8 16.7 72.3 10.3 17.3 66.8 12.0 21.2

4–9 years 75.7 11.6 12.8 79.2 8.1 12.7 81.2 7.0 11.9 78.2 11.0 10.8

10–19 years 81.1 7.5 11.4 88.6 5.3 6.2 89.7 2.4 7.9 87.5 5.7 6.8

20–24 years 85.5 7.1 7.4 92.3 3.0 4.7 92.3 2.5 5.2 88.1 5.7 6.2

25 years or more 88.3 4.3 7.4 83.0 2.4 14.6 85.5 2.9 11.6 86.3 3.9 9.8

Not reported1 74.6 7.0 18.4 † † † † † † † † †

Age

Less than 25 years 63.2 17.9 19.0 62.4 13.8 23.8 67.4 12.6 20.0 58.5 11.5 29.9

25–29 years 64.8 17.5 17.6 70.4 11.8 17.8 76.1 10.8 13.1 67.9 13.6 18.6

30–39 years 78.5 9.1 12.4 78.7 7.5 13.7 77.6 7.5 14.9 77.5 8.8 13.7

40–49 years 82.0 7.5 10.5 87.2 5.2 7.7 87.2 4.1 8.7 83.8 7.7 8.5

50–59 years 82.3 6.4 11.3 87.0 3.3 9.6 89.3 2.4 8.2 88.9 5.2 5.9

60–64 years 79.8 3.3 16.9 81.1 1.1 17.8 84.9 2.0 13.1 71.0 10.9 18.1

65 years or more 88.2 3.9 7.9 73.4 5.9 20.7 56.6 ‡ 41.9 70.6 # 29.4

Not reported1 84.8 9.1 6.2 † † † † † † † † †

Sex

Male 83.7 6.1 10.2 81.6 6.3 12.1 82.1 4.8 13.1 81.1 7.2 11.7

Female 76.2 10.4 13.4 81.0 6.6 12.3 82.4 6.1 11.6 78.5 8.8 12.8

Not reported1 # ‡# † † † † † † † † †

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 78.7 9.2 12.1 81.3 6.7 12.0 82.5 5.7 11.7 79.0 8.7 12.3

American Indian or Alaska Native 67.1 15.5 17.5 83.5 ‡ 16.5 ‡ ‡ 38.5 76.9 2.9 20.2

Asian or Pacific Islander 90.3 ‡ 8.8 85.9 1.9 12.2 79.0 ‡ 17.5 68.6 7.2 24.2

Black, non-Hispanic 29.6 35.7 34.7 78.4 2.4 19.3 82.3 ‡ 12.6 83.2 2.1 14.8

Hispanic 68.6 10.2 21.3 77.4 9.0 13.6 77.2 ‡ 14.6 81.5 8.9 9.6

Not reported1 67.5 14.1 18.5 † † † † † † † † †

Region

Northeast 78.5 11.1 10.4 83.1 5.4 11.5 84.0 7.1 8.9 79.2 8.8 12.0

Midwest 81.5 8.6 9.9 83.6 6.7 9.7 84.3 5.9 9.8 79.4 8.4 12.3

South 75.6 8.8 15.6 77.3 6.7 16.0 81.5 4.1 14.5 78.4 7.7 13.9

West 73.4 9.3 17.3 81.7 8.1 10.2 78.3 6.7 15.0 79.8 9.2 11.0

School level

Elementary 77.0 10.9 12.1 81.2 7.4 11.4 83.7 5.8 10.5 78.8 10.2 11.0

Secondary 81.3 6.9 11.8 84.1 4.9 11.0 83.0 5.5 11.5 82.5 9.0 8.5

Combined 75.9 8.5 15.6 79.7 6.7 13.6 79.1 6.0 14.9 77.8 5.5 16.7

Not reported1 78.7 10.0 11.3 † † † † † † † † †

† Not applicable.

# Rounds to zero.

‡ Reporting standards not met.

1 The 1987–88 SASS and 1988–89 TFS data were not imputed; all other collections were imputed.

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Detail may not sum to totals because of

rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey (“Questionnaire for Current Teachers” and “Questionnaire for Former Teachers”); and U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Characteristics of Stayers, Movers, and Leavers: Results from the Teacher Followup Survey: 1994–95 (NCES 97–450).

From 1987–88 to 1988–89 From 1990–91 to 1991–92 From 1993–94 to 1994–95 From 1999–2000 to 2000–01

Private 
Who Is Most Likely to Move or Leave? 11

Table 3. Number and percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers, by selected school and

teacher characteristics: 1999–2000 to 2000–01

School or teacher characteristic Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

Total 2,542,200 231,000 221,400 84.9 7.7 7.4 354,800 37,600 56,200 79.1 8.4 12.5

Teaching experience

1–3 years 372,900 66,500 43,100 77.3 13.8 8.9 68,400 11,200 24,200 65.9 10.8 23.3

4–9 years 583,700 76,200 48,600 82.4 10.8 6.9 88,200 13,500 15,200 75.4 11.6 13.0

10–19 years 678,200 52,400 47,700 87.1 6.7 6.1 102,600 6,900 7,800 87.5 5.9 6.6

20 years or more 907,500 35,900 82,100 88.5 3.5 8.0 95,600 6,000 9,000 86.5 5.4 8.2

Age

Less than 30 years 367,900 77,200 47,300 74.7 15.7 9.6 55,700 11,100 19,700 64.4 12.8 22.8

30–39 years 601,200 60,800 46,300 84.9 8.6 6.5 81,000 9,200 14,300 77.5 8.8 13.7

40–49 years 810,600 61,300 41,700 88.7 6.7 4.6 112,200 10,300 11,400 83.8 7.7 8.5

50 years or more 762,600 31,700 86,100 86.6 3.6 9.8 105,800 7,000 10,800 85.6 5.7 8.7

Sex

Male 633,700 43,800 53,800 86.7 6.0 7.4 84,500 7,500 12,200 81.1 7.2 11.7

Female 1,908,500 187,200 167,600 84.3 8.3 7.4 270,300 30,100 44,000 78.5 8.8 12.8

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 2,158,100 191,900 190,400 85.0 7.6 7.5 317,300 34,800 49,600 79.0 8.7 12.3

American Indian or Alaska Native 19,900 1,100 1,700 87.9 4.7 7.5 2,900 100 700 76.9 2.9 20.2

Asian or Pacific Islander 43,100 8,600 1,100 81.7 16.2 2.1 4,500 500 1,600 68.6 7.2 24.2

Black, non-Hispanic 183,600 18,100 16,200 84.3 8.3 7.4 12,000 300 2,100 83.2 2.1 14.8

Hispanic 137,500 11,400 12,000 85.4 7.1 7.5 18,100 2,000 2,100 81.5 8.9 9.6

Main assignment field

Arts and music 155,400 21,900 15,600 80.6 11.4 8.1 25,100 2,400 2,300 84.3 8.1 7.7

English/language arts 263,100 22,500 19,100 86.3 7.4 6.3 30,000 3,300 4,700 79.0 8.7 12.3

General elementary 858,100 84,300 73,400 84.5 8.3 7.2 132,100 14,800 22,900 77.8 8.7 13.5

Mathematics 178,900 13,500 19,000 84.6 6.4 9.0 29,500 3,100 6,400 75.6 8.0 16.4

Science 158,300 12,400 13,500 85.9 6.7 7.3 25,600 3,600 2,700 80.2 11.4 8.4

Social studies 134,100 7,300 13,600 86.5 4.7 8.8 24,800 1,600 3,800 82.3 5.1 12.6

Special education 263,500 33,000 28,300 81.1 10.2 8.7 13,100 1,700 1,500 80.2 10.5 9.4

Other 530,800 36,100 38,900 87.6 6.0 6.4 74,600 7,100 11,900 79.7 7.6 12.7

Teaching status

Full-time 2,306,500 201,200 194,800 85.4 7.4 7.2 297,800 31,200 43,000 80.1 8.4 11.6

Part-time 235,700 29,900 26,600 80.7 10.2 9.1 57,000 6,400 13,100 74.4 8.4 17.2

Region

Northeast 525,300 32,700 35,500 88.5 5.5 6.0 82,500 9,100 12,500 79.2 8.8 12.0

Midwest 646,900 51,800 48,300 86.6 6.9 6.5 91,900 9,700 14,200 79.4 8.4 12.3

South 894,900 104,300 94,700 81.8 9.5 8.7 116,700 11,400 20,700 78.4 7.7 13.9

West 475,100 42,300 43,000 84.8 7.6 7.7 63,800 7,400 8,800 79.8 9.2 11.0

Community type

Central city 683,600 65,400 57,300 84.8 8.1 7.1 166,800 18,500 25,600 79.1 8.8 12.1

Urban fringe/large town 1,276,800 117,100 118,000 84.5 7.8 7.8 146,800 13,800 21,400 80.7 7.6 11.8

Rural/small town 581,800 48,600 46,000 86.0 7.2 6.8 41,200 5,300 9,200 74.0 9.5 16.5

School level

Elementary 1,668,600 168,800 133,600 84.7 8.6 6.8 170,700 22,200 23,900 78.8 10.2 11.0

Secondary 817,600 59,200 82,900 85.2 6.2 8.6 64,200 7,000 6,600 82.5 9.0 8.5

Combined 56,000 3,000 4,900 87.6 4.8 7.7 119,900 8,500 25,700 77.8 5.5 16.7

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 148,400 17,800 15,200 81.8 9.8 8.4 117,000 14,100 23,700 75.6 9.1 15.3

200–349 students 279,900 29,300 22,200 84.5 8.8 6.7 88,300 10,700 13,100 78.8 9.5 11.7

350–499 students 408,200 36,300 35,300 85.1 7.6 7.4 53,300 4,200 6,600 83.2 6.5 10.3

500–749 students 704,500 68,000 59,000 84.7 8.2 7.1 42,800 3,700 5,800 81.9 7.1 11.1

750 students or more 1,001,300 79,600 89,800 85.5 6.8 7.7 53,300 4,900 7,100 81.6 7.6 10.8

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 873,600 66,700 70,000 86.5 6.6 6.9 197,300 20,700 30,200 79.5 8.4 12.2

10–34 percent 714,700 64,800 58,600 85.3 7.7 7.0 100,700 10,100 15,700 79.6 8.0 12.4

35 percent or more 954,000 99,500 92,800 83.2 8.7 8.1 56,800 6,800 10,300 77.0 9.2 13.9

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Total numbers are rounded to the nearest

100. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Number Percentage Number Percentage

Public Private 
12 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table 4. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers with various average reported income levels during the base year, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01

Less than $30,000 to $40,000 Less than $30,000 to $40,000 Less than $30,000 to $40,000

School or teacher characteristic $30,000 $39,999 or more $30,000 $39,999 or more $30,000 $39,999 or more

Total 15.6 34.7 49.7 22.6 43.9 33.5 21.0 29.2 49.8

Teaching experience

1–3 years 40.8 47.9 11.3 44.8 45.6 9.6 54.1 35.5 10.3

4–9 years 19.3 52.8 28.0 20.5 54.4 25.1 26.4 43.9 29.7

10–19 years 12.4 33.2 54.4 5.8 45.8 48.4 11.9 43.0 45.1

20 years or more 5.3 18.8 75.9 10.4 15.7 73.8 5.6 9.3 85.2

Age

Less than 30 years 36.7 47.2 16.2 33.3 54.9 11.9 47.5 32.6 19.9

30–39 years 19.4 48.1 32.6 20.0 48.1 31.9 17.8 54.7 27.5

40–49 years 10.7 31.5 57.9 16.8 37.9 45.3 22.9 17.4 59.7

50 years or more 7.7 21.7 70.6 13.0 20.7 66.3 7.2 19.5 73.4

Sex

Male 11.4 31.2 57.4 11.8 39.5 48.8 19.4 25.2 55.4

Female 17.0 35.9 47.1 25.2 44.9 29.9 21.5 30.5 48.0

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 16.2 33.4 50.4 23.5 45.4 31.1 20.9 30.9 48.2

American Indian or Alaska Native 22.4 31.0 46.6 10.5 53.3 36.2 18.3 12.4 69.3

Asian or Pacific Islander 1.6 41.4 56.9 7.3 25.1 67.5 8.4 26.9 64.7

Black, non-Hispanic 14.3 41.9 43.8 20.3 35.1 44.6 13.5 15.7 70.7

Hispanic 11.0 43.9 45.0 23.4 46.2 30.4 32.8 23.5 43.7

Main assignment field

Arts and music 26.8 32.7 40.5 18.3 36.5 45.2 30.5 18.4 51.1

English/language arts 12.4 31.9 55.7 17.3 38.2 44.5 30.9 26.4 42.8

General elementary 16.2 36.1 47.7 29.9 48.9 21.2 23.5 29.2 47.3

Mathematics 16.7 34.4 48.9 23.7 43.0 33.4 32.5 36.3 31.3

Science 8.9 40.3 50.8 20.1 33.8 46.1 10.2 22.6 67.2

Social studies 15.1 38.9 45.9 21.1 38.7 40.1 4.2 21.7 74.1

Special education 16.6 33.5 49.9 17.0 49.8 33.2 15.4 37.7 46.9

Other 14.2 32.4 53.4 17.4 39.8 42.8 15.5 30.4 54.1

Teaching status

Full-time 13.5 35.8 50.7 21.8 46.1 32.2 16.3 29.7 54.0

Part-time 36.6 24.0 39.4 28.1 29.3 42.6 55.3 25.8 19.0

Region

Northeast 7.1 25.6 67.4 6.9 48.9 44.2 5.2 24.1 70.7

Midwest 21.5 27.3 51.2 37.0 33.2 29.8 19.5 22.6 57.9

South 17.2 45.4 37.4 22.8 49.9 27.4 26.5 32.5 41.1

West 14.0 34.8 51.2 16.8 38.4 44.9 23.4 33.8 42.8

Community type

Central city 13.1 29.9 57.0 17.1 41.5 41.4 19.6 32.4 48.0

Urban fringe/large town 12.0 33.0 55.0 19.8 45.5 34.7 16.4 25.9 57.6

Rural/small town 26.3 44.2 29.5 36.8 43.2 20.0 34.3 33.8 31.9

School level

Elementary 17.7 35.4 46.9 24.2 45.9 29.9 24.2 31.8 44.1

Secondary 10.9 32.9 56.2 17.8 38.5 43.7 15.3 25.0 59.7

Combined 22.5 41.8 35.7 27.0 36.0 37.0 29.6 31.5 38.9

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 35.2 41.6 23.2 48.8 15.2 36.0 57.3 21.5 21.2

200–349 students 21.7 33.0 45.2 32.4 42.3 25.3 23.6 50.6 25.8

350–499 students 17.9 38.9 43.2 35.1 34.4 30.6 19.0 31.3 49.8

500–749 students 15.5 36.9 47.6 17.2 57.0 25.8 24.3 28.7 47.1

750 students or more 10.1 31.0 59.0 12.1 44.0 43.9 12.8 24.8 62.4

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 19.6 36.0 44.5 25.2 49.7 25.1 25.6 25.1 49.3

10–34 percent 14.3 35.5 50.3 25.1 39.8 35.2 17.5 34.7 47.8

35 percent or more 13.0 33.0 54.0 19.3 42.7 38.1 19.6 28.9 51.5

See footnotes at end of table.

Stayers Movers Leavers

Public
Who Is Most Likely to Move or Leave? 13

Table 4. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers with various average reported income levels during the base year, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01—Continued

Less than $30,000 to $40,000 Less than $30,000 to $40,000 Less than $30,000 to $40,000

School or teacher characteristic $30,000 $39,999 or more $30,000 $39,999 or more $30,000 $39,999 or more

Total 53.9 24.1 22.1 67.8 22.3 9.9 69.0 21.1 9.9

Teaching experience

1–9 years 66.7 21.8 11.6 76.8 18.9 4.4 72.0 17.8 10.2

10–19 years 55.5 25.9 18.6 65.6 15.9 18.6 71.8 24.4 3.9

20 years or more 31.0 25.9 43.1 33.0 44.0 23.1 53.7 32.8 13.5

Age

Less than 30 years 73.8 18.3 7.9 78.1 20.2 1.7 73.9 17.6 8.6

30–39 years 53.0 29.3 17.7 63.8 20.6 15.5 67.7 17.0 15.3

40–49 years 55.6 21.0 23.5 70.9 19.7 9.5 75.4 19.5 5.1

50 years or more 42.2 26.3 31.5 52.2 31.5 16.3 55.3 34.8 9.9

Sex

Male 32.4 25.3 42.4 36.7 38.4 25.0 53.6 32.5 13.8

Female 60.6 23.7 15.8 75.5 18.3 6.2 73.3 18.0 8.8

Teaching status

Full-time 53.0 24.7 22.3 67.7 22.7 9.7 67.8 23.2 9.0

Part-time 58.2 20.9 20.9 68.3 20.5 11.2 73.0 14.4 12.6

Region

Northeast 45.6 27.4 27.0 73.3 18.4 8.3 61.6 22.9 15.6

Midwest 64.6 17.5 17.9 66.7 29.1 4.2 72.1 18.3 9.6

South 57.3 23.4 19.4 68.6 16.5 14.9 75.5 18.8 5.7

West 42.7 30.4 26.9 61.0 27.2 11.8 59.6 28.6 11.8

School level

Elementary 63.7 23.0 13.3 79.4 14.6 6.1 78.6 18.1 3.4

Secondary 35.0 27.1 37.9 51.8 36.7 11.5 44.9 38.1 17.0

Combined 49.9 23.9 26.2 50.7 30.5 18.8 66.4 19.6 14.0

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 67.5 18.8 13.7 72.9 21.6 5.5 77.5 17.4 5.2

200–349 students 60.7 25.8 13.5 70.5 20.5 9.0 79.1 10.8 10.2

350–499 students 45.4 27.2 27.4 65.1 22.4 12.6 65.7 22.7 11.6

500–749 students 47.8 28.1 24.1 53.5 37.6 8.9 65.5 21.8 12.7

750 students or more 25.9 26.2 48.0 60.3 16.6 23.1 28.3 50.7 21.1

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 58.1 21.9 20.0 72.8 17.4 9.8 75.0 17.8 7.3

10–34 percent 49.3 27.5 23.3 61.1 27.7 11.2 57.8 29.6 12.6

35 percent or more 47.1 25.6 27.3 62.5 29.1 8.3 68.7 18.0 13.3

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Detail may not sum to totals because of

rounding. For more information regarding public and private school teachers’ average salaries and earned income, please see tables 76–79 in the Digest of Education Statistics 2002 (NCES

2003–060), U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Some variables and data for public school teachers are not included for private school teachers as reporting

standards were not met (there were too few cases for particular response categories). 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Stayers Movers Leavers

Private
14 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table 5. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers that reported plans to remain in teaching:

1999–2000 and 2000–01

Plan Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

As long as I am able

1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey 42.9 44.9 29.7 40.5 43.1 27.1 60.1 56.2 39.7

2000–01 Teacher Followup Survey 36.6 39.4 † 34.7 37.9 † 50.1 48.6 †

Until I am eligible for retirement

1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey 34.5 24.5 25.2 37.2 27.1 29.2 15.4 9.0 9.7

2000–01 Teacher Followup Survey 36.3 25.0 † 38.6 26.1 † 20.2 18.3 †

Will probably continue unless something better comes along 

1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey 8.6 13.4 12.2 8.7 13.5 12.9 7.3 12.7 9.5

2000–01 Teacher Followup Survey 7.1 10.3 † 6.8 10.1 † 9.5 11.8 †

Definitely plan to leave teaching as soon as I can

1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey 2.3 4.1 11.3 2.4 4.4 11.8 1.4 2.3 9.5

2000–01 Teacher Followup Survey 4.5 5.8 † 4.8 6.4 † 2.7 2.3 †

Undecided at this time

1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey 11.8 13.0 21.6 11.2 11.9 19.0 15.9 19.9 31.7

2000–01 Teacher Followup Survey 15.5 19.5 † 15.2 19.5 † 17.5 19.1 †

† Not applicable.

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Detail may not sum to totals because of

rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Total Public Private
Why Do Teachers Move or Leave? 15

Why Do Teachers Move or Leave?
16 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table 6. Percentage of public and private school teacher movers who rated various reasons as very important or extremely

important in their decision to move from their base year school, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01

Opportunity Did not feel

for a better Dissatisfaction prepared to Did not have Dissatisfaction

teaching Dissatisfaction with support Dissatisfaction implement or enough with

assignment with workplace from with changes did not agree autonomy opportunities

Better (subject area conditions at administrators in job with new Laid off or over for professional

School or Changed salary or Higher job or grade previous at previous description or reform involuntarily classroom at development at 

teacher characteristic residence benefits security level) school school responsibilities measures transferred previous school previous school

Total 22.8 19.1 16.2 39.8 32.1 38.2 18.7 8.9 10.4 8.2 14.7

Teaching experience

1–3 years 30.1 24.4 19.2 45.3 29.4 33.4 17.9 6.2 14.0 10.7 12.0

4–9 years 23.1 19.2 15.1 40.5 31.2 35.7 14.9 5.9 8.6 7.4 20.4

10–19 years 24.4 13.7 14.6 29.3 33.6 37.6 16.5 12.0 8.3 7.0 5.5

20 years or more 6.5 16.9 14.9 43.3 36.9 53.7 31.3 15.8 11.0 7.0 20.9

Age

Less than 30 years 35.0 23.3 18.4 40.3 27.7 32.2 14.1 5.4 7.8 7.7 15.6

30–39 years 18.5 18.1 15.8 42.1 29.1 35.4 17.9 6.5 13.2 6.6 17.2

40–49 years 20.4 16.1 13.5 37.7 36.5 45.9 23.2 16.5 9.8 9.8 12.1

50 years or more 6.3 16.6 16.8 38.0 40.2 43.6 23.0 7.3 12.8 9.4 12.6

Sex

Male 13.5 30.6 23.1 46.8 24.6 37.5 21.1 14.7 9.0 6.3 15.5

Female 25.0 16.4 14.6 38.1 33.9 38.4 18.2 7.5 10.8 8.6 14.5

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 20.7 18.1 17.2 42.0 32.8 37.8 19.6 8.6 10.5 8.4 15.3

American Indian and Asian1 48.5 18.7 1.8 19.8 14.0 24.3 17.4 10.1 10.2 6.6 16.6

Black, non-Hispanic 32.6 30.0 12.7 24.4 41.6 45.1 7.4 3.0 9.8 5.4 6.5

Hispanic 21.1 18.0 16.1 43.5 20.9 46.3 22.5 22.1 11.1 10.4 15.1

Main assignment field

Arts and music 8.1 14.9 16.7 69.8 39.6 34.3 36.8 15.4 8.9 10.5 19.7

English/language arts 29.8 20.5 11.4 34.2 34.7 42.4 14.3 5.0 13.2 11.2 15.2

General elementary 30.3 12.9 15.7 36.8 27.7 36.4 14.7 7.5 10.9 5.3 19.7

Mathematics 25.5 25.5 14.0 19.0 26.3 33.8 14.5 9.6 8.1 2.6 5.9

Science 16.8 32.5 14.2 34.1 48.9 46.9 5.4 9.1 1.7 7.2 15.1

Social studies 14.3 28.5 26.2 47.0 26.4 32.8 12.8 6.9 16.9 16.7 7.8

Special education 10.3 15.5 18.4 40.7 33.9 41.9 27.1 14.1 8.9 14.5 8.4

Other 24.3 29.6 17.5 39.5 32.1 38.8 19.6 5.9 12.5 6.7 9.9

Teaching status

Full-time 24.1 19.9 16.4 39.3 33.5 40.5 18.5 9.5 8.6 8.5 14.8

Part-time 14.0 13.7 14.3 43.0 23.0 22.9 20.1 4.7 22.8 6.3 13.5

Region

Northeast 10.1 13.4 16.8 45.0 36.5 30.8 22.1 5.2 11.5 8.1 22.3

Midwest 29.4 23.1 16.0 33.3 34.2 36.3 12.7 7.5 8.4 7.8 12.7

South 23.3 20.7 14.7 41.4 29.8 41.5 20.9 7.4 9.6 7.2 13.7

West 23.4 14.5 19.6 39.7 31.7 38.5 18.0 17.0 14.3 11.3 13.6

Community type

Central city 26.9 18.3 19.2 38.9 43.7 47.0 23.5 13.8 9.9 12.3 16.0

Urban fringe/large town 17.4 17.6 15.0 40.2 27.5 35.7 19.0 8.7 11.0 6.7 16.9

Rural/small town 30.5 23.7 14.9 39.9 27.7 32.5 11.5 2.7 9.8 6.3 7.4

School level

Elementary 22.7 16.2 15.4 39.5 30.9 38.2 18.8 9.6 11.3 8.3 16.3

Secondary 22.2 27.2 18.3 40.7 34.8 38.8 17.6 7.0 8.2 8.1 9.7

Combined 44.1 19.7 17.4 36.9 47.2 29.6 36.0 5.5 7.1 4.1 20.4

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 30.9 18.7 20.2 34.9 55.2 64.5 14.7 5.4 10.2 6.5 8.8

200–349 students 16.8 25.7 17.6 38.5 27.2 32.1 16.2 4.8 12.8 7.5 10.9

350–499 students 26.9 14.8 19.1 43.1 28.3 28.9 19.5 4.1 13.1 6.8 17.2

500–749 students 18.9 15.4 13.5 32.2 29.5 38.8 18.8 11.0 12.1 13.5 13.2

750 students or more 24.7 21.8 15.6 46.3 32.7 38.4 20.1 11.6 6.9 4.9 17.5

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 20.3 22.4 15.6 37.4 24.7 28.6 9.7 5.1 9.5 5.4 14.7

10–34 percent 16.2 20.8 21.6 45.9 29.9 40.2 29.7 12.0 12.9 10.2 15.9

35 percent or more 28.8 15.7 13.0 37.4 38.5 43.4 17.6 9.5 9.4 8.7 13.8

See footnotes at end of table.

