September 2006

Private school teachers who switch schools are more 

likely than their counterparts in public schools to report 

that increased salary or benefits played an important 

role in their decision to change schools (Luekens, Lyter, 

and Fox 2004), and teacher salaries are typically higher 

in the public sector (Gruber et al. 2002). Therefore, 

private school teachers seeking to change schools might 

be expected to move to public schools more often than to 

other private schools. However, the most recent national 

data show no measurable difference in the rates of private 

school teachers’ movement between private schools and 

across sector to public schools (Luekens, Lyter, and Fox 

2004). Private school teachers may prefer to stay within 

the private sector because of other job conditions on 

which teachers typically rate private schools higher than 

public schools. For example, private school teachers more 

often report satisfaction with parental support than do 

public school teachers (Holton 2003). On the other hand, 

private school teachers may find it difficult to switch to the 

public sector because public schools are more likely than 

private schools to require teacher certification (Gruber et 

al. 2002). Little is known about the relationship between 

teacher certification and the movement of teachers from 

private to public schools. Are private school teachers with 

certifications, especially recently obtained certifications, 

more likely than private school teachers without 

certifications to switch schools and move to the public 

school sector? 

This Issue Brief uses data from the National Center for 

Education Statistics (NCES) Schools and Staffing Survey 

(SASS) and the Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) to report 

the movement of private school teachers, with and without 

state certification, from 1987–88 to 2000–01. On SASS, 

teachers described their certification credentials in their 

main assignment. The TFS, which occurs in the school 

year following the SASS school year, is a follow-up sample 

survey of SASS teachers including teachers who changed 

schools, left teaching entirely, or stayed in the same school 

from one school year to the next. On the TFS, teachers who 

had remained in the profession reported their certification 

credentials in their main assignment, as well as any changes 

in their school assignments. Combined, data from the 

SASS and TFS allow a comparison of teachers who were 

not state-certified in their main assignment in either school 

year with teachers who were state-certified in their main 

assignment in both years or who either obtained a new 

Certification and Private School Teachers 

Moving to Public Schools

U.S. Department of Education

NCES 2006–081

IssueBrief

state certification in their main assignment between years 

or switched main assignments into one in which they held 

a state certification.1 Because the SASS and TFS have been 

repeated four times since 1987–88, this Issue Brief can 

compare the certification and school movement patterns 

of these teachers in four time periods: from 1987–88 to 

1988–89, from 1990–91 to 1991–92, from 1993–94 to 

1994–95, and from 1999–2000 to 2000–01.2

For each time period, this Issue Brief looks at the percentage 

of private school teachers who continued teaching in their 

school (stayers) or moved to a different school (movers), 

and, among movers, the percentage who moved to a public 

school and the percentage who moved to another private 

school. Findings are reported separately for teachers who 

had no regular state certification in their main assignment 

in either year of the time period and those who had a 

regular state certification in both years or in the second 

year only. 

Movement and Certification of Private School 

Teachers 

In the four time periods, the percentage of private school 

teachers who changed schools ranged from 7 to 11 percent 

(see table 1). In none of the four 2-year time periods was 

there a measurable difference in the percentage who moved 

schools between teachers with a regular state certification 

in both years and those without. Teachers state-certified in 

their main assignment in the second year only, in each time 

period, were more likely than non-certified teachers to 

change schools. Differences in rates of movement ranged 

from 7 percentage points in 1994–95 (12 percent of those 

state-certified in year two only changed schools, compared 

with 5 percent with no regular certification) to 15 percentage 

points in 1988–89 (24 percent of those state-certified in 

year two only changed schools, compared with 9 percent 

of teachers without a regular state certification). 

Of the teachers who changed schools, there were no 

significant differences between private school movers who 

moved to another private school and those who moved 

to a public school: 50 percent of private school teachers 

who changed schools between 1987–88 and 1988–89 

stayed within the private school sector, as did 53 percent 

of movers between 1990–91 and 1991–92, 48 percent of 

movers between 1993–94 and 1994–95, and 46 percent of 

movers between 1999–­2000 and 2000–
2 NCES 2006-081 Issue Brief September 2006

Private school movers who had regular state certifications 

in both years of a given time period were more likely than 

those without to move to public schools in all four time 

periods, and those who held state certification in their main 

assignment in only the second year were more likely than 

those without certification to move to public schools in all 

time periods except 1993–94 to 1994–95. In 1988–89, 27 

percent of movers with no regular state certification in the 

main assignment moved to a public school; this statistic 

was 21 percent in 1991–92, 37 percent in 1994–95, and 36 

percent in 2000–01. In contrast, of movers who held regular 

state certifications in both years of a time period, 54 percent 

in 1988–89 moved to public schools, as well as 57 percent in 

1991–92, 60 percent in 1994–95, and 66 percent in 2000–

01. Also, 64 percent of movers who were state-certified in 

their main assignment in year two only in 1988–89 moved 

to public schools; this statistic was 65 percent in 1991–92, 

57 percent in 1994–95, and 59 percent in 2000–01. In each 

time period except 1994–95, this percentage was higher than 

the corresponding percentage for teachers with no regular 

state certification in the main assignment. 

