This report presents selected findings from the Current Teacher and Former Teacher Data Files of the 2012-13 Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS). TFS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private school K-12 teachers who participated in the previous year's Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). First fielded in school year 1988-89,…

It is estimated that 50% of beginning teachers leave the profession within the first five years on the job (Murnane, Singer, Willett, Kemple, & Olsen, 1991; Colbert & Wolff, 1992; Ingersoll, 2003b; Schlechty & Vance, 1981). When teachers depart, they take with them their knowledge of instructional techniques, students' learning styles, and…

Although professionals begin their physical education teaching career in an urban setting with excitement and pride, many of them choose to leave urban schools in their first five years of teaching and seek employment in the suburbs or in rural settings or even abandon the teaching field altogether to pursue a different profession. While searching…

Teacher retention is a persistent issue that impacts school improvement. The retention and attrition of both new and experienced teachers is quite challenging for administrators throughout school districts, particularly in large urban schools. While it is reasonable that some degree of teacher turnover in schools is inevitable, the exiting of…

This study is a longitudinal analysis of the early career decisions made by graduates of an urban-focused secondary teacher preparation program. By matching graduates' self-reported commitment to teaching in urban schools at the end of the training program to the demographic data of the schools where they subsequently teach, the authors explore…

New teachers don't last long in urban schools. From 30% to 50% of them leave these schools within their first five years, and teacher education institutions are trying a number of strategies to change this. To combat the high attrition rate among new teachers in urban schools, the authors suggest that teacher education programs should take a…

Researchers have focused their attention on the subject of special education teacher attrition for many years. While these researchers have made valuable findings, the need to abate the staggering numbers of special education teachers who leave the field still exists. Districts desiring to retain their teachers must place greater emphasis on the…

In this study we explore the experiences of new teachers in urban schools at the intersection of three major policy agendas--alternative certification, new teacher retention, and the small schools movement. We examine alternatively certified teachers' perceptions of the rewards and challenges of teaching in small schools, the support neophyte…

This retrospective, longitudinal study compares the career paths of graduates of Harvard University's master's-level teacher education program (TEP) before and after it adopted an urban emphasis in 2001. I surveyed all graduates of TEP, 1985-2006, which yielded a sample of 636. Using discrete-time survival analysis, I examined where respondents…

According to the research literature, there are three reasons that draw teachers into teaching: (1) gender-related reasons, (2) altruistic reasons, and (3) monetary rewards and job flexibility. Based on data from three teacher preparation programs, this article argues that teachers who were trained at elite colleges and who chose teaching in urban…

In this article, we argue that preparing and maintaining a cadre of culturally responsive teachers is critical to improving urban education and achieving educational equity. We discuss a collaborative, social-justice-oriented approach to teacher preparation committed to developing a stable and effective teaching force reflective of the student…

Recent attention to low student achievement in mathematics has brought attention at the national, state, and local level to the shortage of "Highly Qualified" mathematics teachers. However, current policy and practice fall short of ensuring that the most qualified--as in effective--mathematics teachers support the learning of the…

Education reformers routinely call on school districts to stop hiring teachers based on seniority, which they argue interferes with effective staffing, especially in disadvantaged schools. The few researchers who have empirically studied the issue, however, disagree about whether seniority-based hiring is systematically associated with staffing…

Teach For America (TFA) aims to address teacher shortages by sending graduates from elite colleges, most of whom do not have a background in education, to teach in low-income rural and urban schools for a two-year commitment. The impact of these graduates is hotly debated by those who, on the one hand, see this as a way to improve the supply of…

In the winter and spring of 2008, The New Teacher Project (TNTP) partnered with San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to investigate the impact of the school district's policies and practices on the ability of schools to build and maintain strong instructional teams. TNTP's analysis reveals that schools struggle to build and maintain…