Public
Why Do Teachers Move or Leave? 17

Table 6. Percentage of public and private school teacher movers who rated various reasons as very important or extremely

important in their decision to move from their base year school, by selected school and teacher characteristics:

2000–01—Continued

Opportunity Dissatisfaction Did not feel Dissatisfaction

for a better Dissatisfaction with support Dissatisfaction prepared to with

teaching with workplace from with changes implement or opportunities

Better assignment conditions at administrators in job did not agree Laid off or for professional

School or Changed salary or Higher job (subject area previous at previous description or with new reform involuntarily development at

teacher characteristic residence benefits security or grade level) school school responsibilities measures transferred previous school

Total 14.1 47.9 26.1 41.6 26.8 41.2 24.1 14.4 11.7 24.7

Teaching experience

1–3 years 21.6 56.1 30.3 41.2 29.1 35.3 16.6 7.0 6.8 28.1

4–9 years 10.3 36.2 26.6 47.6 29.6 53.9 22.1 11.3 16.6 18.3

10–19 years 17.6 61.0 30.6 34.3 15.7 34.0 38.6 18.3 6.6 27.3

20 years or more 4.9 44.1 11.9 37.1 29.0 31.6 26.2 30.7 15.4 29.6

Age 

Less than 30 years 24.7 54.1 27.4 51.1 30.1 37.9 22.5 10.7 3.1 24.9

30–39 years 9.7 48.5 22.9 39.3 28.0 43.3 35.6 10.8 7.5 26.3

40–49 years 10.0 51.5 30.5 40.9 23.5 46.4 13.5 13.3 16.8 22.7

50 years or more 9.3 32.3 21.8 30.6 24.8 36.1 27.2 26.3 23.0 25.0

Sex

Male 11.6 52.0 21.6 45.2 24.3 31.9 30.4 4.9 7.2 25.1

Female 14.8 46.9 27.2 40.7 27.4 43.5 22.6 16.7 12.8 24.5

Teaching status

Full-time 16.4 52.0 27.1 42.2 27.2 42.9 22.5 9.1 9.0 24.6

Part-time 3.1 28.3 21.1 38.5 24.9 32.9 32.3 39.8 24.7 24.8

Region

Northeast 15.6 58.8 31.7 55.3 20.6 45.1 21.0 21.1 8.5 23.9

Midwest 7.3 44.1 23.1 45.2 32.0 37.7 25.2 9.6 11.4 21.9

South 23.5 52.7 19.1 31.6 17.3 27.9 21.4 6.4 10.6 19.5

West 6.7 32.2 34.0 35.3 42.3 61.5 30.9 24.5 17.5 37.2

Community type

Central city 13.5 45.6 27.5 41.6 32.0 48.7 29.1 17.0 7.9 25.6

Urban fringe/large town 16.6 54.7 24.5 42.4 23.6 32.7 22.3 12.0 8.8 27.0

Rural/small town 9.9 38.7 25.5 39.5 16.9 37.2 11.7 11.2 32.6 15.2

School level

Elementary 12.0 48.1 27.4 38.6 22.6 38.1 17.2 12.6 13.3 17.2

Secondary 12.6 36.7 15.4 52.5 43.5 46.4 36.0 24.8 16.2 38.0

Combined 20.9 57.0 31.6 40.6 24.0 44.9 32.6 10.2 3.5 33.1

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 13.8 45.2 23.1 37.9 21.8 38.8 24.2 17.0 12.3 22.6

10–34 percent 19.4 51.0 26.6 38.6 29.9 39.6 25.8 14.9 3.8 22.6

35 percent or more 7.2 51.9 34.5 57.3 37.7 50.9 21.3 5.4 21.4 34.1

1 “American Indian and Asian” includes respondents that identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native (Aleut, Alaska Indian, Yupik, Inupiat) and Asian or Pacific Islander (Japanese,

Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Asian Indian, Vietnamese, Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan, or other Asian).

NOTE: Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Respondents were asked to rate the importance

of various reasons in their decision to leave last year's school, although some reasons may be involuntary. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: "Not at all

important," "Slightly important," "Somewhat important," "Very important," and "Extremely important." This table includes the percent of movers who responded "Very important" or "Extremely

important." Some variables and data for public school teachers are not included for private school teachers as reporting standards were not met (there were too few cases for particular response

categories).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers").

Private
18 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table 7. Percentage of public and private school teacher leavers who rated various reasons as very important or extremely

important in their decision to leave the teaching profession, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01

To take

courses to Did not feel 

improve career prepared to

opportunities School Dissatisfied implement or

within or received Dissatisfied with changes did not agree

Better To pursue outside the little support with job in job with new

School or teacher Changed Pregnancy/ salary or another field of from the description or description or reform

characteristic residence child rearing Health Retirement benefits career education community responsibilities responsibilities measures

Total 11.0 16.5 10.5 29.1 19.0 20.6 14.7 6.4 13.1 11.0 8.5

Teaching experience

1–3 years 20.8 19.1 5.2 1.9 34.7 33.5 37.7 11.7 21.3 8.6 14.7

4–9 years 12.2 30.5 15.5 0.7 31.1 42.5 20.5 5.5 12.0 8.2 4.6

10–19 years 15.3 26.4 4.3 13.8 11.0 9.1 7.1 3.2 15.5 16.0 4.9

20 years or more 2.6 1.0 14.0 69.1 8.3 7.6 3.7 6.0 8.1 10.8 9.7

Age

Less than 40 years 15.2 34.8 9.2 0.6 28.6 32.8 25.9 7.2 11.5 5.5 7.0

40–49 years 11.2 8.4 7.5 12.8 28.4 20.7 11.8 5.5 14.0 11.4 9.3

50 years or more 6.3 0.4 13.5 68.0 4.0 7.3 4.0 6.0 14.5 16.6 9.8

Sex

Male 10.1 3.0 4.2 28.8 34.8 42.1 23.8 5.7 14.5 8.3 12.1

Female 11.3 20.8 12.6 29.2 14.0 13.7 11.8 6.7 12.7 11.8 7.4

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 10.6 18.3 11.5 27.7 17.4 21.7 14.9 6.9 14.1 11.0 7.6

American Indian and Asian1 3.8 8.6 10.4 22.5 12.8 15.7 11.3 11.9 12.2 31.9 28.1

Black, non-Hispanic 2.3 1.6 5.7 49.6 43.9 13.0 5.4 4.3 5.7 3.9 7.8

Hispanic 31.2 8.7 2.3 25.7 13.4 15.5 25.2 0.9 8.0 14.5 18.7

Main assignment field

Arts and music 18.1 12.2 22.5 25.4 15.8 35.5 20.6 4.7 4.6 4.6 4.0

English/language arts 14.4 16.0 6.4 37.2 15.2 17.1 8.8 4.6 16.9 16.8 7.2

General elementary 9.1 27.0 10.0 29.2 13.0 15.0 18.3 6.5 12.5 7.1 6.1

Mathematics 33.2 11.4 8.7 21.3 27.8 29.7 20.7 4.7 5.2 4.5 11.6

Science 2.4 6.0 30.6 22.5 15.0 20.3 7.5 7.6 10.0 5.2 5.8

Social studies 1.0 4.6 4.1 36.3 36.0 45.4 9.2 10.0 12.6 11.3 9.6

Special education 3.7 16.4 3.5 18.9 21.7 10.9 10.9 2.2 20.9 24.1 7.1

Other 10.9 8.9 10.2 37.5 22.7 21.0 12.9 10.0 15.4 13.4 15.7

Teaching status

Full-time 10.7 16.0 11.2 30.3 18.2 19.7 13.1 6.4 12.7 10.5 8.4

Part-time 13.1 19.9 5.7 20.3 25.0 27.3 26.4 6.6 16.2 14.0 9.4

Region

Northeast 14.2 12.9 14.7 29.5 18.3 29.8 9.1 8.5 11.2 13.3 9.6

Midwest 7.3 13.4 11.6 33.3 15.5 16.3 9.9 5.2 9.5 8.3 8.5

South 11.3 16.3 8.5 28.9 21.1 19.4 15.1 5.7 17.4 13.9 9.2

West 11.7 23.3 10.3 24.6 19.0 20.5 23.8 7.7 9.5 5.7 6.2

Community type

Central city 5.8 22.4 8.0 31.5 21.7 21.3 27.3 9.3 14.1 10.7 11.5

Urban fringe/large town 12.8 14.9 10.9 27.3 16.3 19.6 8.1 5.0 12.3 10.2 7.1

Rural/small town 12.7 13.0 12.7 30.9 22.7 22.4 16.0 6.5 14.0 13.2 8.3

School level

Elementary 9.4 21.6 10.8 25.2 16.6 20.8 18.0 5.9 14.4 10.9 6.7

Secondary 13.4 8.5 10.4 36.2 22.7 19.7 9.0 6.3 10.3 10.2 9.9

Combined 14.5 9.9 5.1 16.7 22.1 29.8 23.1 21.6 24.7 24.0 33.0

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 8.0 11.9 13.4 17.7 32.1 35.8 29.7 4.4 7.9 6.9 4.4

200–349 students 15.2 21.5 10.6 17.8 25.7 20.7 15.1 9.3 23.4 21.1 8.4

350–499 students 11.6 26.6 6.7 26.0 14.5 21.5 15.8 7.6 9.0 9.1 10.4

500–749 students 13.5 13.0 6.2 27.6 13.7 17.3 16.1 6.5 19.9 12.8 6.2

750 students or more 8.5 14.3 14.4 36.1 20.5 19.9 10.8 5.5 8.6 8.6 10.0

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 13.8 10.9 14.3 28.6 18.7 28.8 14.7 4.3 9.8 8.0 9.2

10–34 percent 12.0 28.7 9.4 25.7 19.8 14.4 12.8 6.7 11.0 8.5 6.7

35 percent or more 8.2 12.9 8.4 31.6 18.8 18.4 16.0 7.9 17.0 14.7 9.2

See footnotes at end of table.

Public
Why Do Teachers Move or Leave? 19

Table 7. Percentage of public and private school teacher leavers who rated various reasons as very important or extremely important in their decision to leave the teaching profession, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01—Continued

To take

courses to Did not feel 

improve career prepared to

opportunities School Dissatisfied implement or

within or received Dissatisfied with changes did not agree

Better To pursue outside the little support with job in job with new

School or teacher Changed Pregnancy/ salary or another field of from the description or description or reform

characteristic residence child rearing Health Retirement benefits career education community responsibilities responsibilities measures

Total 15.8 23.7 9.3 10.7 27.7 31.2 17.9 5.4 14.5 11.0 7.8

Sex

Male 7.3 2.7 3.3 16.9 51.8 43.9 36.5 4.5 16.4 5.7 2.2

Female 18.1 29.5 10.9 9.0 21.0 27.7 12.7 5.6 14.0 12.4 9.3

Teaching status

Full-time 11.3 25.9 7.6 12.3 26.4 27.7 17.8 4.7 14.4 10.1 7.3

Part-time 30.3 16.4 14.7 5.3 32.0 42.7 18.0 7.5 14.8 13.7 9.5

Region

Northeast 10.8 22.4 10.0 14.6 17.1 22.5 16.2 9.3 16.6 14.6 5.6

Midwest 23.3 30.0 7.4 8.9 25.6 29.4 13.2 3.3 18.4 9.0 5.0

South 13.0 24.9 7.3 11.6 30.0 37.4 21.5 5.7 8.3 7.9 8.3

West 17.3 12.5 15.8 5.9 40.7 32.0 19.3 2.5 19.9 16.1 14.2

Community type

Central city 15.5 28.0 8.0 10.5 26.1 28.1 17.6 3.1 14.7 13.0 7.2

Urban fringe/large town 19.5 21.1 13.2 10.7 31.4 33.7 17.4 5.0 16.2 9.8 8.5

Rural/small town 7.8 17.7 3.5 11.2 23.4 34.0 19.6 12.4 10.2 8.1 7.7

School level

Elementary 17.6 29.2 9.5 13.7 19.9 16.8 11.1 1.9 9.7 8.3 6.8

Secondary 6.5 20.2 16.1 12.5 28.4 33.6 19.7 6.5 31.2 23.6 8.4

Combined 16.4 19.4 7.2 7.4 34.8 44.0 23.7 8.3 14.7 10.2 8.5

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 19.3 23.1 6.3 8.6 22.0 28.7 17.7 5.8 13.8 8.9 7.2

200–349 students 18.8 20.9 14.1 8.0 29.8 32.4 12.4 6.1 15.2 11.6 9.9

350–499 students 13.9 17.6 16.8 16.7 34.0 16.7 14.6 8.4 18.4 12.2 7.3

500 students or more 7.1 30.8 5.9 14.1 32.9 42.0 25.4 2.3 13.1 13.4 7.1

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 14.7 25.3 7.9 8.1 34.4 30.6 16.8 8.6 17.2 11.4 8.6

10–34 percent 16.6 23.2 12.3 16.6 20.0 28.0 16.6 1.3 15.0 13.7 8.0

35 percent or more 17.7 19.8 8.5 9.3 19.9 37.9 22.8 2.1 5.8 5.7 5.2

1 “American Indian and Asian” includes respondents that identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native (Aleut, Alaska Indian, Yupik, Inupiat) and Asian or Pacific Islander (Japanese,

Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Asian Indian, Vietnamese, Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan, or other Asian).

NOTE: Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of various reasons in their decision to leave the teaching profession, although some reasons may be involuntary. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: “Not at all important,” “Slightly important,” “Somewhat

important,” “Very important,” and “Extremely important.” This table includes the percent of leavers who responded “Very important” or “Extremely important.” Some variables and data for public school teachers are not included for private school teachers as reporting standards were not met (there were too few cases for particular response categories).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey (“Questionnaire for Former Teachers”).

Private
20 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table 8. Percentage of public school teacher leavers collecting a pension from a teacher retirement system, and percentage of

leavers collecting a pension reporting that various factors were very important or extremely important in their decision

to retire, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01

Did not feel

Collecting Became eligible Dissatisfied with prepared to

a pension Became eligible to accept an Dissatisfied with changes in job implement or did Dissatisfied Other family

from a teacher to receive full early retirement job description description or not agree with new with teaching or personal

School or teacher characteristic retirement system pension benefits incentive or responsibilities responsibilities reform measures as a career reasons

Total 30.2 73.8 27.2 7.9 12.1 9.9 8.2 21.8

Sex

Male 33.1 76.9 34.2 8.1 15.4 19.7 9.4 10.9

Female 29.3 72.7 24.6 7.8 11.0 6.3 7.8 25.7

Teaching status

Full-time 32.1 73.3 27.6 7.4 11.9 10.0 8.6 19.8

Part-time 16.6 80.4 20.4 13.8 15.3 8.5 1.9 49.6

Region

Northeast 27.9 68.5 29.3 6.4 13.5 9.8 10.1 18.2

Midwest 38.6 78.6 49.1 7.4 9.0 9.5 8.5 22.5

South 29.0 73.2 12.1 9.8 15.6 11.1 8.6 24.4

West 25.3 71.8 25.7 5.0 7.5 7.5 5.1 17.3

Community type

Central city 33.5 77.1 20.5 6.2 18.2 13.8 11.2 19.9

Urban fringe/large town 26.8 75.8 30.3 9.6 10.6 9.0 7.4 22.1

Rural/small town 35.0 66.0 28.9 6.4 7.9 6.8 6.1 23.3

School level

Elementary 27.0 71.1 27.5 10.3 13.6 7.3 11.2 22.8

Secondary 36.0 77.5 27.1 4.6 10.3 12.8 4.4 20.2

Combined 20.0 59.5 16.9 15.8 15.4 17.8 12.8 32.1

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 19.8 41.1 23.2 12.7 8.9 6.6 4.6 43.2

200–349 students 21.5 68.1 23.1 7.4 7.1 3.6 3.2 26.0

350–499 students 27.3 78.4 36.3 15.3 17.7 15.7 14.7 26.1

500–749 students 30.1 68.6 28.0 8.3 11.0 6.5 7.9 20.8

750 students or more 35.3 79.3 24.9 5.0 12.1 11.2 7.5 18.4

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 33.2 69.6 31.7 11.7 12.5 10.9 8.5 24.4

10–34 percent 26.8 74.7 42.7 4.4 6.5 8.9 6.9 23.4

35 percent or more 30.2 76.8 14.7 6.6 15.0 9.6 8.6 18.7

NOTE: Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: "Not at all important,"

"Slightly important," "Somewhat important," "Very important," and "Extremely important." This table includes the percent of leavers collecting a pension who responded "Very important" or

"Extremely important." Data for private school teachers are not included as reporting standards were not met (there were too few cases for response categories).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire” and “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Very important or extremely important factors in teachers' decisions to retire
Why Do Teachers Move or Leave? 21

Table 9. Percentage of public and private school teacher movers and leavers who strongly agreed or strongly disagreed with various statements about their former schools: 2000–01

Statement Movers Leavers Movers Leavers Movers Leavers Movers Leavers

I was satisfied with my salary. 11.8 12.3 29.1 21.9 7.5 12.7 47.1 34.4

The school or district offered satisfactory benefits. 20.9 24.7 11.0 4.8 13.1 18.9 31.4 19.3

I was satisfied with the level of job security at the school (e.g., the possibility 

of being laid off). 37.5 56.3 10.1 7.7 33.2 42.3 23.0 13.7

In thinking of all the factors that influenced my satisfaction with teaching 

in last year's school, overall, I was satisfied. 19.0 29.3 24.4 16.8 18.8 31.1 19.2 12.5

In thinking of all the factors that influenced my satisfaction with teaching 

in general, overall, I was satisfied. † 28.4 † 7.4 † 31.3 † 6.2

The school facility (buildings and grounds) was in need of significant repair. 22.4 14.5 26.1 30.6 17.4 12.5 27.2 34.1

The school was located in a safe neighborhood. 40.4 52.0 7.8 3.3 51.6 56.7 6.7 3.8

I felt safe at the school. 40.1 53.5 6.0 2.2 62.2 58.6 1.4 0.9

The school’s security policies and practices were sufficient. 33.1 39.2 9.2 4.5 36.4 46.7 5.3 2.8

Student behavior was a problem. 24.9 12.8 15.0 20.0 10.7 11.1 33.9 36.4

Most of the students in the school were motivated to learn. 16.7 19.7 12.0 9.8 33.9 32.3 6.6 6.9

The school emphasized academic success. 35.3 49.4 5.9 2.3 48.4 55.1 4.6 3.2

I received little support from parents. 18.2 9.7 17.4 24.8 10.6 4.3 39.7 41.0

The school received little support from the community. 14.4 5.1 23.8 27.0 12.7 6.1 30.3 34.1

The procedures for teacher performance evaluation were satisfactory. 20.3 24.2 10.8 10.9 22.1 21.6 21.7 15.0

I was satisfied with the policies and practices for assigning students to 

classes or sections for instruction. 17.5 18.7 15.4 13.2 28.7 24.1 10.2 9.6

Some of the classes or sections I taught were too large. 27.6 26.1 19.1 18.4 17.0 10.9 39.2 41.4

I was satisfied with the grade(s) I was assigned to teach. 54.5 64.1 7.0 3.4 54.2 60.0 4.7 2.7

I was satisfied with the subject(s) I was assigned to teach. 54.7 67.2 4.5 1.0 62.6 63.6 3.9 3.8

I often felt that my teaching workload was too heavy. 30.6 24.2 10.8 13.6 26.1 17.4 19.7 20.3

At last year’s school, including (mainstreaming) special needs (e.g., disabled) 

students in regular classes made it difficult for me to teach. 17.2 12.2 18.7 25.5 7.0 5.3 31.8 34.3

I did not have enough influence over the school’s policies and practices. 23.5 13.7 9.0 13.2 29.0 17.0 12.7 13.9

I was satisfied with the amount of autonomy and control I had over my 

own classroom. 32.1 46.1 7.0 4.4 41.8 52.6 9.1 2.7

Computers and other technology for my classroom(s) were 

sufficiently available. 19.7 23.5 24.0 18.3 19.9 22.3 25.0 17.5

Resources and materials/equipment for my classroom(s) were 

sufficiently available. 22.3 26.6 19.6 12.7 22.9 23.1 13.5 12.1

There was not enough time available for planning and preparation during 

a typical week at the school. 33.4 34.1 7.8 13.9 31.1 26.0 15.2 19.2

There was not enough uninterrupted class time available for instruction. 12.3 10.4 14.6 23.5 13.8 13.2 19.3 25.8

The professional caliber of the faculty at the school was high. 28.6 41.5 8.1 2.2 33.3 43.9 7.1 7.2

There were many opportunities to collaborate with other teachers in 

the school. 17.7 20.7 16.5 15.5 26.5 25.9 15.8 9.6

The school administrators’ behavior toward the staff was supportive and 

encouraging. 25.9 38.6 24.3 13.3 31.3 41.3 26.3 17.8

I was pleased with the opportunities for professional advancement 

(promotion) offered to teachers at the school. 11.0 13.7 18.8 16.2 17.7 10.0 26.9 23.4

I was pleased with the opportunities for professional development 

(learning/training) offered to teachers at the school. 16.0 20.9 10.8 12.5 19.9 13.7 24.2 18.2

Required professional development activities at the school usually closely 

matched my professional development goals. 11.3 14.7 19.2 20.4 12.5 12.9 20.4 16.3

† Not applicable.