Conclusion

In this exploratory study of the association between state 

certification and private school teachers’ movement to 

other private schools and public schools between 1987–

88 and 2000–01, private school teachers who either 

obtained a state certification in their main assignment 

between one year and the next or who switched main 

assignments into one in which they were state-certified 

were more likely to change schools than those without 

a regular state certification in the subject area of their 

main assignment. In three of the four time periods, higher 

percentages of movers who held state certification only in 

year two of the time period switched to public schools 

than did those without regular state certifications in their 

main assignment in either year of the time period. In all 

four time periods, higher percentages of movers with 

regular state certifications in both years of the time period 

moved to public schools than did their peers without the 

certification. 

Table 1. State certification status of private school teachers, by type of movement between schools: 1987–88 to 1999–2000

All teachers

Moved

Total To public school To private school

1987–88 to 1988–89

All private teachers 100.0 10.9 49.6 50.4

No certification in main assignment in 1987–88 or 1988–89 30.0 8.6 27.3 72.7

 Certification in main assignment 1987–88 and 1988–89 50.0 10.5 54.2 45.8

 Certified in main assignment in 1988–89 only 9.0 23.5 63.9 36.1

1990–91 to 1991–92

All private teachers 100.0 7.5 46.6 53.4

No certification in main assignment in 1990–91 or 1991–92 30.3 5.9 21.0 79.0

 Certification in main assignment 1990–91 and 1991–92 57.0 6.5 57.4 42.6

 Certified in main assignment in 1991–92 only 7.7 14.8 65.4 34.6

1993–1994 to 1994–95

All private teachers 100.0 6.5 52.4 47.6

No certification in main assignment in 1993–94 or 1994–95 32.8 4.9 37.1 62.9

 Certification in main assignment 1993–94 and 1994–95 51.0 5.6 60.3 39.7

 Certified in main assignment in 1994–95 only 10.8 11.6 57.2 42.8

1999–2000 to 2000–01

All private teachers 100.0 9.9 53.8 46.2

No certification in main assignment in 1999–2000 or 2000–01 37.7 8.3 35.6 64.4

 Certification in main assignment 1999–2000 and 2000–01 50.8 9.7 65.5 34.5

 Certified in main assignment in 2000–01 only 7.4 15.4 58.6 41.4

NOTE: Details do not sum to totals, because the category certification in year 1 but not year 2 of the time period has been omitted. Not all apparent 

differences in this table are statistically significant. Standard errors are available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006081.

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

and Teacher Follow-up Survey, 2000-01 “Current Teacher Survey.”
NCES 2006-081 Issue Brief September 2006 3

References

Gruber, K.J., Wiley, S.D., Broughman, S.P., Strizek, G.A., and BurianFitzgerald, M. (2002). Schools and Staffing Survey: Overview 

of the Data for Public, Private, Public Charter, and Bureau 

of Indian Affairs Elementary and Secondary Schools. (NCES 

2002-313). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: 

National Center for Education Statistics. 

Holton, B. (2003). A Brief Profile of America’s Private Schools (NCES 

2003–417). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: 

National Center for Education Statistics.

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. 

Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics..

However, regardless of certification status, 11 percent or 

fewer of private school teachers changed schools during 

any 2-year period. Also, this analysis reports a statistical 

association between certification status and teachers’ 

movement across schools. The reasons for the association 

were not examined, but can be researched in the SASS 

data, using reports of teachers’ job satisfaction, career 

aspirations, and reasons reported for changing schools.

Endnotes

1

 The analysis combines teachers who obtained a new state certification 

in their main assignment between the 2 years of the time period with 

those who switched main assignments into one in which they held 

a state certification, because data were not available to split the two 

groups into separate categories in the two earliest time periods. 

2 The analysis included samples of 1,162 respondents representing 

392,420 private school teachers in 1999–2000 who continued 

teaching in 2000–01, 1,751 respondents representing 376,869 

private school teachers in 1993–94 who continued teaching in 

1994–95, 1,972 respondents representing 353,850 private school 

teachers in 1990–91 who continued teaching in 1991–92, and 

1,951 respondents representing 311,924 private school teachers in 

1987–88 who continued teaching in 1988–89. More information 

about SASS and TFS is available at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/.

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest. All estimates shown are based on samples and are subject to sampling 

variability. All differences discussed are statistically significant at the .05 level as measured by two-tailed Student’s t tests; this means a difference is discussed 

only if the probability that it is due to chance (i.e., sampling variability) is less than 1 in 20. In the design, conduct, and data processing of National Center 

for Education Statistics (NCES) surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, 

data processing error, or other systematic error. 

This Issue Brief was authored by Emily W. Holt, Mary McLaughlin, and Daniel J. McGrath of the Education Statistics Services Institute (ESSI). This Issue Brief 

was desktopped by Michael Stock of MacroSys Research and Technology. For further information, contact Edith McArthur, NCES, at 202-502-7393 or 

Edith.McArthur@ed.gov. To order additional copies of this Issue Brief or other NCES publications, call 1-877-4ED-Pubs. NCES publications are also available 

on the Internet at http://nces.ed.gov. 
Certification and Private School 

NCES 2006–081 Teachers Moving to Public Schools

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest.

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