1

June 2005

National studies have included both private and public school

teachers in analyses of teacher turnover (Ingersoll 2001). These

studies have shown that teacher turnover is associated with

teacher perceptions of school organizational characteristics,

including low levels of administrative support, little input into

school decisions, student disciplinary problems, and insufficient salary (Ingersoll 2001). Private school teachers generally express less dissatisfaction with school organizational

characteristics than do their public school counterparts

(Ingersoll 2001; Holton 2003). However, teacher turnover

rates are higher in private schools than in public schools; in

2000–01, 21 percent of private school teachers had switched

schools or left the teaching force since the previous school

year compared with 15 percent of public school teachers

(Luekens, Lyter, and Fox 2004). Until recently, nationally representative data have not included sufficiently large sample

sizes to allow for in-depth studies of teacher turnover in U.S.

private schools.1

 Using the National Center for Education

Statistics (NCES) 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey

(SASS) data file, this Issue Brief looks within the private sector to investigate teacher-perceived school organizational characteristics, and relationships between these characteristics and

teacher turnover in Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian private schools.

The 1999–2000 SASS data file includes school principal or

head reports on teacher turnover.2 As part of the sample selection for the Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS), principals of

elementary and secondary teachers in SASS schools in the

year following SASS were asked to report whether the teachers had begun the 2000–01 school year in the same school,

had moved to another school, or had left teaching entirely.3

For the purposes of the current analysis, a teacher was defined as a “stayer” if the principal reported at the start of the

2000–01 school year that the teacher stayed in the same school

as a teacher between 1999–2000 and 2000–01, a “mover” if

the principal reported the teacher had changed schools, and a

“leaver” if the principal reported the teacher had left the profession.4

 School organizational characteristics studied include

teacher perceptions of administrative support, salary level,

student discipline, and influence over classroom and school

policies. Teachers were described as “low” on satisfaction if

they scored among the 20 percent least satisfied with the organizational factor. Because low satisfaction was defined relatively, teachers who expressed satisfaction, but less satisfaction than others, may have been described as low on satisfaction. For example, because so few teachers reported serious

student discipline problems, teachers who reported that disPrivate School Teacher Turnover and Teacher

Perceptions of School Organizational

Characteristics

U.S. Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences

NCES 2005–061

IssueBrief

cipline was a mild problem were described as having low satisfaction with student discipline.5

 Results are presented separately for teachers in Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian private schools.6

Because SASS relies on principals for information regarding

teacher turnover, a preliminary analysis compared principal

and teacher reports on the teachers’ turnover status for the

subset of private school SASS teachers who were included in

the TFS sample.7

 Agreement was sufficiently high to support

use of the principal reports in the main analysis of the Issue

Brief.8

Private School Type, School Organizational

Characteristics, and Teacher Turnover

According to principal reports, between the 1999–2000 and

2000–01 school years, 19 percent of Catholic school teachers, 23 percent of other religious school teachers, and 21 percent of nonsectarian school teachers changed schools or left

the teaching profession (not shown in tables). Table 1 presents the percentage of private school teachers who reported

relatively low levels of administrative support and satisfaction with salary, relatively greater problems with student behavior at school, and relatively low levels of classroom and

schoolwide influence by teachers’ private school type and turnover status. The teacher reports on organizational characteristics are from 1999–2000.

Consistent with prior research (Ingersoll 2001), private school

teachers who were reported to have left their schools (movers

and leavers) were more likely than stayers to report relatively

low levels of administrative support, satisfaction with salary,

student discipline, control over classroom policies, and input

in school policies. These relationships held within each of the

private school types. There were differences, however, across

private school type in terms of the percentage of all teachers,

stayers, and movers and leavers who reported relatively low

levels of organizational characteristics examined in this Issue

Brief.

Teachers in Catholic schools were more likely than others to

report strong dissatisfaction regarding their salary (48 percent compared with 23 percent of other religious and 31 percent of nonsectarian school teachers). They also were more

likely to report relatively low levels of input at the school

level (23 percent in low category compared with 19 percent

of other religious and 13 percent of nonsectarian school teachers).
2

Table 1. Percentage of private school teachers reporting relatively low levels of administrative support, satisfaction with salary, student

discipline, and teacher input in classroom and school decisions, by turnover status and private school type: 1999–2000 to

2000–01

1

 Teachers were described as reporting low administrative support if their mean response (on a scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree) was

below the cut-off score closest to the 20th percentile for private school teachers with respect to the statements: the principal lets staff members know what is

expected of them; the school administration’s behavior toward the staff is supportive and encouraging; my principal enforces school rules for student

conduct and backs me up when I need it; the principal knows what kind of school he/she wants and has communicated it to the staff; and in this school, staff

members are recognized for a job well done. The cut-off score was 3.0 out of 4.0. To put this in context, the average score was 3.4 for private school teachers

and 3.2 for public school teachers.