NOTE: Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: "Strongly agree," "Somewhat agree," "Neither agree nor disagree," "Somewhat

disagree," and "Strongly disagree." This table includes the percent of movers and leavers who responded "Strongly agree" or "Strongly disagree."

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former

Teachers").

Public Private

Strongly agreed Strongly disagreed Strongly agreed Strongly disagreed
22 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table 10. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers who indicated the instructional leader in

their base year school was very effective or extremely effective at performing various activities: 2000–01

Activity Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

Communicating respect and value of teachers 57.2 42.0 56.0 70.3 52.4 61.1

Encouraging teachers to change teaching methods if students are not doing well 51.5 38.7 46.2 59.1 37.2 51.0

Working with staff to develop and attain curriculum standards 56.7 45.7 51.0 63.4 43.7 44.1

Encouraging professional collaboration among teachers 56.2 46.3 55.9 65.9 40.6 45.7

Working with teaching staff to solve school or department problems 52.4 41.2 50.9 61.9 41.3 44.8

Encouraging the teaching staff to use student evaluation results in planning curriculum and instruction 52.6 45.1 46.8 53.9 28.6 31.7

Developing broad agreement among the teaching staff about the school's or department's mission 50.5 41.1 41.5 63.2 40.5 42.2

Facilitating and encouraging professional development activities of teachers 55.5 45.1 48.0 63.0 38.5 40.4

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Instructional leaders are persons designated by respondents as most responsible for providing instructional leadership at respondents' current or former school; they may be the Principal or School Head, the Assistant or Vice Principal,

the Department Chair or Head, the Director of Curriculum or Instruction, or another person that respondents specify. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: "Not at all effectively," "Slightly effectively," "Somewhat effectively," "Very effectively," and "Extremely effectively." This table includes the percent of stayers, movers, and leavers who

responded "Very effectively" or "Extremely effectively."

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former

Teachers").

Public Private

Table 11. Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers and movers who strongly agreed or strongly disagreed with

various statements about the administrators and staff at their base year schools: 2000–01

Statement Stayers Movers Stayers Movers Stayers Movers Stayers Movers

The school administrators' behavior toward the staff is supportive 

and encouraging. 35.6 25.9 9.1 24.3 48.9 31.3 4.1 26.3

The school principal enforces school rules for student conduct and backs 

me up when I need it. 39.9 30.5 7.3 19.8 53.6 27.7 3.8 23.5

Most of my colleagues share my beliefs and values about what the central 

mission of the school should be. 32.4 26.3 1.3 4.6 57.0 33.5 0.8 4.3

There is a great deal of cooperative effort among the staff members. 30.0 21.5 3.6 12.0 47.4 27.1 1.9 13.0

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: "Strongly agree," "Somewhat agree," "Neither

agree nor disagree," "Somewhat disagree," and "Strongly disagree." This table includes the percent of stayers and movers who responded "Strongly agree" or "Strongly disagree."

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers").

Public Private

Strongly agreed Strongly disagreed Strongly agreed Strongly disagreed
Where Do Teachers Go When They Move or Leave? 23

Where Do Teachers Go When They Move or Leave?
24 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table 13. Current main occupational status of public and private school teacher leavers: 2000–01

Occupational status Public Private

Main occupational status of all leavers 

Attending a college or university 4.0 5.3

Caring for family members 15.0 24.1

Disabled 3.6 1.6

Retired 27.8 9.5

Other 1.5 3.9

Unemployed and seeking work 4.6 2.5

Working in an elementary or secondary school with an assignment other than teaching 20.4 13.6

Working in an education occupation outside of elementary or secondary education 10.8 9.7

Working in an occupation outside the field of education 12.3 30.0

Classification of leavers whose main occupational status was working 

Employee of a private company, business, or individual for wages, salary, or commission 31.5 66.9

State or federal government employee 20.4 12.0

Local government employee 38.7 10.6

Self-employed in own business, professional practice, or farm 9.2 4.7

Working without pay in a family business, farm, or volunteer job # 5.8

# Rounds to zero.

NOTE: Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Detail may not add to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Table 12. Percentage of base year teachers moving across schools, school districts, and sectors: 1999–2000 to 2000–01

Moved from one Moved from one

public school to another public school district Moved from a Moved from one Moved from a

public school in the to another public private school to a private school to another public school to a 

Teacher category same school district school district public school private school private school

All teachers 

Total 3.0 3.6 0.6 0.5 #

Teachers with less than 5 years experience 4.5 6.8 1.2 0.7 #

Teachers with 5 or more years experience 2.6 2.7 # 0.5 #

All movers 

Total 38.3 46.0 7.4 6.6 1.8

Movers with less than 5 years experience 33.4 50.2 8.6 5.4 2.5

Movers with 5 or more years experience 41.2 43.5 6.8 7.3 1.3

Public movers 

Total 44.5 53.4 † † 2.0

Movers with less than 5 years experience 38.8 58.3 † † 2.9

Movers with 5 or more years experience 47.9 50.5 † † 1.5

Private movers

Total † † 53.1 46.9 †

Movers with less than 5 years experience † † 61.2 38.8 †

Movers with 5 or more years experience † † 48.2 51.8 †

† Not applicable.

# Rounds to zero.

NOTE: Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers").
Where Do Teachers Go When They Move or Leave? 25

Table 14. Percentage of public and private school teacher leavers who were working that rated various aspects of their current

main occupation as better than teaching, not better than teaching, or no difference: 2000–01

Better in Better in Better in Better in

Occupation characteristic teaching current position No difference teaching current position No difference

Salary 30.1 43.8 26.1 19.2 65.0 15.8

Benefits 39.6 20.3 40.0 22.4 53.9 23.7

Job security 31.0 19.2 49.7 23.1 32.9 44.0

Intellectual challenge 17.4 51.8 30.8 29.4 42.4 28.2

Opportunities for professional development 19.0 41.7 39.3 19.0 51.7 29.4

Professional prestige 15.8 57.7 26.5 21.1 55.8 23.0

General work conditions 4.3 50.9 44.8 11.2 54.9 33.9

Safety of environment 10.9 29.7 59.5 16.2 28.3 55.5

Manageability of workload 13.5 60.4 26.1 8.1 63.4 28.4

Procedures for performance evaluation 17.9 38.0 44.1 16.4 40.6 43.1

Autonomy or control over own work 13.7 65.2 21.1 24.1 45.5 30.4

Influence over workplace policies and practices 17.5 49.0 33.4 22.8 40.7 36.5

Availability of resources and materials/ equipment for doing job 19.8 44.0 36.3 8.5 56.3 35.2

Recognition and support from administrators/managers 19.7 46.8 33.6 15.8 52.1 32.1

Professional caliber of colleagues 14.9 27.0 58.2 20.7 35.4 43.9

Opportunities for learning from colleagues 21.2 40.4 38.4 25.9 41.4 32.7

Opportunities for professional advancement 18.1 53.9 28.0 11.9 61.1 27.0

NOTE: Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Public Private
26 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01
Appendix A: Standard Error Tables 27

Appendix A: Standard Error Tables
28 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table A1. Standard errors for table 1: Number and percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers,

by sector: 1988–89, 1991–92, 1994–95, and 2000–01

Sector and year Total base year teachers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

Public

1988–891 — 55,476.6 9,780.0 6,907.5 0.46 0.41 0.30

1991–921 ———— 0.49 0.34 0.36

1994–951 ———— 0.52 0.35 0.34

2000–01 19,613.9 24,047.2 13,770.1 11,236.8 0.58 0.45 0.37

Private

1988–891 — 12,667.3 1,975.2 2,533.8 1.31 0.70 0.85

1991–921 ———— 0.90 0.51 0.80

1994–951 ———— 0.79 0.35 0.70

2000–01 10,496.5 9,268.7 2,343.7 3,457.6 0.83 0.49 0.69

— Not available.

1 Standard errors for the number of total previous school year teachers in 1988–89 and the number of stayers, movers, and leavers in 1991–92 and 1994–95 were not reported in the previous

NCES reports from which data for this table were taken.

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former

Teachers"); U.S. Department of Education, National Center Education Statistics, Characteristics of Stayers, Movers, and Leavers: Results from the Teacher Followup Survey: 1994–95 (NCES 97–450);

and U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Characteristics of Stayers, Movers, and Leavers: Results from the Teacher Followup Survey: 1988–89 (NCES 91–128).

Number Percentage
Appendix A: Standard Error Tables 29

Table A2. Standard errors for table 2: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers, by selected

school and teacher characteristics: 1987–88 to 1988–89, 1990–91 to 1991–92, 1993–94 to 1994–95, and 1999–2000 to

2000–01

School or teacher characteristic Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

Total 0.46 0.41 0.30 0.49 0.34 0.36 0.52 0.35 0.34 0.58 0.45 0.37

Full-time teaching experience

1–3 years 1.37 1.14 0.93 1.29 0.96 0.99 1.48 1.03 0.86 1.54 1.34 0.88

4–9 years 1.28 0.96 0.80 1.33 1.00 0.96 1.08 0.87 0.93 1.24 1.07 0.66

10–19 years 0.83 0.71 0.50 0.79 0.65 0.37 1.01 0.70 0.63 1.30 0.81 0.96

20–24 years 1.03 1.00 0.25 1.06 0.65 0.77 1.20 0.59 0.93 0.73 0.55 0.40

25 years or more 1.65 1.11 1.63 1.30 0.62 1.16 1.32 0.74 0.94 1.44 0.85 1.02

Not reported1 13.93 11.35 4.43 † † † † † † † † †

Age

Less than 25 years 2.98 2.68 0.91 3.69 3.24 2.30 3.12 2.88 1.05 3.56 2.48 2.20

25–29 years 1.71 1.32 1.18 1.74 1.47 1.21 1.86 1.38 1.25 2.39 2.14 1.39

30–39 years 0.98 0.79 0.59 1.19 0.96 0.76 1.35 0.97 0.94 1.08 0.75 0.88

40–49 years 0.92 0.86 0.32 0.64 0.47 0.31 0.83 0.56 0.54 0.98 0.70 0.62

50–59 years 0.74 0.73 0.82 1.20 0.59 0.95 1.07 0.67 0.77 1.06 0.60 0.80

60–64 years 5.46 2.89 0.82 4.51 0.88 4.30 5.10 0.88 4.78 5.72 1.00 5.44

65 years or more 8.48 # 4.90 48.87 9.07 13.80 8.82 ‡ 7.79 5.83 1.81 5.44

Not reported1 7.33 3.10 7.24 † † † † † † † † †

Sex

Male 0.92 0.80 0.52 1.01 0.77 0.60 0.75 0.66 0.32 0.88 0.69 0.67

Female 0.61 0.51 0.39 0.62 0.46 0.48 0.58 0.37 0.44 0.73 0.52 0.45

Not reported1 24.94 19.38 6.96 † † † † † † † † †

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 0.55 0.49 0.32 0.50 0.35 0.37 0.54 0.37 0.36 0.59 0.44 0.45

American Indian or Alaska Native 2.13 1.13 1.70 1.62 1.41 0.77 2.74 2.21 1.06 5.50 2.61 3.68

Asian or Pacific Islander 12.88 11.50 2.77 7.43 4.08 5.37 3.88 3.48 0.71 7.70 7.37 0.87

Black, non-Hispanic 2.32 1.18 1.84 2.33 1.80 1.45 1.95 1.14 1.48 2.36 1.77 1.60

Hispanic 2.89 2.36 0.84 1.87 1.36 0.99 3.15 2.06 2.14 2.13 1.17 1.67

Not reported1 4.43 3.61 2.23 † † † † † † † † †

Region

Northeast 1.06 0.74 0.72 1.09 0.92 0.64 1.31 0.69 0.88 1.01 0.84 0.72

Midwest 1.18 0.82 0.71 0.81 0.66 0.55 0.95 0.66 0.74 1.21 0.89 0.92

South 0.74 0.68 0.54 0.92 0.71 0.58 0.74 0.55 0.50 0.95 0.77 0.67

West 1.30 1.10 0.72 0.98 0.75 0.92 1.09 0.79 0.69 1.13 0.94 0.79

School level

Elementary 0.69 0.55 0.39 0.61 0.45 0.45 0.77 0.50 0.53 0.75 0.58 0.46

Secondary 0.87 0.79 0.42 0.97 0.65 0.62 0.73 0.46 0.53 0.95 0.66 0.71

Combined 1.78 1.12 1.35 3.28 3.14 1.25 1.87 1.42 1.04 2.54 1.27 1.90

Not reported1 2.30 1.51 1.85 † † † † † † † † †

See footnotes at end of table.

From 1987–88 to 1988–89 From 1990–91 to 1991–92 From 1993–94 to 1994–95 From 1999–2000 to 2000–01

Public 
30 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table A2. Standard errors for table 2: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers, by selected

school and teacher characteristics: 1987–88 to 1988–89, 1990–91 to 1991–92, 1993–94 to 1994–95, and 1999–2000 to

2000–01—Continued

School or teacher characteristic Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

Total 1.31 0.70 0.85 0.90 0.51 0.80 0.79 0.35 0.70 0.83 0.49 0.69

Full-time teaching experience

1–3 years 2.53 1.64 1.68 1.72 1.00 1.58 1.32 0.94 1.31 2.03 1.23 1.69

4–9 years 2.46 1.28 1.86 2.24 1.53 1.56 1.70 0.94 1.38 1.99 1.26 1.56

10–19 years 2.47 1.45 1.85 1.41 0.78 1.09 1.16 0.37 1.15 1.29 0.79 1.04

20–24 years 5.33 4.44 2.94 2.29 0.86 2.00 1.47 0.64 1.27 2.39 1.34 1.87

25 years or more 2.69 1.77 1.97 3.44 0.68 3.24 2.42 0.66 2.24 2.12 1.59 1.40

Not reported1 20.42 8.61 14.48 † † † † † † † † †

Age

Less than 25 years 6.82 4.79 3.79 5.29 3.15 4.91 5.00 2.72 4.19 4.40 2.04 4.24

25–29 years 3.99 2.25 2.42 2.89 1.63 2.27 1.67 0.96 1.35 2.63 1.55 2.07

30–39 years 2.34 1.37 1.59 1.94 1.15 1.65 1.87 0.92 1.54 1.88 1.08 1.52

40–49 years 2.15 1.18 1.63 1.51 1.20 1.03 1.22 0.59 1.02 1.59 0.86 1.34

50–59 years 3.19 1.90 2.45 2.28 1.08 1.90 1.59 0.42 1.53 1.43 1.02 0.90

60–64 years 6.73 1.85 5.93 4.87 0.86 4.62 2.67 0.80 2.74 5.64 4.76 3.72

65 years or more 4.26 2.07 3.16 6.50 2.16 5.83 8.81 ‡ 8.67 7.60 # 7.60

Not reported1 11.87 8.26 5.56 † † † † † † † † †

Sex

Male 2.20 1.13 1.72 2.01 0.80 1.91 1.66 0.83 1.20 1.60 0.79 1.48

Female 1.38 0.75 0.92 1.03 0.65 0.84 0.84 0.39 0.78 0.92 0.57 0.76

Not reported1 # ‡ # † † † † † † † † †

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 1.32 0.68 0.90 1.02 0.55 0.86 0.77 0.39 0.69 0.87 0.53 0.73

American Indian or Alaska Native 31.19 24.35 15.61 18.44 ‡ 18.44 ‡ ‡ 20.33 15.48 10.53 12.71

Asian or Pacific Islander 11.78 ‡ 10.39 6.95 1.35 6.51 9.04 ‡ 8.67 12.71 2.61 12.23

Black, non-Hispanic 7.93 9.08 8.35 6.92 1.61 6.76 5.06 ‡ 4.52 5.44 0.98 5.09

Hispanic 7.65 3.45 6.46 5.19 4.44 4.32 5.38 ‡ 4.31 3.41 2.07 2.85

Not reported1 15.76 7.80 13.71 † † † † † † † † †

Region

Northeast 2.43 1.77 1.43 1.77 0.80 1.52 1.49 0.91 1.30 1.44 0.93 1.23

Midwest 1.72 1.18 1.15 1.85 0.91 1.66 1.48 0.56 1.20 1.68 0.82 1.43

South 2.14 1.28 1.59 1.84 0.72 1.79 1.60 0.48 1.45 1.59 0.89 1.29

West 4.07 1.73 3.39 2.24 1.97 1.16 2.35 1.60 1.79 2.26 1.46 1.93

School level

Elementary 1.49 1.07 0.99 0.93 0.75 1.02 1.08 0.50 0.96 1.01 0.66 0.78

Secondary 3.11 1.39 2.38 1.91 0.86 1.51 1.77 0.83 1.51 1.55 1.52 0.90

Combined 2.41 1.29 2.20 2.35 1.34 1.80 2.25 0.90 1.84 1.78 0.71 1.67

Not reported1 3.20 2.72 2.60 † † † † † † † † †

† Not applicable.

# Rounds to zero.

‡ Reporting standards not met.

1 The 1987–88 SASS and 1988–89 TFS data were not imputed; all other collections were imputed.

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former Teachers"); and U.S.

Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Characteristics of Stayers, Movers, and Leavers: Results from the Teacher Followup Survey: 1994–95 (NCES 97–450).

From 1987–88 to 1988–89 From 1990–91 to 1991–92 From 1993–94 to 1994–95 From 1999–2000 to 2000–01

Private 
Appendix A: Standard Error Tables 31

Table A3. Standard errors for table 3: Number and percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers,

by selected school and teacher characteristics: 1999–2000 to 2000–01

School or teacher characteristic Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

Total 24,047.2 13,770.1 11,236.8 0.58 0.45 0.37 9,268.7 2,343.7 3,457.6 0.83 0.49 0.69

Teaching experience

1–3 years 19,360.2 6,540.0 4,375.9 1.64 1.41 0.95 4,736.0 939.4 2,244.6 2.17 1.00 2.01

4–9 years 23,522.5 8,104.5 4,693.8 1.23 1.09 0.69 5,647.9 1,439.3 1,941.4 1.96 1.23 1.44

10–19 years 31,374.7 6,063.2 6,572.4 1.25 0.82 0.88 5,626.2 959.3 1,351.7 1.43 0.80 1.16

20 years or more 31,353.0 5,934.6 6,079.3 0.85 0.57 0.61 4,836.3 1,151.4 1,189.0 1.40 1.01 1.02

Age

Less than 30 years 19,925.5 9,193.2 5,331.1 2.08 1.86 1.10 4,011.4 922.7 1,907.3 2.53 1.10 2.29

30–39 years 24,584.7 5,234.5 6,256.4 1.08 0.75 0.88 4,063.6 1,179.8 1,751.9 1.88 1.08 1.52

40–49 years 29,921.1 6,018.9 5,482.0 0.98 0.70 0.62 5,074.2 1,218.4 1,877.4 1.59 0.86 1.34

50 years or more 30,406.0 4,827.6 7,019.7 0.95 0.54 0.79 5,280.6 1,259.2 1,119.3 1.35 0.99 0.86

Sex

Male 13,704.6 5,099.6 4,944.5 0.88 0.69 0.67 3,465.2 917.1 1,610.2 1.60 0.79 1.48

Female 23,361.4 11,913.0 10,250.7 0.73 0.52 0.45 6,901.6 2,054.3 2,893.5 0.92 0.57 0.76

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 23,387.0 11,385.3 11,320.7 0.59 0.44 0.45 8,750.2 2,256.6 3,111.1 0.87 0.53 0.73

American Indian or Alaska Native 5,965.5 414.5 555.3 5.50 2.61 3.68 1,232.9 44.9 343.7 15.48 10.53 12.71

Asian or Pacific Islander 10,518.5 3,353.5 145.6 7.70 7.37 0.87 1,493.5 112.0 762.1 12.71 2.61 12.23

Black, non-Hispanic 13,044.0 4,122.7 3,366.7 2.36 1.77 1.60 2,076.2 123.5 734.8 5.44 0.98 5.09

Hispanic 9,992.5 1,802.4 2,914.6 2.13 1.17 1.67 1,960.4 439.4 673.4 3.41 2.07 2.85

Main assignment field

Arts and music 19,527.0 3,570.1 2,717.0 2.89 2.17 1.58 2,442.7 508.7 503.0 2.14 1.61 1.53

English/language arts 20,850.8 4,029.3 2,513.9 1.69 1.36 0.89 3,129.5 663.5 720.8 2.56 1.71 1.86

General elementary 27,805.5 8,359.1 6,360.4 1.16 0.85 0.64 4,509.6 1,143.5 2,247.4 1.40 0.68 1.27

Mathematics 14,254.1 2,267.9 3,059.8 1.90 1.12 1.53 2,610.7 702.8 1,453.2 3.72 1.77 3.45

Science 12,574.0 1,709.8 3,375.9 2.04 1.06 1.77 2,096.3 748.1 538.9 2.94 2.20 1.68

Social studies 17,143.5 1,497.9 2,920.0 2.39 0.98 2.09 3,020.3 398.9 827.4 3.14 1.38 2.86

Special education 12,180.5 4,078.6 5,598.6 2.02 1.18 1.72 1,692.8 417.2 442.1 3.55 2.27 2.49

Other 26,063.8 6,031.6 4,043.1 1.10 0.97 0.69 4,771.4 1,097.2 1,370.6 1.70 1.09 1.52

Teaching status

Full-time 29,775.5 12,800.3 10,814.0 0.58 0.48 0.39 8,405.3 1,944.6 3,067.4 0.89 0.52 0.73

Part-time 18,577.5 4,779.9 4,370.0 2.27 1.67 1.60 4,925.3 1,274.3 1,708.1 2.74 1.58 2.15

Region

Northeast 25,954.0 4,964.1 3,971.4 1.01 0.84 0.72 5,249.9 1,038.0 1,332.6 1.44 0.93 1.23

Midwest 31,990.9 5,884.6 6,786.8 1.21 0.89 0.92 5,610.1 913.8 1,724.3 1.68 0.82 1.43

South 37,901.2 8,186.1 7,538.0 0.95 0.77 0.67 6,866.3 1,361.6 2,120.2 1.59 0.89 1.29

West 23,667.9 5,341.9 4,198.8 1.13 0.94 0.79 5,703.7 1,242.2 1,406.1 2.26 1.46 1.93

Community type

Central city 33,858.1 8,545.5 5,192.3 1.26 1.01 0.65 7,080.9 1,818.5 2,300.6 1.19 0.80 0.96

Urban fringe/large town 36,774.8 9,615.7 9,828.5 0.87 0.61 0.66 6,769.4 1,436.0 2,521.9 1.20 0.76 1.18

Rural/small town 27,887.2 4,686.3 3,957.9 0.92 0.67 0.63 3,877.9 975.3 1,292.3 3.31 1.76 2.34

School level,

Elementary 27,355.3 11,641.3 8,845.0 0.75 0.58 0.46 6,013.0 1,456.1 1,793.3 1.01 0.66 0.78

Secondary 24,017.2 6,257.6 7,084.2 0.95 0.66 0.71 4,490.1 1,222.8 706.2 1.55 1.52 0.90

Combined 10,523.1 593.5 1,005.9 2.54 1.27 1.90 9,389.7 1,243.9 2,822.6 1.78 0.71 1.67

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 13,351.6 3,543.1 2,373.3 2.48 1.94 1.45 6,984.9 1,740.1 2,002.2 1.76 1.12 1.28

200–349 students 22,161.1 3,115.0 3,787.7 1.66 1.06 1.15 5,197.4 1,128.4 1,911.5 1.81 0.95 1.65

350–499 students 24,575.8 5,434.8 3,780.5 1.55 1.07 0.85 4,245.3 646.0 788.0 1.63 0.98 1.27

500–749 students 37,124.9 6,029.9 6,222.5 1.18 0.77 0.78 4,425.8 520.1 1,131.1 2.10 0.97 1.91

750 students or more 36,884.9 8,404.1 8,988.3 0.99 0.67 0.74 4,995.9 1,067.4 1,238.7 2.04 1.60 1.64

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 31,425.6 6,794.1 7,713.1 0.96 0.66 0.75 8,159.5 1,896.6 2,558.8 1.14 0.71 0.93

10–34 percent 34,957.2 6,144.8 5,213.3 0.97 0.73 0.57 6,521.7 1,249.3 1,490.0 1.57 0.95 1.17

35 percent or more 36,576.7 9,195.7 7,483.2 0.94 0.77 0.60 4,499.6 907.7 1,536.6 2.20 1.20 2.04

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Number Percentage Number Percentage

Public Private 
32 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table A4. Standard errors for table 4: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers with various

average reported income levels during the base year, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01

Less than $30,000 to $40,000 Less than $30,000 to $40,000 Less than $30,000 to $40,000

School or teacher characteristic $30,000 $39,999 or more $30,000 $39,999 or more $30,000 $39,999 or more

Total 0.87 1.18 1.23 2.00 2.46 2.58 2.17 2.40 2.85

Teaching experience

1–3 years 2.47 2.53 1.93 4.57 4.15 2.07 6.19 6.09 2.71

4–9 years 2.30 2.64 2.41 2.82 4.44 4.32 4.26 4.57 5.62

10–19 years 1.80 2.55 2.74 1.91 5.27 5.45 3.86 7.95 7.92

20 years or more 1.08 1.62 1.81 3.99 3.69 5.48 1.61 1.12 1.93

Age

Less than 30 years 2.78 3.00 2.56 4.35 5.11 3.58 5.70 5.11 4.18

30–39 years 2.38 2.78 2.68 2.77 4.76 4.60 3.77 6.84 7.38

40–49 years 1.59 2.29 2.62 2.70 5.16 5.57 4.58 3.36 5.63

50 years or more 1.39 2.00 2.05 4.22 4.28 5.64 1.51 3.17 3.65

Sex

Male 1.52 2.25 2.57 2.50 5.11 5.83 4.63 4.61 5.99

Female 0.99 1.30 1.35 2.27 2.79 2.49 2.29 2.75 3.15

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 0.92 1.22 1.21 2.36 2.57 2.71 2.43 2.74 3.20

American Indian or Alaska Native 13.78 18.15 18.15 7.61 22.02 22.61 12.44 6.81 14.49

Asian or Pacific Islander 2.47 11.99 12.48 6.06 15.63 19.64 3.74 6.71 7.27

Black, non-Hispanic 3.59 5.21 4.79 6.71 8.80 10.89 6.42 4.69 7.96

Hispanic 3.11 5.68 5.82 8.02 8.62 7.61 12.14 10.64 12.87

Main assignment field

Arts and music 4.97 5.11 5.47 6.11 7.10 10.10 9.07 5.82 8.89

English/language arts 2.32 4.50 4.67 5.06 8.23 10.06 6.80 6.14 5.87

General elementary 1.59 2.27 2.48 4.44 5.00 3.02 4.04 4.62 4.22

Mathematics 4.12 4.95 5.42 6.30 7.87 6.96 8.69 7.98 6.79

Science 2.52 5.48 5.15 5.59 7.17 7.79 3.87 8.25 10.70

Social studies 3.85 5.41 5.90 5.02 9.61 10.43 1.65 7.99 8.68

Special education 2.49 2.96 3.47 3.73 5.80 4.68 5.30 9.91 10.71

Other 1.80 2.72 2.79 3.86 8.28 9.79 3.13 4.53 4.87

Teaching status

Full-time 0.86 1.27 1.37 2.21 2.74 2.78 1.96 2.54 2.73

Part-time 3.84 3.74 4.48 5.34 5.87 8.92 7.99 8.45 4.94

Region

Northeast 1.38 2.83 2.87 2.43 7.46 7.24 1.83 5.18 5.19

Midwest 2.00 2.39 2.85 6.20 4.42 5.83 3.75 5.53 6.68

South 1.54 2.00 1.97 2.43 3.82 3.76 3.63 4.20 4.37

West 2.31 2.49 2.89 2.68 5.51 5.31 3.44 4.99 4.60

Community type

Central city 1.73 2.56 2.48 2.82 5.50 6.11 4.13 5.78 4.87

Urban fringe/large town 1.05 1.64 1.77 3.41 3.84 3.72 2.79 3.36 4.19

Rural/small town 2.22 2.68 2.52 3.86 4.64 2.95 4.26 3.59 3.76

School level

Elementary 1.21 1.53 1.51 2.50 2.97 2.60 2.80 3.52 3.52

Secondary 1.31 2.00 2.28 2.80 5.06 6.09 2.34 3.40 3.90

Combined 6.29 8.74 9.88 7.04 10.03 10.72 7.27 11.83 8.28

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 4.73 4.64 4.46 10.95 5.01 12.93 7.42 4.54 5.14

200–349 students 3.13 4.10 4.09 5.30 6.90 4.47 5.41 8.99 6.45

350–499 students 2.48 3.00 2.67 8.96 5.17 7.95 3.74 5.77 5.74

500–749 students 1.72 2.16 2.36 2.59 3.90 3.29 5.40 4.47 4.54

750 students or more 1.26 1.92 1.99 1.66 4.38 4.65 2.58 3.80 4.43

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 1.69 2.20 2.34 3.28 5.00 3.63 4.59 4.07 5.88

10–34 percent 1.61 2.75 2.32 3.18 4.50 5.25 3.40 4.80 4.55

35 percent or more 1.52 1.89 2.16 3.25 4.24 4.32 3.56 4.22 4.14

See footnotes at end of table.

Stayers Movers Leavers

Public
Appendix A: Standard Error Tables 33

Table A4. Standard errors for table 4: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers with various

average reported income levels during the base year, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01—Continued

Less than $30,000 to $40,000 Less than $30,000 to $40,000 Less than $30,000 to $40,000

School or teacher characteristic $30,000 $39,999 or more $30,000 $39,999 or more $30,000 $39,999 or more

Total 1.60 1.19 1.36 3.09 2.68 2.07 2.88 2.35 2.36

Teaching experience

1–9 years 2.24 1.73 1.42 2.92 2.68 1.45 3.63 2.65 3.43

10–19 years 3.02 2.88 2.61 6.13 3.58 6.89 7.29 7.17 1.43

20 years or more 2.62 2.30 2.66 8.23 10.32 6.52 6.71 6.24 2.77

Age

Less than 30 years 3.29 3.24 1.73 3.76 3.80 0.76 5.80 3.45 5.70

30–39 years 3.23 2.69 2.50 6.33 4.29 6.15 5.69 4.18 4.98

40–49 years 3.17 2.39 2.51 5.51 4.49 2.48 6.14 5.86 1.36

50 years or more 2.66 2.62 2.49 8.99 9.42 5.32 4.83 5.12 1.84

Sex

Male 2.89 2.40 2.80 5.54 5.38 6.14 6.16 6.11 3.04

Female 1.67 1.43 1.39 3.35 3.03 1.51 3.29 2.39 2.88

Teaching status

Full-time 1.74 1.36 1.59 3.03 2.34 2.15 3.07 2.94 1.83

Part-time 4.18 3.01 3.40 9.47 9.84 4.18 7.02 3.84 7.21

Region

Northeast 2.68 2.59 2.71 4.49 3.84 2.09 6.29 5.05 5.82

Midwest 3.22 2.30 2.64 5.36 5.22 1.27 6.75 3.14 7.22

South 3.07 2.08 2.32 5.60 3.12 4.95 3.96 3.71 1.86

West 4.09 3.70 3.30 9.24 9.04 4.46 6.60 7.35 3.48

School level

Elementary 2.30 1.90 1.62 2.88 2.60 1.54 2.76 2.54 1.26

Secondary 3.13 2.73 3.11 7.49 7.98 3.53 6.48 6.54 2.90

Combined 3.32 2.21 2.53 7.71 5.55 6.43 5.24 3.93 4.63

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 2.57 2.00 2.24 5.86 5.78 2.10 2.85 2.58 1.82

200–349 students 2.86 2.50 1.97 4.38 3.93 2.53 7.05 3.16 7.52

350–499 students 3.93 3.21 4.03 7.92 7.33 3.86 6.23 5.84 3.56

500–749 students 3.56 3.75 3.51 6.93 6.63 3.54 7.94 6.11 3.88

750 students or more 3.46 2.81 3.96 10.85 5.08 10.48 6.89 9.41 9.73

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 1.98 1.53 1.84 3.80 2.73 2.85 3.74 2.58 3.77

10–34 percent 3.08 2.62 2.47 6.70 6.65 3.63 5.18 5.09 2.80

35 percent or more 4.18 3.34 4.10 6.43 6.12 2.67 8.00 5.48 6.99

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. For more information regarding public

and private school teachers’ average salaries and earned income, please see tables 76–79 in the Digest of Education Statistics 2002 (NCES 2003–060), U.S. Department of Education, National

Center for Education Statistics. Some variables and data for public school teachers are not included for private school teachers as reporting standards were not met (there were too few cases for

particular response categories).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Stayers Movers Leavers

Private
34 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table A5. Standard errors for table 5: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers that reported

plans to remain in teaching: 1999–2000 and 2000–01

Plan Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

As long as I am able

1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey 1.18 2.45 2.05 1.31 2.83 2.42 1.66 3.74 2.76

2000–01 Teacher Followup Survey 1.24 2.15 † 1.35 2.48 † 1.71 3.21 †

Until I am eligible for retirement

1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey 1.27 1.69 1.94 1.46 1.99 2.42 1.09 2.26 1.55

2000–01 Teacher Followup Survey 1.20 1.76 † 1.38 2.00 † 1.35 2.25 †

Will probably continue unless something better comes along 

1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey 0.68 1.54 1.39 0.76 1.79 1.78 0.73 2.50 1.73

2000–01 Teacher Followup Survey 0.54 1.29 † 0.61 1.44 † 0.84 2.46 †

Definitely plan to leave teaching as soon as I can

1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey 0.42 1.10 1.21 0.47 1.29 1.49 0.37 0.59 1.40

2000–01 Teacher Followup Survey 0.48 1.07 † 0.54 1.23 † 0.54 0.72 †

Undecided at this time

1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey 0.88 1.22 1.81 0.97 1.38 2.32 1.22 2.43 2.39

2000–01 Teacher Followup Survey 0.83 1.77 † 0.94 2.03 † 1.23 2.40 †

† Not applicable.

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Total Public Private
Appendix A: Standard Error Tables 35

Table A6. Standard errors for table 6: Percentage of public and private school teacher movers who rated various reasons as very

important or extremely important in their decision to move from their base year school, by selected school and

teacher characteristics: 2000–01

Opportunity Did not feel

for a better Dissatisfaction prepared to Did not have Dissatisfaction

teaching Dissatisfaction with support Dissatisfaction implement or enough with

assignment with workplace from with changes did not agree autonomy opportunities

Better (subject area conditions at administrators in job with new Laid off or over for professional

School or Changed salary or Higher job or grade previous at previous description or reform involuntarily classroom at development at 

teacher characteristic residence benefits security level) school school responsibilities measures transferred previous school previous school

Total 2.60 1.83 2.05 2.72 2.79 2.72 2.10 1.26 1.26 1.23 2.09

Teaching experience

1–3 years 5.11 3.08 2.99 4.38 3.83 3.74 3.67 1.63 2.62 1.71 1.98

4–9 years 4.37 3.36 3.82 4.67 4.66 4.46 3.89 1.77 2.16 2.12 4.57

10–19 years 6.39 3.24 3.86 4.94 6.46 5.96 4.61 4.16 2.42 3.86 2.11

20 years or more 2.28 6.97 6.88 6.72 7.18 5.58 7.12 5.00 3.04 2.47 5.70

Age

Less than 30 years 5.05 3.41 3.81 4.71 4.66 4.19 3.49 1.44 1.75 1.52 4.18

30–39 years 3.39 2.85 2.86 4.56 4.35 4.53 4.20 1.98 3.06 2.08 3.78

40–49 years 5.85 2.67 3.31 5.23 6.06 5.06 3.87 3.84 2.14 3.28 3.67

50 years or more 2.08 7.63 7.78 7.69 7.92 7.80 7.75 2.37 3.08 2.91 4.25

Sex

Male 2.52 5.56 6.08 5.75 5.47 5.95 6.65 4.51 2.06 2.19 4.90

Female 3.15 1.66 1.91 3.01 3.03 3.06 2.11 1.43 1.46 1.44 2.27

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 2.65 2.08 2.48 3.07 2.84 2.80 2.59 1.37 1.18 1.53 2.25

American Indian and Asian1 23.33 12.35 1.26 12.97 10.33 15.83 12.12 9.97 7.99 7.39 12.62

Black, non-Hispanic 13.11 9.24 5.53 6.82 13.25 12.87 4.18 1.95 5.34 3.54 3.76

Hispanic 7.56 5.89 6.05 9.35 6.29 10.05 8.38 8.34 5.81 3.98 7.55

Main assignment field

Arts and music 3.76 5.57 5.78 6.46 9.35 8.70 10.25 8.76 4.12 5.00 8.26

English/language arts 10.45 5.27 3.65 8.15 8.46 8.25 4.44 2.21 4.24 3.56 6.75

General elementary 5.16 2.14 3.24 4.29 3.74 4.03 3.13 1.81 2.19 1.53 4.35

Mathematics 6.93 5.94 4.13 5.06 9.03 8.01 4.89 3.87 3.59 1.14 3.45

Science 5.21 7.67 5.13 6.79 7.46 7.43 2.75 4.49 1.22 3.44 5.45

Social studies 7.07 8.75 9.85 9.71 8.59 9.52 7.15 5.38 7.59 8.37 4.60

Special education 2.78 3.84 6.41 5.27 5.25 5.16 5.64 5.37 3.49 5.92 2.67

Other 7.01 7.35 7.48 7.60 9.84 8.97 7.33 2.35 3.26 2.72 2.84

Teaching status

Full-time 2.64 2.02 2.19 2.89 2.99 2.77 2.15 1.38 1.18 1.31 2.34

Part-time 9.91 4.12 4.23 8.25 8.33 5.81 8.13 2.86 5.21 2.95 3.97

Region

Northeast 3.47 4.02 7.48 8.58 7.45 6.69 7.53 2.26 3.55 3.17 7.97

Midwest 7.32 3.96 2.99 4.80 5.28 5.26 2.64 1.92 2.37 2.16 2.75

South 3.43 3.35 3.23 4.06 3.51 3.64 3.62 2.19 1.66 1.37 2.89

West 6.10 3.31 5.15 5.55 5.70 6.52 5.31 5.36 3.79 4.50 3.70

Community type

Central city 5.26 4.34 4.70 5.08 5.91 5.65 5.05 3.15 2.74 3.19 3.37

Urban fringe/large town 3.77 1.85 2.64 4.15 3.19 3.00 3.26 1.98 1.97 1.23 3.51

Rural/small town 4.96 3.85 3.16 4.05 3.62 4.17 2.64 1.18 1.73 2.10 1.93

School level

Elementary 3.25 1.77 2.15 3.14 2.96 2.74 2.33 1.55 1.46 1.56 2.67

Secondary 4.53 4.53 4.66 4.84 6.18 5.84 4.73 1.75 2.03 2.13 2.59

Combined 12.29 5.90 5.18 7.80 9.55 8.53 10.07 1.54 2.90 1.25 8.67

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 13.79 6.16 6.12 8.56 10.66 9.08 5.70 2.79 4.16 3.77 3.81

200–349 students 3.49 5.10 4.38 5.43 4.85 4.89 4.35 2.06 2.55 2.71 3.03

350–499 students 9.38 3.14 4.62 8.06 7.17 5.69 7.25 1.72 3.33 2.11 3.91

500–749 students 3.65 2.88 3.18 4.15 3.91 4.24 3.63 3.26 2.09 3.32 3.23

750 students or more 4.09 3.68 4.37 3.66 4.72 5.27 4.50 2.83 2.10 1.38 4.33

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 3.97 2.99 3.67 4.24 3.45 3.59 1.86 1.44 2.04 1.64 4.15

10–34 percent 2.76 4.56 5.57 5.13 5.71 5.56 5.47 3.30 2.33 3.45 3.11

35 percent or more 5.08 2.31 2.05 3.74 4.03 4.39 2.83 1.58 1.92 1.54 2.84

See footnotes at end of table.

Public
36 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table A6. Standard errors for table 6: Percentage of public and private school teacher movers who rated various reasons as very

important or extremely important in their decision to move from their base year school, by selected school and

teacher characteristics: 2000–01—Continued

Opportunity Dissatisfaction Did not feel Dissatisfaction

for a better Dissatisfaction with support Dissatisfaction prepared to with

teaching with workplace from with changes implement or opportunities

Better assignment conditions at administrators in job did not agree Laid off or for professional

School or Changed salary or Higher job (subject area previous at previous description or with new reform involuntarily development at

teacher characteristic residence benefits security or grade level) school school responsibilities measures transferred previous school

Total 2.21 3.39 2.60 2.75 2.96 2.91 2.86 2.56 2.50 3.38

Teaching experience

1–3 years 3.83 5.29 4.38 3.91 5.01 5.06 3.37 2.22 3.12 4.72

4–9 years 3.15 5.37 5.21 5.68 5.03 5.48 4.61 3.24 5.29 4.60

10–19 years 4.97 7.70 6.24 5.41 3.76 7.02 7.80 6.16 2.84 7.41

20 years or more 2.89 8.50 3.74 7.50 9.93 6.03 10.13 10.03 7.09 10.74

Age

Less than 30 years 3.49 4.48 3.59 4.05 3.78 4.11 3.77 2.25 1.29 4.04

30–39 years 2.83 5.74 4.03 6.41 4.97 6.02 6.93 4.32 4.21 7.27

40–49 years 3.71 6.43 6.24 6.11 5.63 5.83 3.42 3.91 5.44 5.45

50 years or more 3.99 7.88 7.39 7.07 8.40 8.38 9.63 9.85 8.75 9.86

Sex

Male 2.77 6.68 3.57 6.16 4.32 4.28 6.93 1.56 3.14 6.48

Female 2.73 3.93 3.24 3.00 3.44 3.30 3.30 3.16 3.06 3.65

Teaching status

Full-time 2.56 3.58 3.06 2.89 3.01 3.00 2.67 1.78 2.53 3.46

Part-time 1.79 6.42 5.86 6.78 9.90 7.46 10.49 9.40 8.26 9.99

Region

Northeast 3.18 5.56 5.10 5.00 3.93 5.26 4.15 6.06 4.12 4.46

Midwest 1.64 5.02 2.92 6.23 5.57 5.75 4.02 2.51 4.32 4.75

South 5.84 6.23 3.64 4.27 3.30 4.06 5.42 1.95 5.12 5.14

West 3.22 8.84 10.33 8.78 9.80 10.12 9.74 10.49 7.16 10.54

Community type

Central city 2.89 4.74 4.24 4.00 4.62 4.63 4.75 4.31 2.80 4.62

Urban fringe/large town 4.04 4.46 3.39 4.54 4.32 4.21 4.27 3.28 3.43 5.13

Rural/small town 3.47 8.26 7.37 8.39 5.18 9.08 3.36 3.09 10.25 4.88

School level

Elementary 3.22 4.57 3.36 3.28 3.06 3.60 2.36 2.29 3.72 3.08

Secondary 3.02 6.51 3.64 8.55 8.33 8.54 9.54 10.36 6.73 9.63

Combined 3.79 6.23 6.13 5.55 4.53 5.82 6.53 4.86 1.33 6.30

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 2.72 4.48 3.07 3.66 2.82 3.76 3.97 3.15 3.09 3.87

10–34 percent 5.25 6.63 6.82 5.65 6.57 7.05 6.48 6.66 2.08 6.58

35 percent or more 2.59 7.29 6.35 6.19 7.64 7.20 5.19 1.64 7.47 7.02

1 “American Indian and Asian” includes respondents that identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native (Aleut, Alaska Indian, Yupik, Inupiat) and Asian or Pacific Islander (Japanese,

Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Asian Indian, Vietnamese, Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan, or other Asian).

NOTE: Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Respondents were asked to rate the importance

of various reasons in their decision to leave last year's school, although some reasons may be involuntary. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: "Not at all

important," "Slightly important," "Somewhat important," "Very important," and "Extremely important." This table includes the percent of movers who responded "Very important" or "Extremely

important." Some variables and data for public school teachers are not included for private school teachers as reporting standards were not met (there were too few cases for particular response

categories).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers").