2 Teachers were described as reporting low salary if their response (on a scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree) was at or below the cut-off

score closest to the 20th percentile for private school teachers on the statement: I am satisfied with my salary. The cut-off score was 1.0 out of 4.0. To put this in

context, the average score was 2.8 for private school teachers and 2.9 for public school teachers.

3

 Teachers were coded as reporting poor student discipline in their school if their mean response (on a scale from 1 = serious problem to 4 = not a problem)

was below the cut-off score closest to the 20th percentile for private school teachers on a list of potential school problems: students cutting class; physical

conflicts among students; robbery or theft; vandalism of school property; student possession of weapons; and student disrespect for teachers. The cut-off

score was 3.5 out of 4.0. To put this in context, the average score was 3.6 for private school teachers and 3.2 for public school teachers.

4 Teachers were described as reporting low classroom input if their mean response (on a scale from 1 = no control to 5 = complete control) was below the cutoff score closest to the 20th percentile for private school teachers on a set of questions concerning control over their job: selecting textbooks and other

instructional materials; selecting content, topics, and skills to be taught; selecting teaching techniques; evaluating and grading students; disciplining

students; and determining the amount of homework to be assigned. The cut-off score was 3.83 out of 5.0. To put this in context, the average score was 4.3 for

private school teachers and 4.0 for public school teachers.

5 Teachers were described as reporting low schoolwide input if their mean response (on a scale from 1 = no influence to 5 = a great deal of influence) was

below the cut-off score closest to the 20th percentile for private school teachers on a set of questions concerning their influence: setting performance

standards for students of this school; establishing curriculum; determining the content of in-service professional development programs; evaluating teachers;

hiring new full-time teachers; setting discipline policy; and deciding how the school budget will be spent. The cut-off score was 2.14 out of 5.0. To put this in

context, the average score was 2.8 for private school teachers and 2.5 for public school teachers.

NOTE: Not all apparent differences in this table are statistically significant. Standard errors are available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/

pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2005061.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), “Private Teacher Questionnaire, 1999–

2000.”

A greater percentage of teachers at private schools designated

as “other religious schools” reported relatively low levels of

classroom input (22 percent) than did those teaching in nonsectarian (15 percent) or Catholic (17 percent) schools. They

were less likely than others to report relatively low administrative support (16 percent compared with 22 percent of Catholic and 23 percent of nonsectarian school teachers), satisfaction with salary, and student discipline (18 percent compared

with 21 percent of Catholic and 27 percent of nonsectarian

school teachers).

Teachers in nonsectarian schools were more likely to report

relatively low levels of student discipline than teachers in other

private schools. They were also less likely than teachers in

other types of private schools to report relatively low levels of

input schoolwide and less likely than teachers in other religious schools to report relatively low levels of input in their

own classrooms.

In some cases, differences among the private school types were

such that stayers in one private school type were at least as

Movers

Private school type and teacher perceptions All and

of school organizational factors teachers Stayers leavers

All private sector 

Low administrative support1 20.0 17.9 28.2

Low salary2 34.0 32.5 39.9

Poor student discipline3 21.1 20.0 25.6

Low teacher input in classroom decisions4 18.1 16.3 25.3

Low teacher input in school decisions5 18.9 17.6 24.2

Catholic 

Low administrative support1 21.5 19.8 29.9

Low salary2 47.5 45.7 56.1

Poor student discipline3 20.7 19.9 24.3

Low teacher input in classroom decisions4 16.6 15.2 22.9

Low teacher input in school decisions5 23.0 21.9 28.6

Other religious 

Low administrative support1 16.3 13.9 24.6

Low salary2 23.1 21.9 27.4

Poor student discipline3 17.8 16.5 22.3

Low teacher input in classroom decisions4 21.7 20.2 27.0

Low teacher input in school decisions5 19.0 17.6 24.0

Nonsectarian 

Low administrative support1 23.3 21.2 32.3

Low salary2 30.8 28.5 40.3

Poor student discipline3 26.8 25.2 33.4

Low teacher input in classroom decisions4 14.8 12.3 25.4

Low teacher input in school decisions5 12.6 11.2 18.3
3

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 are statistically significant at the .05 level. 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. For more information on the Schools and Staffing Survey, visit http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass.