Private
Appendix A: Standard Error Tables 37

Table A7. Standard errors for table 7: Percentage of public and private school teacher leavers who rated various reasons as very

important or extremely important in their decision to leave the teaching profession, by selected school and teacher

characteristics: 2000–01

To take

courses to Did not feel 

improve career prepared to

opportunities School Dissatisfied implement or

within or received Dissatisfied with changes did not agree

Better To pursue outside the little support with job in job with new

School or teacher Changed Pregnancy/ salary or another field of from the description or description or reform

characteristic residence child rearing Health Retirement benefits career education community responsibilities responsibilities measures

Total 1.63 1.88 1.62 2.27 2.08 1.96 1.68 0.87 1.73 1.57 1.27

Teaching experience

1–3 years 4.26 4.34 2.09 1.07 5.77 5.99 5.52 3.27 5.42 3.02 3.95

4–9 years 3.22 4.95 4.51 0.77 5.87 5.61 4.89 1.60 2.95 2.13 1.63

10–19 years 4.76 7.04 1.42 4.44 3.76 2.13 1.83 1.14 5.34 5.52 1.78

20 years or more 0.71 0.49 3.56 4.69 3.08 1.08 0.85 1.09 1.16 2.34 2.33

Age

Less than 40 years 2.59 4.31 2.35 0.52 4.21 4.35 3.81 1.67 2.72 1.46 1.74

40–49 years 4.34 2.27 2.20 4.29 6.60 4.41 2.53 1.82 3.65 3.05 2.90

50 years or more 1.61 0.16 3.42 4.00 0.77 1.21 0.98 1.11 3.15 3.63 2.15

Sex

Male 2.88 1.00 0.98 3.98 4.83 5.43 5.16 1.43 4.52 3.07 3.21

Female 1.91 2.33 2.26 2.55 2.29 1.67 1.57 0.99 1.83 1.82 1.10

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic 1.64 2.14 1.84 2.28 1.99 2.28 1.95 1.03 2.01 1.54 1.08

American Indian and Asian1 2.03 5.66 3.52 5.76 3.91 4.42 3.65 5.89 4.02 12.57 13.48

Black, non-Hispanic 1.66 0.91 1.89 10.96 12.63 3.81 2.05 2.08 3.17 2.78 3.14

Hispanic 11.63 5.51 1.26 12.17 6.71 6.35 8.72 0.34 4.17 11.74 11.58

Main assignment field

Arts and music 9.29 5.91 10.04 5.31 4.84 9.25 7.15 2.16 1.89 1.59 1.30

English/language arts 4.68 4.83 2.57 6.75 4.50 3.83 3.07 1.45 5.13 5.02 2.18

General elementary 2.53 3.84 2.07 3.71 3.51 3.64 4.07 1.63 3.14 1.57 1.59

Mathematics 7.98 3.40 2.85 5.25 8.96 8.63 9.16 1.90 1.99 1.53 2.91

Science 1.38 2.43 19.02 7.37 6.61 6.36 2.58 4.97 4.41 2.40 2.61

Social studies 0.47 1.86 2.10 9.81 13.38 13.03 4.82 6.88 7.66 7.29 6.68

Special education 1.92 8.39 1.36 6.73 7.41 3.73 3.49 0.78 8.43 8.48 3.36

Other 2.94 2.52 2.53 4.96 6.12 3.33 2.94 2.48 3.21 4.77 5.27

Teaching status

Full-time 1.66 1.75 1.79 2.38 2.21 2.04 1.65 0.96 1.83 1.81 1.36

Part-time 5.86 8.29 2.26 5.73 7.37 7.94 7.80 2.14 4.95 4.52 3.89

Region

Northeast 3.60 3.24 5.19 4.20 6.09 6.76 2.43 3.00 3.42 3.89 3.51

Midwest 2.42 5.41 5.50 4.87 4.95 3.86 2.46 2.00 2.49 2.20 2.93

South 2.98 3.33 1.36 3.38 3.37 3.05 3.09 1.10 3.28 3.36 2.35

West 3.47 3.97 2.84 4.69 3.79 4.01 5.22 1.82 1.79 1.01 1.74

Community type

Central city 1.61 4.36 1.86 3.79 4.79 4.79 4.54 1.76 3.79 3.43 3.77

Urban fringe/large town 2.72 2.71 2.75 3.44 3.07 2.81 1.18 1.06 2.22 2.12 1.27

Rural/small town 2.41 2.00 2.83 3.46 4.24 3.83 4.42 2.18 3.60 3.54 1.91

School level

Elementary 2.27 2.89 1.93 2.58 2.56 2.82 2.67 0.97 2.66 2.24 1.27

Secondary 2.71 1.60 3.48 4.46 4.07 2.91 1.40 1.35 1.70 2.54 2.43

Combined 5.43 2.36 1.30 3.52 7.13 7.92 6.25 13.08 12.84 12.87 11.65

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 3.42 4.54 6.19 3.87 10.59 10.76 11.52 1.35 2.00 1.83 1.09

200–349 students 5.02 9.06 2.51 4.57 6.25 4.96 4.63 4.42 7.92 8.12 3.96

350–499 students 4.05 5.10 2.03 3.65 4.32 4.42 4.62 2.83 2.61 2.53 3.23

500–749 students 4.31 2.10 1.28 3.25 3.79 3.85 4.21 1.36 5.33 3.94 1.67

750 students or more 1.83 3.22 3.74 4.61 4.17 3.31 1.50 1.04 1.56 2.40 2.70

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 2.70 2.56 4.34 3.69 3.98 4.85 3.25 1.47 2.07 1.79 2.23

10–34 percent 3.61 4.64 2.00 2.85 4.86 2.71 3.12 1.67 2.03 1.72 1.47

35 percent or more 2.30 2.71 1.62 3.71 2.91 2.91 2.92 1.36 3.65 3.43 2.54

See footnotes at end of table.

Public
38 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table A7. Standard errors for table 7: Percentage of public and private school teacher leavers who rated various reasons as very

important or extremely important in their decision to leave the teaching profession, by selected school and teacher

characteristics: 2000–01—Continued

To take

courses to Did not feel 

improve career prepared to

opportunities School Dissatisfied implement or

within or received Dissatisfied with changes did not agree

Better To pursue outside the little support with job in job with new

School or teacher Changed Pregnancy/ salary or another field of from the description or description or reform

characteristic residence child rearing Health Retirement benefits career education community responsibilities responsibilities measures

Total 2.74 2.55 1.52 1.50 3.18 3.36 2.45 1.43 2.20 1.86 1.42

Sex

Male 2.12 1.24 1.32 3.79 5.48 6.74 7.37 2.16 5.93 2.33 0.86

Female 3.48 3.10 2.00 1.65 3.29 3.67 2.38 1.74 2.34 2.27 1.75

Teaching status

Full-time 1.85 3.15 1.30 1.89 3.40 3.64 2.77 1.38 2.50 2.01 1.53

Part-time 8.10 4.56 4.99 1.25 7.38 7.07 4.90 3.84 4.27 4.15 3.77

Region

Northeast 4.11 5.76 2.75 3.10 4.11 4.64 4.07 4.22 4.84 4.60 1.73

Midwest 7.43 5.10 2.85 2.59 8.43 8.04 5.67 1.37 5.37 2.27 1.94

South 2.98 3.97 2.73 2.81 4.98 5.62 4.28 2.53 2.92 2.86 3.00

West 4.57 3.45 5.61 3.13 6.71 5.85 5.69 1.15 6.44 5.98 5.00

Community type

Central city 3.29 4.25 2.13 2.24 3.50 4.21 3.21 1.05 3.21 3.18 2.02

Urban fringe/large town 5.25 3.55 2.95 2.30 5.90 6.10 4.28 2.30 3.44 2.71 2.85

Rural/small town 2.69 6.22 2.45 3.64 7.17 6.95 5.45 5.54 3.26 3.24 2.64

School level

Elementary 3.14 3.73 2.49 2.32 2.69 2.93 2.52 0.65 1.97 1.92 1.51

Secondary 1.66 4.34 4.59 2.40 6.85 6.62 6.76 3.58 7.23 7.42 1.87

Combined 5.10 4.00 2.27 2.28 5.92 6.16 4.70 2.92 3.91 3.05 2.81

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 3.75 3.58 1.66 2.15 4.60 4.98 4.54 2.34 4.20 2.71 2.40

200–349 students 8.11 5.12 5.14 2.14 8.68 8.33 4.52 4.01 4.74 4.48 4.37

350–499 students 3.11 5.59 5.91 4.41 6.70 4.07 3.51 3.87 5.67 4.65 3.94

500 students or more 3.04 6.93 2.31 4.12 6.11 6.54 5.34 0.96 4.39 4.77 2.84

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 4.14 2.85 2.14 1.47 4.94 4.76 3.15 2.49 3.15 2.48 2.16

10–34 percent 4.12 3.95 2.86 3.72 4.00 5.15 4.00 0.64 3.85 3.90 2.73

35 percent or more 5.37 7.45 5.16 3.04 5.20 8.18 6.67 0.97 3.89 3.82 2.22

1 “American Indian and Asian” includes respondents that identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native (Aleut, Alaska Indian, Yupik, Inupiat) and Asian or Pacific Islander (Japanese,

Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Asian Indian, Vietnamese, Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan, or other Asian).

NOTE: Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of various reasons in their decision to leave the teaching profession, although some reasons may be involuntary. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: "Not at all important," "Slightly important," "Somewhat

important," "Very important," and "Extremely important." This table includes the percent of leavers who responded "Very important" or "Extremely important." Some variables and data for public school teachers are not included for private school teachers as reporting standards were not met (there were too few cases for particular response categories).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire,” “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire,” and “Private School Teacher Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Private
Appendix A: Standard Error Tables 39

Table A8. Standard errors for table 8: Percentage of public school teacher leavers collecting a pension from a teacher retirement

system, and percentage of leavers collecting a pension reporting that various factors were very important or extremely

important in their decision to retire, by selected school and teacher characteristics: 2000–01

Did not feel

Collecting Became eligible Dissatisfied with prepared to

a pension Became eligible to accept an Dissatisfied with changes in job implement or did Dissatisfied Other family

from a teacher to receive full early retirement job description description or not agree with new with teaching or personal

School or teacher characteristic retirement system pension benefits incentive or responsibilities responsibilities reform measures as a career reasons

Total 2.29 2.21 2.77 1.27 2.67 2.54 1.66 2.42

Sex

Male 4.15 4.59 4.02 2.69 8.00 7.35 3.10 2.18

Female 2.51 2.83 3.43 1.59 1.92 1.34 1.96 3.30

Teaching status

Full-time 2.42 2.30 2.83 1.34 2.80 2.63 1.77 2.28

Part-time 5.55 9.28 9.70 7.47 7.80 5.49 0.78 17.23

Region

Northeast 3.85 5.83 6.13 3.67 5.08 3.60 4.62 5.47

Midwest 5.58 4.55 4.25 2.22 2.24 2.49 2.82 3.60

South 3.03 3.78 3.25 2.58 5.98 5.69 3.16 4.74

West 4.62 6.70 7.22 1.67 2.18 2.34 1.64 4.96

Community type

Central city 3.58 5.87 4.70 1.65 7.88 7.86 3.94 5.09

Urban fringe/large town 3.29 3.44 4.46 2.44 2.52 2.01 2.09 4.59

Rural/small town 3.66 4.35 3.36 1.65 1.66 1.22 1.72 4.15

School level

Elementary 2.77 4.05 4.56 2.47 2.72 1.84 3.02 3.79

Secondary 4.50 2.92 3.37 0.84 5.08 5.01 1.00 3.78

Combined 4.25 6.50 4.26 4.28 4.43 5.29 4.89 7.18

School enrollment

Less than 200 students 4.19 8.89 6.87 5.99 5.34 2.81 2.47 11.58

200–349 students 5.25 7.63 6.40 3.07 3.01 1.85 1.77 8.64

350–499 students 4.28 4.62 6.85 6.13 6.08 4.10 5.86 6.08

500–749 students 3.65 4.68 5.06 3.08 3.23 2.03 3.95 4.12

750 students or more 4.67 3.10 3.76 1.26 5.11 5.04 2.17 3.93

Minority enrollment

Less than 10 percent 4.27 4.60 3.85 3.23 3.24 2.45 2.64 4.38

10–34 percent 3.34 3.42 5.42 1.24 1.71 2.00 1.97 4.02

35 percent or more 3.31 3.60 3.93 1.56 5.80 5.74 3.22 4.12

NOTE: Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: "Not at all important,"

"Slightly important," "Somewhat important," "Very important," and "Extremely important." This table includes the percent of leavers collecting a pension who responded "Very important" or

"Extremely important." Data for private school teachers are not included due to small cell sizes and related confidentiality concerns.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (“Public School Teacher Questionnaire” and “Public Charter School Teacher

Questionnaire”) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Very important or extremely important factors in teachers' decisions to retire
40 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table A9. Standard errors for table 9: Percentage of public and private school teacher movers and leavers who strongly agreed or

strongly disagreed with various statements about their former schools: 2000–01

Statement Movers Leavers Movers Leavers Movers Leavers Movers Leavers

I was satisfied with my salary. 1.99 1.41 2.36 1.97 1.76 1.47 3.06 3.19

The school or district offered satisfactory benefits. 2.21 2.57 1.71 0.60 1.96 1.77 3.04 2.82

I was satisfied with the level of job security at the school (e.g., the possibility 

of being laid off). 2.56 2.73 1.46 1.29 2.72 3.05 2.67 2.23

In thinking of all the factors that influenced my satisfaction with teaching 

in last year's school, overall, I was satisfied. 2.42 2.44 2.15 2.19 2.34 2.60 2.25 2.00

In thinking of all the factors that influenced my satisfaction with teaching 

in general, overall, I was satisfied. † 2.31 † 1.23 † 2.48 † 1.51

The school facility (buildings and grounds) was in need of significant repair. 2.07 1.77 2.53 1.86 2.68 1.61 2.65 2.64

The school was located in a safe neighborhood. 2.52 2.72 1.37 0.55 3.19 2.96 1.78 1.48

I felt safe at the school. 2.29 2.92 1.32 0.53 2.93 3.25 0.52 0.47

The school’s security policies and practices were sufficient. 2.65 2.82 1.54 0.76 2.69 3.04 1.70 0.77

Student behavior was a problem. 2.57 1.26 1.83 2.16 2.09 1.83 2.74 2.41

Most of the students in the school were motivated to learn. 2.22 1.97 1.86 1.26 2.78 3.23 1.49 1.48

The school emphasized academic success. 2.24 3.33 1.59 0.46 2.74 3.07 1.14 0.99

I received little support from parents. 1.98 1.38 1.99 2.48 1.94 1.05 2.77 2.86

The school received little support from the community. 1.85 0.73 2.33 2.70 2.21 1.44 3.16 2.60

The procedures for teacher performance evaluation were satisfactory. 2.08 2.14 1.50 1.90 2.49 2.50 2.76 2.23

I was satisfied with the policies and practices for assigning students to 

classes or sections for instruction. 1.78 1.82 2.16 2.11 2.92 2.11 1.55 1.79

Some of the classes or sections I taught were too large. 2.44 2.69 2.15 1.85 2.39 1.72 3.49 2.80

I was satisfied with the grade(s) I was assigned to teach. 2.76 2.36 1.65 0.87 3.07 3.08 1.08 0.72

I was satisfied with the subject(s) I was assigned to teach. 2.46 2.32 1.46 0.24 2.65 3.18 0.95 1.24

I often felt that my teaching workload was too heavy. 2.86 2.04 1.63 1.81 2.51 2.00 2.57 2.20

At last year’s school, including (mainstreaming) special needs (e.g., disabled) 

students in regular classes made it difficult for me to teach. 2.30 1.23 2.44 2.52 1.40 1.31 2.62 2.70

I did not have enough influence over the school’s policies and practices. 2.08 1.42 1.74 1.74 2.92 2.57 2.18 1.66

I was satisfied with the amount of autonomy and control I had over my 

own classroom. 2.25 2.97 1.21 1.08 2.37 2.99 1.71 1.02

Computers and other technology for my classroom(s) were 

sufficiently available. 1.71 2.14 2.32 2.27 2.57 2.25 2.73 2.92

Resources and materials/equipment for my classroom(s) were 

sufficiently available. 1.94 2.96 2.04 1.53 2.91 2.09 1.66 2.16

There was not enough time available for planning and preparation during 

a typical week at the school. 2.51 2.77 1.41 1.96 2.73 2.92 1.88 2.65

There was not enough uninterrupted class time available for instruction. 1.96 1.37 1.80 2.68 2.39 2.04 1.97 2.37

The professional caliber of the faculty at the school was high. 2.65 2.79 1.39 0.55 2.92 3.03 1.28 1.53

There were many opportunities to collaborate with other teachers in 

the school. 1.82 2.33 2.06 1.81 2.92 2.56 2.60 1.80

The school administrators’ behavior toward the staff was supportive and 

encouraging. 2.45 2.42 2.43 1.83 2.94 2.91 2.88 2.55

I was pleased with the opportunities for professional advancement 

(promotion) offered to teachers at the school. 1.35 1.91 1.83 1.75 2.92 1.41 2.71 2.79

I was pleased with the opportunities for professional development 

(learning/training) offered to teachers at the school. 1.58 2.23 1.86 1.57 2.90 1.61 2.94 2.61

Required professional development activities at the school usually closely 

matched my professional development goals. 1.72 2.01 2.08 2.71 1.98 1.93 2.62 2.53

† Not applicable.

NOTE: Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: "Strongly agree," "Somewhat agree," "Neither agree nor disagree," "Somewhat

disagree," and "Strongly disagree." This table includes the percent of movers and leavers who responded "Strongly agree" or "Strongly disagree."

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former

Teachers").

Public Private

Strongly agreed Strongly disagreed Strongly agreed Strongly disagreed
Appendix A: Standard Error Tables 41

Table A11. Standard errors for table 11: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers and movers who strongly agreed

or strongly disagreed with various statements about the administrators and staff at their base year schools: 2000–01

Statement Stayers Movers Stayers Movers Stayers Movers Stayers Movers

The school administrators' behavior toward the staff is supportive 

and encouraging. 1.40 2.45 0.95 2.43 1.74 2.94 0.84 2.88

The school principal enforces school rules for student conduct and backs 

me up when I need it. 1.48 2.80 0.61 2.98 1.94 2.97 0.66 3.08

Most of my colleagues share my beliefs and values about what the central 

mission of the school should be. 1.27 2.71 0.32 0.98 1.85 3.31 0.47 1.05

There is a great deal of cooperative effort among the staff members. 1.33 2.06 0.62 2.38 1.72 2.41 0.59 2.04

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: "Strongly agree," "Somewhat agree," "Neither

agree nor disagree," "Somewhat disagree," and "Strongly disagree." This table includes the percent of stayers and movers who responded "Strongly agree" or "Strongly disagree."

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers").

Table A10. Standard errors for table 10: Percentage of public and private school teacher stayers, movers, and leavers who indicated the instructional leader in their base year school was very effective or extremely effective at performing various

activities: 2000–01

Activity Stayers Movers Leavers Stayers Movers Leavers

Communicating respect and value of teachers 1.50 2.55 2.80 1.56 3.07 3.28

Encouraging teachers to change teaching methods if students are not doing well 1.44 2.49 2.75 1.94 2.80 3.33

Working with staff to develop and attain curriculum standards 1.56 2.98 2.83 1.93 4.05 3.18

Encouraging professional collaboration among teachers 1.53 2.86 3.06 1.76 2.92 3.23

Working with teaching staff to solve school or department problems 1.52 3.33 2.93 1.87 2.87 3.48

Encouraging the teaching staff to use student evaluation results in planning curriculum and instruction 1.61 3.17 2.70 1.87 2.48 2.94

Developing broad agreement among the teaching staff about the school's or department's mission 1.50 2.99 2.76 1.71 2.96 3.36

Facilitating and encouraging professional development activities of teachers 1.51 2.92 2.78 1.91 3.15 3.09

NOTE: Stayers are teachers who were teaching in the same school in the current school year as in the previous school year. Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year

but had moved to a different school after the previous school year. Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Instructional leaders are persons designated by respondents as most responsible for providing instructional leadership at respondents' current or former school; they may be the Principal or School Head, the Assistant or Vice Principal,

the Department Chair or Head, the Director of Curriculum or Instruction, or another person that respondents specify. Response choices were based on a 5-point scale, and included the following: "Not at all effectively," "Slightly effectively," "Somewhat effectively," "Very effectively," and "Extremely effectively." This table includes the percent of stayers, movers, and leavers who

responded "Very effectively" or "Extremely effectively."

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers" and "Questionnaire for Former

Teachers").

Public Private

Public Private

Strongly agreed Strongly disagreed Strongly agreed Strongly disagreed
42 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table A13. Standard errors for table 13: Current main occupational status of public and private school teacher leavers: 2000–01

Occupational status Public Private

Main occupational status of all leavers 

Attending a college or university 0.73 1.27

Caring for family members 1.86 2.29

Disabled 1.55 1.00

Retired 2.30 1.38

Other 0.42 1.12

Unemployed and seeking work 1.51 0.98

Working in an elementary or secondary school with an assignment other than teaching 2.39 1.67

Working in an education occupation outside of elementary or secondary education 1.84 1.78

Working in an occupation outside the field of education 1.87 3.11

Classification of leavers whose main occupational status was working 

Employee of a private company, business, or individual for wages, salary, or commission 3.65 3.67

State or federal government employee 2.83 2.96

Local government employee 4.75 2.12

Self-employed in own business, professional practice, or farm 2.29 1.32

Working without pay in a family business, farm, or volunteer job # 2.18

# Rounds to zero.

NOTE: Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year. Detail may not add to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Table A12. Standard errors for table 12: Percentage of base year teachers moving across schools, school districts, and sectors:

1999–2000 to 2000–01

Moved from one Moved from one

public school to another public school district Moved from a Moved from one Moved from a

public school in the to another public private school to a private school to another public school to a 

Teacher category same school district school district public school private school private school

All teachers 

Total 0.18 0.35 0.04 0.05 #

Teachers with less than 5 years experience 0.42 0.89 0.13 0.11 #

Teachers with 5 or more years experience 0.19 0.36 # 0.06 #

All movers

Total 2.22 2.75 0.69 0.70 0.59

Movers with less than 5 years experience 3.19 3.66 1.01 0.82 1.39

Movers with 5 or more years experience 2.83 3.73 0.96 1.00 0.48

Public movers 

Total 2.85 2.81 † † 0.69

Movers with less than 5 years experience 3.88 3.94 † † 1.62

Movers with 5 or more years experience 3.73 3.80 † † 0.56

Private movers

Total † † 2.76 2.76 †

Movers with less than 5 years experience † † 4.52 4.52 †

Movers with 5 or more years experience † † 3.95 3.95 †

† Not applicable.

# Rounds to zero.

NOTE: Movers are teachers who were still teaching in the current school year but had moved to a different school after the previous school year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Current Teachers").
Appendix A: Standard Error Tables 43

Table A14. Standard errors for table 14: Percentage of public and private school teacher leavers who were working that rated

various aspects of their current main occupation as better than teaching, not better than teaching, or no difference:

2000–01

Better in Better in Better in Better in

Occupation characteristic teaching current position No difference teaching current position No difference

Salary 3.96 3.96 4.06 2.53 3.47 2.35

Benefits 4.23 2.49 4.77 3.00 4.07 2.90

Job security 4.04 2.70 4.27 3.66 4.26 4.19

Intellectual challenge 2.68 3.86 4.15 3.60 4.95 4.30

Opportunities for professional development 3.29 3.50 4.90 2.94 4.56 3.50

Professional prestige 3.15 3.95 3.89 2.99 4.15 3.29

General work conditions 0.85 4.23 4.31 2.19 4.56 4.43

Safety of environment 2.55 3.43 4.07 2.86 4.44 4.39

Manageability of workload 2.52 4.44 4.21 1.91 4.04 4.17

Procedures for performance evaluation 3.30 4.02 3.88 2.64 4.04 4.65

Autonomy or control over own work 2.55 3.71 2.86 3.96 4.67 3.63

Influence over workplace policies and practices 3.39 4.51 4.75 4.34 4.49 4.47

Availability of resources and materials/ equipment for doing job 3.81 4.32 4.34 1.77 4.61 4.18

Recognition and support from administrators/managers 3.56 3.93 4.43 2.57 4.12 3.92

Professional caliber of colleagues 3.17 3.16 4.08 2.84 4.19 3.99

Opportunities for learning from colleagues 2.98 3.86 4.03 3.16 4.12 3.73

Opportunities for professional advancement 3.64 4.20 3.79 2.29 3.90 3.32

NOTE: Leavers are teachers who left the teaching profession after the previous school year.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey ("Questionnaire for Former Teachers").

Public Private
44 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01
Appendix B: Technical Notes 45

I. Overview of TFS

The Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) is sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of

the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and is conducted by the U.S. Census

Bureau.

The TFS is a follow-up survey of selected elementary and secondary school teachers who have participated in

the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS)1 and is conducted in the school year following the SASS data collection.

The sample for TFS was selected from those teachers who participated in the SASS; it consisted of all who left

teaching within the year after SASS and a subsample of those who continued teaching. 