This Issue Brief was authored by Daniel J. McGrath and Daniel Princiotta of the Education Statistics Services Institute (ESSI). This Issue Brief was formatted by Carol

Rohr of Pinkerton Computer Consultants, Inc. 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 or visit http://www.edpubs.org. NCES publications are also available on the Internet at

http://nces.ed.gov.

likely as movers and leavers in another private school type to

express relatively low levels of certain organizational factors.

For example, a higher percentage of Catholic school stayers

reported strong dissatisfaction with salary (46 percent) than

did movers or leavers from other religious schools (27 percent), and there was no statistically significant difference between Catholic school stayers and nonsectarian school movers and leavers (40 percent). Nonsectarian stayers (29 percent)

were not significantly different from other religious school

movers and leavers (27 percent) in reports of strong dissatisfaction with salary. Similarly, nonsectarian stayers were not

significantly different from movers and leavers in Catholic and

other religious schools in their likelihood of reporting relatively low student discipline (25 percent of nonsectarian stayers

compared with 24 percent of Catholic and 22 percent of other

religious movers and leavers).

Conclusion

In a study of teacher turnover in U.S. private schools between

the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 school years, within each private school type (i.e., Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian), teachers who left their school or the profession (movers

and leavers) were more likely to report relatively low levels of

administrative support, satisfaction with salary, student discipline, and teacher input in classroom and school decisions than

were those who remained in the same school (stayers). The

percentage of all teachers, stayers, and movers and leavers who

reported relatively low levels of organizational characteristics

varied across private school type.

By employing principal reports, this Issue Brief’s analysis of

teacher turnover took advantage of the large 1999–2000 SASS

sample, which allowed for analysis of teachers by private school

type.

Endnotes

1

 For example, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

Teacher Follow-Up Survey (TFS), a nationally representative survey

often used to study teacher turnover, included about 1,600 private

school teachers in 2001. This Issue Brief uses the NCES 1999–2000

Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) dataset, which included, for the

first time, teacher turnover between the 1999–2000 and 2000–01

school years, as reported by school principals. This dataset included

approximately 7,000 private school teachers.

2

 The analyses in this Issue Brief are based on a sample of 7,057

teachers who completed the SASS Private School Teacher

Questionnaire. When weighted using the TFNLWGT weighting

variable, this sample is representative of U.S. private elementary and

secondary school teachers during the 1999–2000 school year.

3

 This information was used to develop the sample for the 2001 TFS.

Principals may have been new to the school in 2000–01.

4

 Teachers whose status was listed as unknown, deceased, or living

outside the United States were not included. Altogether there were

41 such teachers. Teachers who moved to administrative positions

were considered leavers.

5

 Detailed descriptions of the school organization variables used in

the analysis are included in the notes to table 1. Because of the

distribution of teachers’ scores on the variables, not all the variables

included exactly 20 percent of all teachers; the range was between

18 and 34 percent. On tests of internal reliability, the standardized

Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.86 for the composite measure of satisfaction

with administrative support, 0.84 for schoolwide influence, 0.78 for

classroom influence, and 0.77 for student discipline.

6

 All findings presented in this Issue Brief are descriptive in nature.

All differences discussed are statistically significant at the .05 level as

measured by two-tailed Student’s t tests. 7

 This analysis was based on a sample of 1,631 teachers who

participated in both the SASS and TFS and whose SASS school

principal reported the teacher as a stayer, mover, or leaver at the

start of the 2000–01 school year.

8

 In 97 percent of the cases in which private school principals reported

teachers had stayed in the same school across the 1999–2000 and

2000–01 school years, teachers also reported they had stayed. When

principals reported teachers as being in the mover or leaver category,

92 percent of teachers agreed. A second way of assessing principals’

accuracy is to look at teacher reports and see how often principal

reports agreed. In 98 percent of the cases in which teachers reported

they had stayed, principals had also reported the teachers stayed. In

87 percent of the cases in which teachers reported they had moved

or left, principals had also reported the teachers moved or left.

References

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.

Ingersoll, R.M. (2001). Teacher Turnover and Teacher Shortages:

An Organizational Analysis. American Educational Research

Journal, 38(3): 499–534.

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.