The major objectives of TFS are to:

■ Provide estimates of teacher attrition rates;

■ Examine the characteristics of those who stay in the teaching profession and those who leave, including

retirees; 

■ Obtain data on occupations or other activities for those who leave teaching and career information for those

who are still teaching;

■ Update information on education, other training, and career plans; and

■ Collect data on attitudes about the teaching profession and job satisfaction.

The Teacher Follow-up Survey was conducted in the 1988–89, 1991–92, 1994–95, and 2000–01 school years

(after the 1987–88, 1990–91, 1993–94, and 1999–2000 administrations of SASS, respectively). NCES currently plans to conduct the next survey in the 2004–05 school year; it will collect data from a subsample of teachers who participated in the 2003–04 SASS.

Congress, state education departments, federal agencies, private school associations, teacher associations, and

educational organizations have used data from the 1987–88, 1990–91, and 1993–94 SASS, and 1988–89,

1991–92, and 1994–95 TFS surveys.

II. Survey Content: 2000–01

A. Content Changes

Prior to the 2000–01 TFS administration, pre-tests were undertaken (for further explanation of the pre-tests,

see section V). As a result of these pre-tests, the following additions and deletions were made to the TFS questionnaires between the 1994–95 and 2000–01 administrations.

Appendix B: Technical Notes

1 For a complete description of the 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey, see 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey: Data File User’s Manual (Tourkin et

al. forthcoming). 
46 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

1. Additions and Enhancements

a. Questionnaire for Former Teachers (TFS-2)

■ Effectiveness of instructional leadership

■ Reasons for retirement 

■ Impression of last year’s school

■ Factors that may influence return to teaching

■ Increased use of rating scales to measure reasons for leaving and job satisfaction

■ Race/ethnicity categories were revised to allow for multi-race reporting

b. Questionnaire for Current Teachers (TFS-3)

■ Computers and technology in the classroom

■ Scheduling and planning activities

■ Increased use of rating scales to measure reasons for moving and job satisfaction

■ Race/ethnicity categories were revised to allow for multi-race reporting

2. Deletions

a. Questionnaire for Former Teachers (TFS-2)

■ Effective steps to encourage teacher retention

b. Questionnaire for Current Teachers (TFS-3)

■ Teaching methods

■ Effective steps to encourage teaching retention

B. Final Content of 2000–01 TFS

The following is a brief description of the components of the 2000–01 TFS.

■ The Teacher Status Form for Public and Private Schools (TFS-1) is an administrative form sent to principals in order to determine whether teachers who participated in the 1999–2000 SASS remained in the

school, moved to another school, or left the teaching profession. This information is used to help locate and

administer the appropriate questionnaire to TFS participants.

■ The Questionnaire for Former Teachers (TFS-2) obtained information such as employment status, reasons

for leaving the teaching profession, future employment and educational plans, impressions of last year’s

school, of teaching in general, and of the current occupation relative to teaching.

■ The Questionnaire for Current Teachers (TFS-3) obtained information such as teaching assignments and

certification, conditions and experiences of teaching in current school, scheduling and planning, computers and technology in the classroom, changes from last school year to this school year, and future education plans.

Copies of the 2000–01 TFS questionnaires may be obtained on the Internet at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/

questionnaire.asp or by e-mail to SASSdata@ed.gov.

C. Sampling Changes

Due to processing delays in SASS, the final interview status for teachers was not available when the sample was

selected for TFS. As a result, teachers were sampled based on their preliminary interview status in SASS. Of

the 8,353 teachers selected for TFS, 643 ended up being nonrespondents for SASS based on the final interview

status, making them ineligible for TFS. This represents a considerably higher proportion of the TFS sample
Appendix B: Technical Notes 47

that was lost in 1994–95 and in other past rounds of TFS, and can be attributed to the processing delays in

SASS. These 643 cases were teachers whose questionnaire responses were insufficient to be considered a final

interview. This process occurs in all SASS data collections, in which what appear to be responses initially, end

up as non-interviews after the criteria for a final interview are applied (usually, at least a small percentage

of items must be filled in, plus a few critical items). In 1999–2000, delays to the processing of SASS meant

that the final interview had not been run when the TFS sample had to be selected. Nonresponse bias analyses were performed on the 1993–94 and 1999–2000 SASS, but not specifically on the group that changed

from interview to non-interview status during processing. Although these cases represent only 7.7 percent of

the TFS sample, it is impossible to know if these cases have any impact on the attrition rates shown in this

report without a specific analysis of the characteristics of these excluded teachers from SASS against the eligible teachers in TFS.

III. Target Populations, Sampling Frames, and Comparisons of Estimates

A. Target Populations and Key Terms

The target population for the 2000–01 TFS was the universe of elementary and secondary school teachers in

the United States during the 1999–2000 school year. This population was divided into two components—those

who left teaching after the 1999–2000 school year (“leavers”) and those who continued teaching (“stayers”

and “movers”).

The following terms are used in this publication and are defined as they apply to TFS:

■ Teacher. For the purposes of the Teacher Follow-up Survey, a teacher is any full-time or part-time school

staff member who teaches one or more regularly scheduled classes in any of grades K–12 (or comparable

ungraded levels). Pre-kindergarten teachers are included if they also teach kindergarten. In addition to regular full-time teachers, the following types of teachers are also included: (1) itinerant teachers, (2) longterm substitutes who fill the role of a regular teacher for at least three months, (3) administrators, counselors, librarians, or other professional or support staff who teach any regularly scheduled classes, and (4)

other part-time teachers.

■ Leavers. Teachers who left the teaching profession or teachers who were no longer teaching in any of

grades K–12 after the 1999–2000 school year (includes teachers whose status changed to short-term substitute, student teacher, or teacher aide).

■ Movers. Teachers who were still teaching any of grades K–12 in 2000–01, but had moved to a different

school after the 1999–2000 school year.

■ Stayers. Teachers who were still teaching any of grades K–12 and in the same school in 2000–01 as in

1999–2000.

■ Out-of-Scope TFS teachers. Teachers who left the United States or died. 

The following definitions were used in the 2000–01 Schools and Staffing Survey; they describe variables included on each TFS respondent’s record to identify the school where he/she taught during the 1999–2000 school

year. Many are also used in this publication. 

■ Census region. The four Census regions are:

Northeast—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York,

New Jersey, Pennsylvania

Midwest—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota,

South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas
48 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

South—Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South

Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana,

Oklahoma, Texas

West—Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Oregon,

California, Alaska, Hawaii

■ Common Core of Data. The Common Core of Data is a group of surveys that acquire and maintain public elementary and secondary education data from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the outlying areas through the state-level (or equivalent) education agencies. Information about staff and students

in public schools is collected annually at the school, LEA (Local Education Agency or School District), and

state levels. Information about revenues and expenditures is also collected at the state level.

■ Local education agency (LEA). LEAs, or public school districts, are government agencies that employ elementary or secondary teachers and are administratively responsible for providing public elementary/secondary instruction and educational support services. Included are education agencies that do not operate

schools but employ teachers, e.g., regional cooperatives that employ special education teachers who teach

in schools in more than one school district.

■ School, alternative. Alternative schools serve students whose needs cannot be met in a regular, special education, or vocational school. They provide nontraditional education and may serve as an adjunct to a regular school. They fall outside the categories of regular, special education, and vocational education,

although they may provide similar services or curriculum. Some examples of alternative schools are those

for potential dropouts, residential treatment centers for substance abuse (if they provide elementary or secondary education), and schools for chronic truants.

■ School, BIA. A BIA school is a school funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the U.S. Department

of the Interior. Any school included in the 1997–98 Office of Indian Education Programs: Education

Directory is a BIA-funded school. This directory was the population frame for the Indian School component of the 1999–2000 SASS. Schools listed in the BIA directory receive federal funds but may be operated by a local school district, a local tribe, or as a public charter school. 

■ School, Charter or Public Charter. A charter school is a public school that, in accordance with an enabling

state statute, has been granted a charter exempting it from selected state or local rules and regulations. A

charter school may be a newly created school or it may previously have been a public or private school. It

includes schools open for instruction as a public charter school as of the 1998–99 school year and operating in the 1999–2000 school year.

■ School, combined. A combined school has one or more of grades K–6 and one or more of grades 9–12; for

example, schools with grades K–12, 6–12, 6–9, or 1–12 are classified as combined schools. Schools in which

all students are ungraded (i.e., not classified by standard grade levels) are also classified as combined.

■ School, elementary. A school is elementary if it has one or more of grades 1–6 and does not have any grade

higher than grade 8; for example, schools with grades K–6, 1–3, or 6–8 are classified as elementary schools.

■ School, private. A private school is defined as a school not in the public system that provides instruction

for any of grades 1–12 (or comparable ungraded levels). The instruction is typically given in a building

that is not used primarily as a private home. Individual cases where instruction was primarily given in the

home were manually checked to verify that the school was not a home school.

■ School, public. A public school is an institution that provides educational services for at least one of grades

1 through 12 (or comparable ungraded levels), has one or more teachers, is located in one or more buildings, and is supported primarily by public funds. State schools (e.g., schools for the deaf or the blind),
Appendix B: Technical Notes 49

schools in juvenile detention centers, and schools located on military bases in the U.S. and operated by the

Department of Defense are included.

■ School, secondary. A school is secondary if it has one or more of grades 7–12 and does not have any grades

lower than grade 7; for example, schools with grades 9–12, 7–8, 10–12, or 7–9 are classified as secondary

schools.

■ School, special education. Special education schools provide educational services to students with special

physical or mental needs, i.e., students with mental disabilities (such as mental retardation or autism),

physical disabilities (such as hearing-impairment), or learning disabilities (such as dyslexia).

■ School, vocational. Vocational schools primarily serve students who are being trained for semi-skilled or

technical occupations.

■ Typology, private school. Categories (three major ones with three sub-categories each) into which private

schools are divided based on religious orientation, association membership, and program emphasis: 1)

Catholic—parochial, diocesan, private; 2) Other religious—affiliated with a Conservative Christian school

association (e.g., Accelerated Christian Education, American Association of Christian Schools, Association

of Christian Schools International, Oral Roberts University Educational Fellowship), affiliated with a national denomination, unaffiliated; 3) Non-sectarian—regular, special program emphasis, special education.

■ Ungraded students. Ungraded students are those who are not assigned to a particular grade level (kindergarten, first grade, second grade, etc.); for example, special education centers and alternative schools often

classify their students as ungraded. Students in Montessori schools are also considered ungraded if the

school assigns them to “primary” and “intermediate” levels instead of specific grades. 

B. SASS Sampling Frames

More detailed information on the sample design for SASS can be found in the 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing

Survey: Data File User’s Manual.

1. Public Schools 

The SASS was designed to support estimates at the national, regional, and state levels for public school districts, schools, principals, teachers, and school library media centers. The public school sampling frame was

based on the 1997–98 school year Common Core of Data (CCD), a file of information collected annually by

NCES from all state education agencies and believed to be the most complete public school listing available

at the time of sample selection. Public schools not in existence in school year 1997–98 or not opening as a

result of a merger with an existing school were not included in the SASS sampling universe. The frame contains regular public schools and special purpose schools such as special education, vocational, and alternative schools. The frame was enhanced with a list of schools operated by the Department of Defense. After

the deletion of duplicate schools, schools outside of the United States, and schools that only teach prekindergarten, kindergarten, or postsecondary students, 88,266 schools remained on the public school frame.

2. Private Schools 

The SASS was designed to provide detailed private school estimates at the affiliation level. The sampling

frame for private schools was derived from affiliation lists, because state coverage of private schools is

uneven. The sampling frame for private schools was the 1997–98 Private School Survey (PSS), updated

with more current information from 1998–99 private school affiliation lists (Broughman and Colaciello

1999). A list frame consisting of 28,164 schools was the primary private school frame. An area frame was

used to identify schools not included on the list frame and thereby compensate for the undercoverage of

the list frame. The area frame was taken from the 1997–98 PSS because there was no opportunity to
50 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

update it prior to SASS data collection. See Cole et al. (forthcoming) for more detail. The area frame consisted of 140 schools drawn from a sample of 3,142 counties throughout the nation, representing an estimated 1,760 schools not found on affiliation lists. 

The affiliation group for a school was determined in a hierarchical order; that is, if more than one definition applied, the school was classified into the first group that applied:

1) Military—membership in the Association of American Military Colleges and Schools;

2) Catholic—affiliation as Catholic or membership in the National Catholic Education Association or the

Jesuit Secondary Education Association;

3) Friends—affiliation as Friends or membership in the Friends Council on Education;

4) Episcopal—affiliation as Episcopal or membership in the National Association of Episcopal Schools;

5) Hebrew Day—membership in the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools;

6) Solomon Schechter—membership in the Schechter Day Schools;

7) Other Jewish—any other Jewish affiliation;

8) Missouri Synod—membership in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod;

9) Wisconsin Synod—affiliation as Evangelical Lutheran, Wisconsin Synod or membership in the

Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wisconsin Synod;

10) Evangelical Lutheran—affiliation as Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or membership in the

Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches; 

11) Other Lutheran—any other Lutheran affiliation;

12) Seventh-Day Adventist—affiliation as Seventh-Day Adventist or membership in the General

Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists;

13) Christian Schools International—membership in Christian Schools International;

14) American Association of Christian Schools—membership in the American Association of Christian

Schools;

15) Association of Christian Schools International—membership in the Association of Christian Schools

International;

16) National Association of Private Schools for Exceptional Children—membership in the National

Association of Private Schools for Exceptional Children;

17) Montessori—membership in the American Montessori Society or other Montessori associations;

18) National Association of Independent Schools—membership in the National Association of Independent

Schools;

19) National Independent Private School Association—membership in the National Independent Private

School Association;

20) Other—no affiliation with or membership in any of the groups listed above.

3. Public Charter Schools 

The universe of 1,122 public charter schools was identified from a list provided by the Office of

Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) as described in The State of Charter Schools 2000 (2000).

The OERI list was used since not all of the public charter schools were listed on the Common Core of Data

(CCD). The OERI list included public charter schools open during the 1998–99 school year; there were

1,122 schools on the public charter school frame. To be included in the 1999–2000 SASS population of
Appendix B: Technical Notes 51

public charter schools, public charter schools were required to still be open as a public charter school during the 1999–2000 school year. One hundred and twelve schools on the sampling frame failed to meet these

criteria, resulting in 1,010 in-scope public charter schools.

An independent verification of charter school information was provided by the National Charter School

Directory 2000, Sixth Edition (Dale 2000). Census personnel used this resource to verify the eligibility status of specific public charter schools.

4. Bureau of Indian Affairs-Funded Schools 

The universe of BIA schools was identified from the 1997–98 list of schools provided by the Bureau of

Indian Affairs. For the 1997–98 school year, there were 197 schools in the Department of Interior’s Bureau

of Indian Affairs, Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP) “Education Directory” (Bureau of Indian

Affairs 1998). Collecting and analyzing data from BIA schools is complicated because some BIA-funded

schools are operated as public schools or public charter schools. Of the original 197 schools listed in the

OIEP “Education Directory” for 1997–98, 124 were considered BIA schools; 65 were considered to be public schools; and 8 were considered to be public charter schools. 

Starting from the 197 schools in the OIEP Directory, only 169 of the listed entities are considered to be

schools meeting the eligibility requirements of SASS: the facility must provide educational services for any

of grades 1 through 12. Some of the OIEP listings were for dormitories or schools that provided only preschool or adult educational services and thus are ineligible for the SASS. Out of these 169 schools, 152

were school respondents. 

IV. Sample Selection Procedures and Sample Sizes

A. SASS Sample Selection Procedures

Selecting the teacher sample in public, private, and public charter schools involved the following steps: 

a. The selected schools were asked to provide teacher lists using the SASS Teacher Listing Form; and

b. From the lists, 56,860 public school teachers (including BIA teachers), 10,760 private school teachers, and

4,438 public charter school teachers were selected.

The public, private, and public charter teacher sample selections are described together because identical

methodologies were used. The only difference was in the average number of teachers selected within a school.

1. Teacher Frame

Each selected school was asked to provide a list of their teachers with selected information for each teacher.

Of sampled schools, 7 percent of public schools, 14 percent of private schools, 9 percent of public charter

schools, and 2 percent of Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools did not provide teacher listing forms. A

factor in the teacher weighting system was used to adjust for these nonparticipant schools.

The sample schools were asked to provide the following information for each teacher listed:

■ Whether the teacher was new or experienced, where “new” was defined as less than three years of

total teaching completed and “experienced” was defined as three or more completed years of teaching;

■ Race/ethnicity;

■ Whether the teacher taught classes designed for students with limited-English proficiency; and

■ Subject matter taught (general elementary, special education, math, science, English, social studies,

vocational education, and all other teachers).
52 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

The above information for each teacher in a selected SASS school comprised the school teacher frame.

Within each selected school, teachers were stratified into one of five teacher types in the following hierarchical order:

1) Asian or Pacific Islander

2) American Indian or Alaska Native

3) Teachers of students with limited-English proficiency

4) New

5) Experienced

2. Within-School Teacher Allocation

First, the total number of sample teachers to be selected for each school without regard to strata was calculated assuming no teacher oversampling for new teachers. Then, to allocate across the strata, public

school teachers were allocated to the new and experienced categories proportional to their numbers in the

school. However, for private teachers, it was decided to oversample new teachers to ensure that there would

be a sufficient sample of new teachers in the Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS). (This was also done in the

1990–91 and 1993–94 SASS.)

Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native, and teachers of students with limited-English

proficiency were oversampled at a rate to ensure a set number of each group was selected. To make sure a

school was not overburdened, the maximum number of teachers sampled per school was set at 20. When

the number of sampled teachers exceeded 20 in a school, the Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian or

Alaska Native and teachers of students with limited-English proficiency were proportionally reduced to

meet the maximum requirement.

Within each teacher stratum, teachers were sorted by their subject matter taught (as reported by the principal on the SASS Teacher Listing Form). This method was used to assure a good distribution of teachers

by subject matter taught.

Within each school and teacher stratum, teachers were selected systematically with equal probability.

A total of 72,058 teachers were selected (66,579 new and experienced, 1,666 Asian or Pacific Islander,

1,599 American Indian or Alaska Native and 2,214 limited-English proficiency class teachers). Table B1

shows the number of selected teachers in the SASS sample by teacher type and sector.

Table B1. Number of selected teachers in the SASS sample, by teacher type: 1999–2000

Teacher type Public1 Private Public Charter Total

Asian/Pacific Islander 1,216 346 104 1,666

American Indian/Alaska Native 1,420 81 98 1,599

Teachers of students with LEP 2,040 61 113 2,214

New 7,012 2,426 1,325 10,763

Experienced 45,172 7,846 2,798 55,816

Total 56,860 10,760 4,438 72,058

1 Public totals include Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded (BIA) school teachers.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey.

For more information on SASS, see the technical report 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey: Sample Design

and Estimation (Cole et al. forthcoming).
Appendix B: Technical Notes 53

B. TFS Sample Selection Procedures

The Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) is a survey of approximately 8,400 teachers who were interviewed in the

1999–2000 SASS Teacher Survey. As described earlier, the purpose of the 2000–01 TFS was to measure teacher

attrition rates a year after the 1999–2000 SASS data collection. In SASS, schools were selected first. Next, teachers were selected within each sampled school. The TFS teachers were selected from the SASS teacher sample.

The TFS sample is a stratified sample that was allocated in order to allow comparisons of stayers, movers, and

leavers within sector (public/private/public charter), experience groups, and level. Therefore, for the TFS, the

responding 1999–2000 SASS teachers were stratified by four variables (sector, teacher status, experience, teaching level) in the order shown below:

1. Sector (Public/Private School Indicator):

Public—teachers who taught in a public school system or BIA school in the 1999–2000 school year;

Public Charter—teachers who taught in a public charter school in the 1999–2000 school year; 

Private—teachers who taught in a private school in the 1999–2000 school year;

2. Teacher status:

Leavers—teachers in the 1999–2000 school year who left the teaching profession prior to the 2000–01

school year;

Stayers—teachers in the 1999–2000 school year who were still teaching in the same school in 2000–01 as

they were in the previous school year;

Movers—teachers in the 1999–2000 school year who were still teaching in 2000–01, but were in a different school in the 2000–01 school year;

Don’t know—teachers whose status was unknown (or was not reported) in 2000–01 by staff at their

1999–2000 school. 

3. Experience (New/Experienced Teacher Indicator):

New—teachers who had completed less than three years of teaching during the 1999–2000 school year;

Experienced—teachers who had three or more years of teaching experience during the 1999–2000 school

year;

4. Teaching level:

Elementary—teachers who taught elementary students in the 1999–2000 school year regardless of the

level of the school (elementary, secondary, combined) in which they taught;

Secondary—teachers who taught secondary students in the 1999–2000 school year regardless of the level

of the school (elementary, secondary, combined) in which they taught.

The sample for TFS was allocated from those teachers who participated in the SASS; it consisted of all who left

teaching within the year after SASS and a subsample of those who continued teaching. All teachers with less than

3 years of teaching experience and who moved to a different school were included, while for teachers who were

experienced and who moved to another school, the proportion sampled ranged from 23 percent for public teachers to 77 percent for public charter teachers, and 100 percent of private teachers. Teachers who stayed in the

same school were sampled at lower rates, ranging from 4 percent for public teachers to 15 percent for private

teachers and 27 percent for public charter teachers. The final TFS sample allocation, which is summarized in

table B2 on the following page, was selected to ensure that a sufficient number of teachers from each of the

respective sectors were included in the sample to provide nationally representative estimates.
54 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Table B2. TFS sample allocation: 2000–01

Total New Experienced

Public1 5,077 1,611 3,466

Leavers

Total 2,095 242 1,853

Elementary 684 73 611

Secondary 1,411 169 1,242

Nonleavers 2,982 1,369 1,613

Elementary

Total 1,529 618 911

Movers 644 301 343

Stayers2 885 317 568

Secondary

Total 1,453 751 702

Movers 701 485 216

Stayers2 752 266 486

Public Charter 1,180 408 772

Leavers

Total 199 70 129

Elementary 90 28 62

Secondary 109 42 67

Nonleavers 981 338 643

Elementary

Total 498 182 316

Movers 162 79 83

Stayers2 336 103 233

Secondary

Total 483 156 327

Movers 145 57 88

Stayers2 338 99 239

Private 2,098 844 1,254

Leavers

Total 545 194 351

Elementary 265 93 172

Secondary 280 101 179

Nonleavers 1,553 650 903

Elementary

Total 826 360 466

Movers 298 122 176

Stayers2 528 238 290

Secondary

Total 727 290 437

Movers 253 90 163

Stayers2 474 200 274

1 Public totals include Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded (BIA) school teachers.

2 “Don’t know” strata cases are included in the ‘stayer’ categories of this table.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey.

“Don’t know” strata cases are included in the “stayers” categories of table B2. Because the actual status of these

cases was unknown, they were sampled at the lower stayer sampling rate to ensure a representative sample was

drawn, but were then mailed the Questionnaire for Former Teachers. Approximately 20 percent of these sampled cases were determined to be stayers and 80 percent were leavers.

Sorting. Within each public TFS stratum, teachers that were classified by the preliminary interview status

recode (ISR) as an interview in the 1999–2000 SASS Teacher Survey were sorted by teacher subject, Census

region, urbanicity, school enrollment and SASS teacher control number.

Sample Selection. After the teachers were sorted, teachers were selected within each stratum using a probability proportional to size procedure. The measure of size was the 1999–2000 SASS preliminary teacher weight,
Appendix B: Technical Notes 55

which is the product of the Basic Weight, School Sampling Adjustment Factor, School Noninterview Adjustment

Factor, preliminary version of the SASS final teacher weight, and the First-Stage Ratio Adjustment Factor after

the SASS preliminary interview status had been assigned. Due to processing delays in SASS, the final SASS

weight based on the final interview status was not available. 

As stated earlier, since the selection was based on the preliminary interview status in SASS, 643 of the 8,353

teachers selected for TFS ended up being nonrespondents for SASS based on the final interview status, making

them ineligible for TFS. See Table B3 for a detailed breakdown of TFS completion status by SASS final interview status.

Table B3: TFS final interview status, by 1999–2000 SASS final interview status: 2000–01

TFS final interview status Interview Noninterview Out-of-Scope

Interview 6,758 307 130

Noninterview 929 167 32

Out-of-Scope 23 5 2

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey.

V. Pre-Testing Activities

A. Cognitive Interviews

During December 1999 and January 2000 Census staff conducted cognitive interviews in order to refine the

questionnaires proposed for the 2000–01 TFS. All interviews were conducted by trained interviewers and tape

recorded (with respondent permission). The sample was drawn from teachers in the Washington, DC and New

York City metro areas. Respondents were offered a $30 incentive for their participation. 

Summary of recommendations from cognitive interviews:

■ Include middle points and not applicable (NA) categories with scales 

■ Maintain format consistency in numbering, lettering, and fonts

■ Delete redundant items

■ Reword several questions for greater clarity

For a more detailed summary of the findings and recommendations presented to NCES please refer to Pugh and

Zukerberg (2000). 

B. Expert Review

During February 2000, an expert review of the current and former teacher questionnaires was undertaken that

focused on content and format. 

Recommendations from the expert review included:

■ Trim “unnecessary” list items

■ Use bipolar point scales where both extremes are possible 

■ Change scale labels

■ Reword and reorder several questions for better clarity

For more information, see TFS 2000–01 Questionnaire Review (Nelson 2002).

SASS final interview status
56 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

VI. Data Collection Procedures

A. Time Frame of the Survey

The Census Bureau collected the 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey data during the 2000–01 school year. Table

B4 summarizes the specific data collection activities and the time frame in which each occurred.

Table B4. TFS data collection schedule: 2000–01

Activity Date of Activity

Advance letters mailed to LEAs and state administrators August 2000

Teacher status forms (TFS-1) and letters mailed to sample schools September 2000

Reminder postcards mailed to sample schools September 2000

Telephone follow-up of teacher status forms not returned by schools September–October 2000

Initial mailing of current and former teacher questionnaires (TFS-2 and TFS-3) January 2001

Second mailing of current and former teacher questionnaires (TFS-2 and TFS-3) February 2001

Telephone and personal visit follow-up of mail questionnaire nonrespondents (TFS-2 and TFS-3) March–May 2001

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

B. Data Collection Procedures for TFS

In September 2000, the Census Bureau mailed teacher status forms (TFS-1) to sample schools that had provided lists of teachers for the 1999–2000 SASS. Teacher status was needed to select the sample for TFS. The schools

were asked to complete the form by indicating whether each teacher listed was still teaching (stayer or mover)

or had left the teaching profession (leaver). One week after the TFS-1 mailout, reminder postcards were mailed

to the sample schools. In September and early October, Census interviewers telephoned schools that had not

returned the TFS-1 to obtain the requested information. 

The Census Bureau regional offices (ROs) were assigned nonresponse cases with no known telephone number for

the TFS-1 Teacher Status Form. The ROs were also assigned former teacher (TFS-2) cases (leavers) for which

Census did not have a home address and cases of current teachers (stayers or movers) (TFS-3) who were not

teaching in the same school as the year before and for whom Census did not have a home address. These cases

were sent directly to the ROs in early January 2001, so the ROs could attempt to locate these cases and administer the appropriate TFS questionnaire.

In January 2001, the TFS questionnaires were mailed to selected teachers and former teachers. Reminder postcards were mailed one week after the questionnaires. The Questionnaire for Former Teachers (TFS-2) was sent

to sample persons reported by school administrators as having left the teaching profession. The Questionnaire

for Current Teachers (TFS-3) was sent to sample persons who were reported as still teaching at the elementary

or secondary level. When home addresses were provided, the questionnaires were mailed to the home with an

enclosed introductory letter that explained the purpose of the survey as well as a statement of authority and

assurance of confidentiality. 

In February, the Census Bureau mailed a second questionnaire to each sample person who had not returned the

first questionnaire. Also, for those who returned the first form and indicated that it did not apply to them (their

status was incorrectly reported by their 1999–2000 school), the appropriate questionnaire was mailed to them.

For example, if a sampled person who was teaching in another school received the questionnaire for former

teachers (TFS-2), he/she was instructed to return the questionnaire; the Census Bureau sent the correct questionnaire (TFS-3 for current teachers) to the respondent during the second mailout. 
Appendix B: Technical Notes 57

In late March 2001, Census field staff began calling sampled persons who had not returned a mail questionnaire.

If the interviewers were unable to contact a sampled teacher through a contact person (two contact persons had

been listed by the sample teacher on the SASS form as knowing how or where to get in touch with him or her)

or through directory assistance, they called the sampled person’s 1999–2000 school to obtain information about

the person’s current address or employer. All nonresponse follow-up was completed in May 2001.

VII. TFS Reinterview Program

The purpose of the reinterview for the TFS was to find ways to improve the survey questions by reinterviewing

teachers in the TFS sample, using a shortened version of the survey they received. 

The Census Bureau’s National Processing Center (NPC) mailed TFS reinterview questionnaires to the selected

sample of former and current teachers. If after two mailouts, NPC had not received a completed questionnaire,

then the case was passed along to the appropriate Regional Office (RO) for telephone follow-up.

The 2000–01 TFS reinterview included both former teachers and current teachers. The reinterview replicated

the original interview’s mode. If the original interview was completed by mail, the reinterview was completed by

mail. If the original interview was completed by telephone, the reinterview was completed by telephone.

Once a week NPC received a list of completed original mail questionnaires. Within a week of receiving the list,

NPC mailed out the reinterview questionnaires. The telephone reinterviews were done on a flow basis, using

paper and pencil (PAPI) reinterview questionnaires. As field representatives (FRs) completed and mailed original telephone interviews to the ROs, the ROs prepared the reinterview questionnaires and mailed them to the

senior field representatives (SFRs) to conduct the reinterviews.

Two reinterview samples were selected for the survey; the sample of current and former teachers was evenly

divided between 3,920 cases. The goal of the reinterview was to get approximately 1,000 complete reinterviews

for each sample group (former and current teachers). The oversampling was done to account for the potential

nonresponse that was based on the 1994–95 TFS. The actual number of reinterviews that were completed was

1,065 cases for current teachers and 1,222 cases for former teachers.

Two reinterview questionnaires were used—the TFS-2(R) for former teachers and the TFS-3(R) for current

teachers. Each questionnaire contained a subset of questions from its original questionnaire. After each reinterview, data from the reinterview were compared to the original answers and a reconciliation of the original

response was conducted with the respondent. The reconciliation consisted of the following:

a. determining the correct answer;

b. determining if there is a difference;

c. probing with questions to find out the reason for the difference; and

d. recording and keeping track of the different reasons for the differences.

The TFS reinterviewing took place during the time period of February 2001 through May 2001. 

VIII. Use of Improved Technology

A. Questionnaire Printing

The 2000–01 TFS was the first administration of TFS to use customized printing of questionnaires. DocuPrint

equipment allows for printing data specific to any respondent on any page. For TFS, DocuPrint was used to print

respondent’s identification information on the questionnaires and personalize letters to respondents.
58 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

B. Imaging of Questionnaires

In previous administrations of TFS, Census Bureau staff keyed completed questionnaires. The 2000–01 TFS

used imaging technology, and questionnaires were designed to meet the DocuPrint and imaging data capture

design requirements for the Workflow Imaging Processing System (WIPS). All returned completed interviews

were image data captured. 

The WIPS does not have an integrated system to measure data quality. Staff developed an independent quality

assurance (QA) module to evaluate and ensure the quality of the TFS imaged data—an after-the-fact estimation

of the process average. If the batch failed the error tolerance, the entire batch was reprocessed and verified again.

If the errors from the sample questionnaire were within acceptable tolerance, the batch was accepted and routed for output. Table B5 provides a summary of the 2000–01 TFS quality assurance procedures and outcomes.

Table B5. TFS Image Data Capture Quality Assurance Summary: 2000–01

Former Teacher Former Teacher Current Teacher Current Teacher 

Questionnaires Imaged Questionnaire Questionnaire (Reinterview) Questionnaire Questionnaire (Reinterview)

Total batches 267 65 559 62

Accepted 257 65 493 54

Rejected 10 0 66 8

Reject Rate 3.75% 0.00% 11.81% 12.90%

CFI Field Counts 25,276 5,394 65,463 4,637

CFI Errors 120 10 821 79

CFI Error Rate 0.47% 0.19% 1.25% 1.70%

KFI Field Counts 25,256 5,374 64,965 4,693

KFI Errors 78 7 176 17

KFI Error Rate 0.31% 0.12% 0.27% 0.36%

Note: “CFI” is the automated image data extraction and unrecognized fields keyed by a data operator. “KFI” is the verification process when a data operator re-keyed data

from the sample questionnaire for comparison to the WIPS data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

C. Survey Design and Documentation System

One of the goals of the 1999–2000 SASS and 2000–01 TFS was to automate design, processing, and documentation activities more fully. Developing Surveys (DevSurv) software, developed by staff in the Special Surveys

Division of Statistics Canada, was used to perform many functions and activities. Specifically, the Census Bureau

used DevSurv to produce Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) specifications for SASS, spreadsheets

for testing scenarios, database structures or record layouts for the survey data files, codebooks, as well as code

to read the microdata files. The DevSurv software used information stored in a Paradox database. The information entered included such things as question text, response categories, specifications for edits, and specifications

for derived variables. More information about the DevSurv software can be found in the 1999–2000 Schools and

Staffing Survey: Data File User’s Manual (Tourkin et al. forthcoming).

IX. Response Rates

A. Survey Response Rates

Table B6 summarizes the weighted and unweighted response rates for interviews in the Teacher Follow-up

Survey (shown in percentages). Interviews include teachers who met the criteria for inclusion in the TFS and

who sufficiently completed questionnaires. Noninterviews refer to respondents who met the TFS criteria and

were included in the sample, but who did not respond to the questionnaire or did not complete items necessary

to be considered complete. Out-of-scope cases were deemed ineligible to participate in the TFS and were not

included in the TFS sample. Reasons for an out-of-scope designation include respondents who moved out of the

United States following the base year or who were deceased.
Appendix B: Technical Notes 59

The unweighted response rates were calculated by dividing the number of interview cases by the total number

of eligible cases. The weighted response rates were derived by dividing the number of interview cases weighted

by the base weight by the total number of eligible cases weighted by the base weight. The base weight for each

sample case is the inverse of the probability of selection.

Table B6. TFS survey response rates, by sector and teaching status, unweighted and weighted: 2000–01

Sampled Teachers Unweighted Weighted

Total 87.9 89.8

Current teachers 87.6 89.9

Former teachers 88.5 88.7

Public 89.1 90.1

Current teachers 87.9 90.1

Former teachers 90.9 90.5

Private 85.8 87.7

Current teachers 86.1 88.5

Former teachers 84.8 82.2

Public Charter 86.6 87.0

Current teachers 88.9 89.7

Former teachers 79.5 73.4

BIA 90.3 94.5

Current teachers 92.3 96.9

Former teachers 88.9 93.8

NOTE: Weighted using inverse of the probability of selection.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey

Table B7. Survey response rates for the 1999–2000 SASS Teacher Listing Form, 1999–2000 SASS Teacher

Questionnaire, and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey, weighted

SASS Teacher Listing Form SASS Teacher Questionnaire

Sampled Teachers response rate1 response rate2 Current Teachers Former Teachers

Total 91.2 82.4 89.9 88.7

Public 92.2 83.2 90.1 90.5

Private 87.0 77.4 88.5 82.2

Public Charter 91.3 78.6 89.7 73.4

BIA 97.5 87.4 96.9 93.8

1 Percent of schools providing teacher listing forms for the 1999–2000 SASS sample, weighted

2 Percent of eligible sample teachers responding to the 1999–2000 SASS Teacher Questionnaire, weighted

3 Percent of eligible sample teachers responding to the 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey, weighted

NOTE: Weighted using inverse of the probability of selection.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey.

Teacher Follow-up Survey response rate3

The lower response rate for public current teachers (see tables B6, B7) is explained by the fact that both movers

and stayers completed the current teacher questionnaire. The response rate for public movers (83.0 percent) was

much lower than the response rate for public stayers (91.2 percent), which reduced the overall average for this

questionnaire to 90.1 percent.

A cumulative overall response rate is the product of the survey response rates shown in table B7; (SASS Teacher

Listing Form response rate) (SASS Teacher Questionnaire response rate) (TFS response rate). The cumulative

overall response rates by sector and teacher status for the 2000–01 TFS are:

Total current teachers: (.912) (.824) (.899) (100) = 67.6

Total former teachers: (.912) (.824) (.887) (100) = 66.7

Public current teachers: (.922) (.832) (.901) (100) = 69.1
60 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Public former teachers: (.922) (.832) (.905) (100) = 69.4

Private current teachers: (.870) (.774) (.885) (100) = 59.6

Private former teachers: (.870) (.774) (.822) (100) = 55.4

Public Charter current teachers: (.913) (.786) (.897) (100) = 64.4

Public Charter former teachers: (.913) (.786) (.734) (100) = 52.7

BIA current teachers: (.975) (.874) (.969) (100) = 82.6

BIA former teachers: (.975) (.874) (.938) (100) = 79.9

B. Item Response Rates

Table B8 is a brief summary of the unweighted item response rates for the 2000–01 TFS questionnaires. A

response rate for an item is defined as the number of records with valid responses to that item divided by the

number of eligible respondents for the item.

Table B8. Summary of TFS item response rates, unweighted: 2000–01

Former Teachers Current Teachers

Range of item response rates 29.8–100 11.5–100

Percentage of items with a response rate of 90 percent or more 91.20 96.60

Percentage of items with a response rate less than 80 percent 0.73 0.48

Items with a response rate less than 80 percent 30f 23f(11)

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up Survey.

X. Imputation Procedures

For questionnaire items that should have been answered but were not, values were imputed by using data from

(1) other items on the questionnaire, (2) the 1999–2000 SASS teacher survey record for the same respondent,

and (3) data from the record for a respondent with similar characteristics (commonly known as the ‘hotdeck’

method for imputing for item nonresponse). 

For some incomplete items, the entry from another part of the questionnaire, the SASS teacher survey record, or

the data record for a similar case was directly imputed to complete the item; for others, the entry was used as

part of an adjustment factor with other data on the incomplete record.

Computer processing carried out the procedures listed above. However, for a few items there were cases where

entries were clerically imputed. The data record, SASS teacher file record, and in some cases the questionnaire

were reviewed and an entry consistent with the information from those sources was imputed. This procedure was

used when (1) there was no suitable record to use as a donor, (2) the computer method produced an entry that

was outside the acceptable range for the item, or (3) there were very few cases where an item was unanswered

(usually less than ten).

Values were imputed to items with missing data within records classified as interviews (Interview Status Recode

(ISR)=1). Noninterview adjustment factors were used during the weighting process to compensate for data missing because the sample person was a noninterview (ISR=2).

Entries imputed to TFS records are identified by flags that denote the stage or type of imputation: 1 = original

value was ratio adjusted; 2 = value was imputed by using data from other variables in the same record; 4 = value

was imputed by using data from the sample file or SASS; 7 = value was imputed by using data from the record

for a similar case (donor); 8 = value was imputed by hand (clerical); 0 = not imputed.
Appendix B: Technical Notes 61

The variable names for these flags are F_variable name, where variable name is the variable name for the data

entry, e.g., F_F0059 is the imputation flag for variable F0059 (item 6 of the former teacher questionnaire).

For more information on survey imputation, see Little and Rubin (1987), Kalton and Kasprzyk (1986), Kalton

(1983), Madow, Olkin, and Rubin (1983), and Kalton and Kasprzyk (1982).

XI. Weighting

A. SASS Teacher Weights

The final weight for public, BIA, public charter, and private school teachers is the product of:

(Base Weight) and (School Sampling Adjustment Factor) and (Teacher Sampling Adjustment Factor) and

(School Noninterview Adjustment Factor) and (Teacher-within-school Noninterview Adjustment Factor) and

(Frame Ratio Adjustment Factor) and (Teacher Adjustment Factor)

where:

■ Base Weight is the inverse of the probability of selection of the teacher.

■ School Sampling Adjustment Factor is an adjustment that accounts for unusual circumstances that

affect the school’s probability of selection, such as a merger, split, or duplication.

■ Teacher Sampling Adjustment Factor is an adjustment that accounts for the experienced teachers from

non-BIA/non-public charter schools that were subsampled out during mail nonresponse follow-up.

Subsampling was necessary because the nonresponse follow-up workload was considerably higher than

expected, overwhelming available interviewing resources. If a teacher that was subsampled out for follow-up

returned a questionnaire by mail, the teacher record was processed with all the other interviewed teachers.

■ School Noninterview Adjustment Factor is an adjustment that accounts for schools that did not have

teachers selected because Teacher Listing Forms were not provided by the school. It is the weighted (the

product of the school base weight and the school sampling adjustment factor) ratio of total eligible in-scope

schools to the total in-scope schools providing teacher lists, computed within cells.

■ Teacher-within-school Noninterview Adjustment Factor is an adjustment that accounts for sampled

teachers that did not respond to the survey. It is the weighted (product of all previously defined components) ratio of the total eligible teachers to the total eligible responding teachers computed within cells.

■ Frame Ratio Adjustment Factor is a factor that adjusts the sample estimates to known frame totals of number of teachers. For the set of noncertainty schools, the factor is the ratio of the frame estimate of the total

number of teachers to the weighted (product of all previously defined components) sample estimate of the

total number of teachers. These factors are computed within cells. The sample estimate uses the frame count

of the number of teachers in the school. For public schools, the 1997–1998 CCD was used as the frame and

the teacher counts were in terms of FTEs. For private schools, the 1997–98 PSS was used as the frame and

teacher counts were in terms of headcounts. Teachers from certainty schools were assigned a factor of 1.0.

■ Teacher Adjustment Factor is a factor that adjusts the inconsistency between the estimated number of

teachers from the SASS school data files and the SASS teacher sample files. It is the ratio of the weighted number of teachers from the school data file for a cell to the weighted number of teachers on the

teacher data file for a cell. The weight is the product of all previously defined components. This factor

ensures that teacher estimates from the teacher file will agree with the corresponding teacher aggregates

from the school file (after imputation) since the teacher file counts are being adjusted to agree with the

school counts.
62 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Note: Due to timing constraints, TFS sampling used a preliminary version of the SASS final teacher weight

(based on the preliminary SASS interview status recode (ISR)), which consisted of the SASS base weight, sampling adjustment factor, school noninterview, teacher noninterview and first stage factor, but not the teacher

adjustment factor.

B. TFS Teacher Weights

The final TFS sample weight equals:

TFS base weight x SASS weighting adjustment factor x TFS noninterview adjustment x TFS ratio adjustment,

where:

■ TFS Base Weight is the inverse of the probability of selecting a teacher for TFS. This weight is the product of the preliminary teacher weight from SASS (described in previous section) and the TFS subsampling

adjustment factor. The TFS subsampling adjustment factor is an adjustment that accounts for the subsampling of current teachers from SASS sample teachers.

■ SASS Weighting Adjustment Factor is used to adjust for the fact that preliminary SASS weights were

used in computing the TFS base weight. The weighting adjustment factor adjusts for any changes that may

have occurred between the preliminary and final SASS weighting calculations.

■ TFS Noninterview Adjustment is the factor used to adjust for teachers who participated in SASS but did

not participate in the 2000–01 TFS.

■ TFS Ratio Adjustment is the factor used to adjust the TFS sample totals to known SASS sample totals.

This adjustment ensures that the weighted number of TFS teachers (interviews, noninterviews, and outof-scopes) will equal the weighted number of SASS teachers from 1999–2000.

XII. Reliability

TFS estimates are based on samples. The sample estimates may differ somewhat from the values obtained from

administering a complete census using the same questionnaire, instructions, and procedures. The difference

occurs because a sample survey estimate is subject to two types of errors: nonsampling and sampling. Estimates

of the magnitude of the TFS sampling error can be derived or calculated, but not of nonsampling error. This section describes TFS nonsampling error sources, followed by a discussion of sampling error, its estimation, and its

use in data analysis (Jabine 1994; Kalton et al. 2000). 

A. Nonsampling Variability

Nonsampling errors are attributed to many sources, including:

■ Inability to obtain information about all cases in the sample (Monaco et al. 1998; Scheuren et al. 1996)

■ Definitional difficulties

■ Differences in the interpretation of questions

■ Inability or unwillingness on the part of the respondents to provide correct information

■ Inability to recall information

■ Poorly worded or vague questions (Salvucci et al. 1997)

■ Errors made in collection (e.g., recording or coding the data)

■ Errors made in processing the data

■ Errors made in estimating values for missing data

■ Undercoverage (Hammon 2001; Lee, Burke, and Rust 2001)
Appendix B: Technical Notes 63

Quality control and edit procedures were used to reduce errors made by respondents, coders, and interviewers.

More detailed discussion of the existence and control of nonsampling errors in the SASS and TFS can be found

in the Quality Profile for SASS Rounds 1–3: 1987–95 (Kalton et al. 2000).

B. Sampling Variability

Standard errors indicate the magnitude of the sampling error. They also partially measure the effect of some nonsampling errors in response and enumeration, but do not measure any systematic biases in the data. The standard errors mostly measure the variations that occurred by chance because a sample was surveyed rather than

the entire population. 

The sample estimate and its standard error enable one to construct confidence intervals, or ranges that would

include the average result of all possible samples with a known probability. For example, if all possible samples

were selected and surveyed under essentially the same conditions and with the same sample design, and if estimates and their standard errors were calculated from each sample, then—

■ Approximately 90 percent of the intervals from 1.645 standard errors below the estimate to 1.645 standard errors above the estimate would include the average result of all possible samples.

■ Approximately 95 percent of the intervals from 1.960 standard errors below the estimate to 1.960 standard errors above the estimate would include the average result of all possible samples. 

The average estimate derived from all possible samples is or is not contained in any particular computed interval. However, for a particular sample, one can say with the specified confidence that the confidence interval

includes the average estimate derived from all possible samples. 

Standard errors were estimated using a bootstrap variance procedure which incorporates the design features of

the complex survey sample design (Kaufman 2000). Information about variance estimation software for complex sample surveys can be obtained from http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~stats/survey-soft/survey-soft.html.

XIII. Statistical Tests

The tests of significance used in this analysis are based on Student’s t statistics. As the number of comparisons

that are conducted at the same significance level increases, it becomes more likely that at least one of the estimated differences will be significant merely by chance, that is, will be erroneously identified as different from

zero. Even when there is no statistical difference between the means or percentages being compared, there is a

5 percent chance of getting a significant t value of 1.96 from sampling error alone. All the differences cited in

this report are significant at the 0.05 level of significance.

XIV. Data Files

There are currently two types of data files produced for the 2000–01 TFS: restricted-use response rate files,

which contain all cases in the original sample, and the restricted-use analysis files, which contain only those cases

for which interviews were obtained. The restricted-use analysis files are fully imputed and weighted. The files

used to generate the estimates in this report were the following:

Restricted-use

response rate Restricted-use

ID Questionnaire data files analysis data files

TFS-2 Questionnaire for former teachers 9/27/2002 5/29/2003

TFS-3 Questionnaire for current teachers 9/27/2002 5/29/2003 
64 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Public-use files are not available at the time of this report, but will be released shortly. These files will be released

following disclosure risk analysis and review. 

XV. Cautions Concerning Change Estimates

Care must be taken in estimating change over time in a TFS data element, because some of the measured change

may not be attributable to a change in the educational system. Some of the change may be due to changes in the

sampling frame, to questionnaire item wording, or other changes.

The primary reasons for change include the following:

■ Questionnaires were substantially revised. Questions were reworded based on the results of cognitive testing. The order of questions on the questionnaires was also changed.

■ The sampling frame has changed somewhat over time. For example, the introduction of public charter

schools into the educational system has affected estimates of noncharter public schools as well as public

schools overall.

■ Definitions and concepts have changed over time. 

One major change to note is a change in the “community type” variable used in this report. The Common Core of

Data (CCD) changed the Census Bureau’s geographic coding of public schools in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas as of school year 1998–99. The definitional change was to redefine “rural” into two codes: code 7 remains

as “rural outside a metropolitan area,” while the new code 8 is for “rural within a metropolitan area.” This recognizes the areas that are rural, even though the entire surrounding places may be defined as part of a metropolitan

area. At the same time, there has been more reporting and assignment of locale codes for public schools using a

more precise system of physical addresses (although some public schools still are using mailing addresses). The

physical address allows for a more precise coding than at the ZIP code level of the mailing address of a public school.

The change in the method of assigning locale codes has resulted in some cases shifting from one locale code prior

to the 1998–99 school year to another as of 1998–99 and subsequent years. The 3-level urbanicity variable now

includes the code 8 rural areas in the “urban fringe/large town” category, rather than as part of the “rural/small

town” category. This definitional and operational change may result in some comparisons of schools by community type or locale over time that do not reflect actual change, but merely a shift in the distribution of schools by community type due to the difference in definition of rural areas or method of community type assignment. 

XVI. Technical Notes References

Broughman, S.P. and Colaciello, L.A. (1999). Private School Universe Survey, 1997–98 (NCES 1999–319). U.S.

Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Bureau of Indian Affairs. (1998). Office of Indian Education Programs: Education Directory. U.S. Department

of the Interior. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Cole, C., Fondelier, S., Jackson, B., Parmer, R., Warner, T., and Weant, G. (forthcoming). 1999–2000 Schools

and Staffing Survey: Sample Design and Estimation. U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC:

National Center for Education Statistics.

Dale, A. (Ed.). (2000). National Charter School Directory 2000 (6th ed.). Washington, DC: The Center for

Education Reform.

Hammon, T. (2001). Evaluating the Coverage of the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics Public

Elementary/Secondary School Frame. In 2001 Proceedings of the Second International Conference on

Establishment Surveys (pp. 79–88). Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association.
Appendix B: Technical Notes 65

Jabine, T. (1994). A Quality Profile for SASS: Aspects of the Quality of Data in the Schools and Staffing Surveys

(NCES 94–340). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. 

Kalton, G. (1983). Compensating for Missing Survey Data. Ann Arbor, MI: Survey Research Center, University

of Michigan.

Kalton G., Winglee, M.W., Krawchuk, S., and Levine, D. (2000). Quality Profile for SASS: Rounds 1–3:

1987–1995 (NCES 2000–308). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for

Education Statistics. 

Kalton, G. and Kasprzyk, D. (1986). The Treatment of Missing Survey Data. Survey Methodology, 12(1): 1–16.

Kalton, G. and Kasprzyk, D. (1982). Imputing for Missing Survey Responses. In 1982 Proceedings of the Section

on Survey Research Methods (pp. 22–31). Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association.

Kaufman, S. (2000). A Bootstrap Variance Estimator for Systematic PPS Sampling. In Selected Papers on

Education Surveys: Papers Presented at the 1998 and 1999 ASA and 1999 AAPOR Meetings (NCES

2000–04) (pp. 13–18). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education

Statistics.

Lee, H., Burke, J., and Rust, K. (2001). Evaluating the Coverage of the U.S. National Center for Education

Statistics Public and Private School Frame Using Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

In 2001 Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Establishment Surveys (pp. 89–98).

Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association.

Little, R.J.A. and Rubin, D.B. (1987). Statistical Analysis with Missing Data. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Madow, W.G., Olkin, I., and Rubin, D.B. (Eds.). (1983). Incomplete Data in Sample Surveys. New York:

Academic Press.

Monaco, D., Salvucci, S., Zhang, F., and Hu, M. (1998). An Analysis of Total Nonresponse in the 1993–94

Schools and Staffing Survey (NCES 98–243). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National

Center for Education Statistics. 

Nelson, D. (2002). TFS 2000–01 Questionnaire Review. Unpublished working document, U.S. Census Bureau.

Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (2000). The State of Charter Schools 2000. Washington, DC:

U.S. Department of Education.

Pugh, K.W. and Zukerberg, A.L. (2000). Preparing SASS for the Millennium: Pretesting Issues in SASS 2000.

In Selected Papers on Education Surveys: Papers Presented at the 1998 and 1999 ASA and 1999 AAPOR

Meetings (NCES 2000–04) (pp. 59–64). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for

Education Statistics. 

Salvucci, S., Walter, E., Conley, V., Fink, S., and Saba, S. (1997). Measurement Error Studies at the National

Center for Education Statistics (NCES 97–464). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National

Center for Education Statistics. 

Scheuren, F., Monaco, D., Zhang, F., Ikosi, G., and Chang, M. (1996). An Exploratory Analysis of Response Rates

in the 1990–91 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) (NCES 96–338). U.S. Department of Education.

Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. 

Tourkin, S.C., Pugh, K.W., Fondelier, S.E., Parmer, R.J., Gruber, K.J., and Walter, E.J. (forthcoming).

1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey: Data File User’s Manual. U.S. Department of Education.

Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
66 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01
Appendix C: Description of Variables 67

Several variables from the 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and 2000–01 Teacher Follow-up

Survey (TFS) were used to produce the tables in this report. As all respondents who participated in the 2000–01

TFS also participated in the 1999–2000 SASS, data collected from SASS are termed “base year” data because

the SASS sample is the “base” for teachers who were selected for the Teacher Follow-up Survey.

Variables Found in More Than One Table

The rows found in tables 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 consist of selected teacher and school base year characteristics.

These characteristics, reported for stayers, movers, and leavers, include the following:

■ Age: Included on the data file as “AGE_T,” a SASS created variable based on respondents’ reported year

of birth. AGE_T is a continuous variable and was created by subtracting teachers’ reported year of birth

from the year of data collection (2000). AGE_T was recoded for this report and the following categories

are included: less than 30 years, 30 to 39 years, 40 to 49 years, and 50 years or more. To allow for trend

analysis, categories used in table 2 include: less than 25 years, 25 to 29 years, 30 to 39 years, 40 to 49

years, 50 to 59 years, 60 to 64 years, and 65 years or more.

■ Community type: Included on the data file as “URBANIC,” a SASS created variable based on the physical

location of the school in which the respondent taught during the base year. URBANIC is a 3-level collapse

of the 8-level variable SLOCPHYS, created by the Census Geography division and also included on the

SASS data file. Categories include central city, urban fringe/large town, and rural/small town. “Central

city” includes schools located in large and mid-size central cities, as defined by the Census Bureau. “Urban

fringe/large town” includes schools located in urban fringes of large and mid-size central cities, in large

towns, and in rural areas inside a metropolitan statistical area. “Rural/small town” includes schools located in small towns or rural areas outside a metropolitan statistical area.

■ Main assignment field: The 1999–2000 SASS asked respondents to report their main assignment. Main

assignment was defined as the field in which respondents taught the most classes. Categories used in this

report include arts and music, English/language arts, general elementary, mathematics, science, social

studies, special education, and other. The arts and music category includes teachers who reported a main

assignment in art, dance, drama/theater, or music. The English/language arts category includes teachers

who reported a main assignment in English or language arts, journalism, or reading. The general elementary category includes teachers who reported a main assignment in prekindergarten, kindergarten, or

elementary. The mathematics category includes teachers who reported a main assignment in mathematics. The science category includes teachers who reported a main assignment in biology or life science,

chemistry, earth/space science/geology, general science, physical science, physics, or other natural sciences. The social studies category includes teachers who reported a main assignment in social studies or

social science (including history). The special education category includes teachers who reported a main

assignment in general special education, autism, deaf and hard-of-hearing, developmentally delayed,

early childhood special education, emotionally disturbed or behavior disorders, learning disabilities, mentally retarded, mildly/moderately disabled, orthopedically impaired, severely/profoundly disabled,

speech/language impaired, traumatically brain-injured, visually impaired, or other special education. The

Appendix C: Description of Variables
68 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

all others category includes teachers who reported a main assignment in American Indian/Native

American studies, architecture or environmental design, basic skills or remedial education, bilingual education, computer science, English as a second language, family and consumer science, gifted, health education, military science, philosophy, physical education, religion, foreign languages, vocational-technical

education, or all others.

■ Minority enrollment: Included on the data file as “MINENR,” a SASS created variable based on the percentage of enrolled minority students as reported by the respondents’ base year school. MINENR is a continuous variable and was created by dividing the number of minority students enrolled in the school by the

total number of students enrolled in the school. Minority students include American Indian or Alaska

Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; black, non-Hispanic; and Hispanic students. MINENR was recoded for

this report and the following categories are included: less than 10 percent minority enrollment, between 10

percent and 34 percent minority enrollment, and more than 35 percent minority enrollment.

■ Race/ethnicity: Included on the data file as “RACETH_T,” a SASS created variable based on respondents’ reported race and ethnicity. Categories used in this report include White, non-Hispanic; American

Indian or Alaska Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; Black, non-Hispanic; and Hispanic. The TFS race

and ethnicity items differ from those used in the 1999–2000 SASS. Hispanic or Latino ethnicity is now

asked in the TFS prior to the race item. Hispanics or Latinos can be of any race. The race categories in

TFS are now: White, Black or African-American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native

Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. For this report, race and ethnicity from the SASS, as opposed to the

TFS, were used.

■ Region: Included on the data file as “REGION,” a SASS created variable based on the Census region where

the respondent’s base year local education agency or school was located. Categories include Northeast,

Midwest, South, and West. Northeast includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New

Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Midwest includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,

Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

South includes Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,

Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia,

and West Virginia. West includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada,

New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.

■ School enrollment: Included on the data file as “SCHSIZE,” a SASS created variable based on the number

of enrolled students as reported by the respondent’s base year school. Categories include 1 to 49 students,

50 to 99 students, 100 to 149 students, 150 to 199 students, 200 to 349 students, 350 to 499 students,

500 to 749 students, 750 to 999 students, 1000 to 1199 students, 1200 to 1499 students, 1500 to 1999

students, and 2000 students or more. Categories used in this report include less than 200 students, 200 to

349 students, 350 to 499 students, 500 to 749 students, and 750 students or more.

■ School level: Included on the data file as “SCHLEVEL,” a SASS created variable based on the grades

offered by the respondents’ base year school. Categories include elementary, secondary, and combined

grades. Elementary schools include those with any of grades K–6 and none of grades 9–12. Secondary

schools include those with any of grades 7–12 and none of grades 1–6. Combined schools include those

with one or more of grades K–6 and one or more of grades 9–12.

■ Sex: The 1999–2000 SASS asked respondents to report whether they were male or female.

■ Teaching experience: Included on the data file as “TOTEXPER,” a SASS created variable based on the

respondents’ total full-time and part-time teaching experience in public and private schools, as reported during the base year. TOTEXPER is a continuous variable and was recoded for this report into the following
Appendix C: Description of Variables 69

categories: 1 to 3 years, 4 to 9 years, 10 to 19 years, and 20 years or more. To allow for trend analysis, teaching experience in table 2 includes only teachers’ full-time teaching experience.

■ Teaching status: The 1999–2000 SASS asked teachers to report whether they worked at their teaching

position full-time or part-time.

Table-Specific Variables

In addition to selected base year teacher and school characteristics, the tables in this report also incorporate other

variables from the 1999–2000 SASS and 2000–01 TFS “Questionnaire for Current Teachers” and

“Questionnaire for Former Teachers:”

■ Table 4: The average reported base year income of stayers, movers, and leavers is included on the data file

as “EARNALL,” a SASS created variable based on teachers’ total yearly earnings. EARNALL is a continuous variable and includes summer school earnings, summer earnings obtained through a nonteaching job

in a school, summer earnings obtained through a nonschool job, base teaching salary, additional compensation earned during the school year for extracurricular activities, additional income earned during the

school year from other school sources, and additional income earned during the school year for work outside the school system. EARNALL was recoded for this report and the following categories are included:

less than $30,000, $30,000 to $39,999, and $40,000 or more.

■ Table 5: The 1999–2000 SASS asked teachers how long they planned to remain in teaching. Stayers and

movers were asked the same question one year later in the TFS “Questionnaire for Current Teachers.”

Response options included: as long as I am able, until I am eligible for retirement, will probably continue

unless something better comes along, definitely plan to leave teaching as soon as I can, and undecided at

this time. Table 5 reports responses for stayers, movers, and leavers during the base year and, for stayers

and movers, during the TFS year.

■ Table 6: In the 2000–01 TFS “Questionnaire for Current Teachers,” movers were asked to rate the importance of various reasons for moving from their base year schools. Respondents rated possible reasons on a

five-point scale: not at all important, slightly important, somewhat important, very important, or extremely important. Reasons that movers were asked to rate included the following: changed residence, better

salary or benefits, higher job security, opportunity for a better teaching assignment (grade level or subject

area), dissatisfaction with workplace conditions at previous school, dissatisfaction with support from

administrators at previous school, dissatisfaction with changes in job description or job responsibilities, did

not feel prepared to implement new reform measures, did not agree with new reform measures, laid off or

involuntarily transferred, did not have enough autonomy over classroom at previous school, dissatisfaction

with opportunities for professional development at previous school, and dissatisfaction with previous school

for other reasons. The percentage of movers who indicated that each factor was very important or extremely important in their decision to move is reported in table 6. All reasons that movers were asked to rate are

included in table 6 except “dissatisfaction with previous school for other reasons” and, for private school

teachers, “did not have enough autonomy over classroom at previous school.” These reasons were not

included due to page size constraints and small cell sizes and related confidentiality concerns. In table 6

“did not feel prepared to implement new reform measures” and “did not agree with new reform measures”

were combined into a single category.

■ Table 7: In the 2000–01 TFS “Questionnaire for Former Teachers,” leavers were asked to rate the importance of various reasons for leaving the teaching profession. Respondents rated possible reasons on a fivepoint scale: not at all important, slightly important, somewhat important, very important, or extremely
70 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

important. Reasons that leavers were asked to rate included the following: changed residence, pregnancy/childrearing, health, retirement, wanted to teach in a different state but my state teacher certification

was not accepted, laid off or involuntarily transferred, to take a sabbatical or other break from teaching,

better salary or benefits, to pursue another career, to take courses to improve career opportunities within

the field of education, to take courses to improve career opportunities outside the field of education, school

received little support from the community, dissatisfied with job description or responsibilities, dissatisfied

with changes in job description or responsibilities, did not feel prepared to implement new reform measures, did not agree with new reform measures, and other family or personal categories. The percentage of

leavers who indicated that each reason was very important or extremely important in their decision to leave

the teaching profession is reported in table 7. All reasons that respondents were asked to rate are included

in table 7 except the following: wanted to teach in a different state but my state teacher certification was

not accepted, laid off or involuntarily transferred, to take a sabbatical or other break from teaching, and

other family or personal reasons. These reasons were not included due to page size constraints and small

cell sizes and related confidentiality concerns. In table 7 “to take courses to improve career opportunities

within the field of education” and “to take courses to improve career opportunities outside the field of education” were combined into a single category. “Did not feel prepared to implement new reform measures”

and “did not agree with new reform measures” were also combined in table 7.

■ Table 8: In the 2000–01 TFS “Questionnaire for Former Teachers,” leavers who were collecting a pension

from a teacher retirement system were asked about the importance of a series of factors in their decisions

to retire. Respondents could rate each factor along a five-point scale: not at all important, slightly important, somewhat important, very important, or extremely important. Reasons that leavers were asked to rate

included the following: became eligible to receive full pension benefits, became eligible to accept an early

retirement incentive, wanted to teach in a different state but my state teacher certification was not accepted there, dissatisfied with job description or job responsibilities, dissatisfied with changes in job description or responsibilities, did not feel prepared to implement new reform measures, did not agree with new

reform measures, dissatisfied with teaching as a career, other family or personal reasons. The percentage

of leavers who indicated that each factor was very important or extremely important in their decision to

retire is reported in table 8. All factors that respondents were asked to rate are included in table 8 except

“wanted to teach in a different state but my state teacher certification was not accepted there.” This factor was not included due to small cell sizes and related confidentiality concerns. In table 8 “did not feel

prepared to implement new reform measures” and “did not agree with new reform measures” were combined into a single category.

■ Table 9: In the 2000–01 TFS “Questionnaire for Current Teachers” and “Questionnaire for Former

Teachers,” movers and leavers were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with various statements about

their former schools. Respondents could choose from among the following response options: strongly disagree, somewhat disagree, neither agree nor disagree, somewhat agree, or strongly agree. Movers and

leavers were asked to respond to the following statements: I was satisfied with my salary; the school or district offered satisfactory benefits; I was satisfied with the level of job security at the school; the school facility (buildings and grounds) was in need of significant repair; the school was located in a safe neighborhood; I felt safe at the school; the school’s security policies and practices were sufficient; student behavior

was a problem; most of the students in the school were motivated to learn; the school emphasized academic success; I received little support from parents; the school received little support from the community;

the procedures for teacher performance evaluation were satisfactory; I was satisfied with the policies and

practices for assigning students to classes or sections for instruction; some of the classes or sections I taught

were too large; I was satisfied with the grade(s) I was assigned to teach; I was satisfied with the subject(s)
Appendix C: Description of Variables 71

I was assigned to teach; I often felt that my teaching workload was too heavy; I did not have enough influence over the school’s policies and practices; I was satisfied with the amount of autonomy and control I had

over my own classroom; resources and materials/equipment for my classroom(s) were sufficiently available; computers and other technology for my classroom(s) were sufficiently available; there was not enough

time available for planning and preparation during a typical week at the school; the professional caliber of

the faculty at the school was high; there were many opportunities to collaborate with other teachers in the

school; there was not enough uninterrupted class time available for instruction; at last year’s school, including (mainstreaming) special needs (e.g., disabled) students in regular classes made it difficult for me to

teach; I was pleased with the opportunities for professional advancement (promotion) offered to teachers

at the school; I was pleased with the opportunities for professional development (learning/training) offered

to teachers at the school; required professional development activities at the school usually closely matched

my professional development goals; the school administrators’ behavior toward the staff was supportive

and encouraging; in thinking of all the factors that influenced my satisfaction with teaching in last year’s

school, overall, I was satisfied; in thinking of all the factors that influenced my satisfaction with teaching

in general, overall, I was satisfied. The percentage of movers and leavers who strongly agreed or strongly

disagreed to each statement is reported in table 9.

■ Table 10: In the 2000–01 TFS “Questionnaire for Former Teachers” and “Questionnaire for Current

Teachers,” stayers, movers, and leavers were asked to rate characteristics of their base year instructional

leaders. Leavers rated their instructional leaders along the following five-point scale: not at all effectively,

somewhat effectively, quite effectively, very effectively, or extremely effectively. Movers and stayers rated

their instructional leaders along the following five-point scale: not at all effectively, slightly effectively,

somewhat effectively, very effectively, or extremely effectively. Respondents evaluated instructional leader

performance in the following areas: communicating respect and value of teachers; encouraging teachers to

change teaching methods if students are not doing well; working with staff to develop and attain curriculum standards; encouraging professional collaboration among teachers; working with teaching staff to solve

school or department problems; encouraging the teaching staff to use student evaluation results in planning curriculum and instruction; developing broad agreement among the teaching staff about the school’s

or department’s mission; facilitating and encouraging professional development activities of teachers. Table

10 includes the percentage of stayers, movers, and leavers who responded “very effectively” or “extremely effectively” to each aspect of the instructional leader.

■ Table 11: In the 2000–01 TFS “Questionnaire for Current Teachers,” stayers and movers were asked

whether they agreed or disagreed with various statements about the administrator and staff at their base

year school. Response options included: strongly disagree, somewhat disagree, neither agree nor disagree,

somewhat agree, and strongly agree. Stayers and movers were asked to respond to the following statements:

the school administrators’ behavior toward the staff is supportive and encouraging; the school principal

enforces school rules for student conduct and backs me up when I need it; most of my colleagues share my

beliefs and values about what the central mission of the school should be; there is a great deal of cooperative effort among the staff members. Table 11 includes the percentage of stayers and movers who responded “strongly agree” or “strongly disagree” to each statement about their administrator.

■ Table 12: In the 2000–01 TFS “Questionnaire for Current Teachers,” movers were asked to describe the

move from their former school. Response options included: moved from one public school to another public

school in the same school district, moved from one public school district to another public school district,

moved from a private school to a public school, moved from one private school to another private school,

moved from a public school to a private school. In this table, average responses were reported for all movers,

movers with less than 5 years of teaching experience, and movers with 5 or more years of experience.
72 Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results from the Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000–01

Teaching experience is included on the data file as “TOTEXPER,” a SASS created variable based on respondents’ total full-time and part-time teaching experience in public and private schools.

■ Table 13: In the 2000–01 TFS “Questionnaire for Former Teachers,” leavers were asked about their current main occupational status. Response options included: attending a college or university, caring for family members, disabled, retired, other, unemployed and seeking work, working in an elementary or secondary school with an assignment other than teaching, working in an education occupation outside of elementary or secondary education, working in an occupation outside the field of education. Response options

for leavers who were working included: employee of a private company, business, or individual for wages,

salary, or commission; federal government employee; state government employee; local government

employee; self-employed in own business, professional practice, or farm; working without pay in a family

business or farm; working without pay in a volunteer job. Leavers who indicated that they were “a federal government employee” or “a state government employee” were combined into a single category in table

13. Leavers who indicated that they were “working without pay in a family business or farm” or “working without pay in a volunteer job” were also combined in table 13.

■ Table 14: In the 2000–01 TFS “Questionnaire for Former Teachers,” leavers who were working were asked

to compare their current occupations to teaching with respect to 17 criteria: salary, benefits, job security,

intellectual challenge, opportunities for professional development, professional prestige, general work conditions, safety of environment, manageability of workload, procedures for performance evaluation, autonomy or control over own work, influence over workplace policies and practices, availability of resources

and materials/equipment for doing job, recognition and support from administrators/managers, professional caliber of colleagues, opportunities for professional advancement, opportunities for learning from

colleagues. Leavers rated each criterion based on a three-point scale: better in teaching, better in current

position, or no difference. All criteria are reported in table 14.