Teacher attrition has been a problem for many years and is continuing to grow at an alarming rate. The National Center for Education Statistics is estimating a shortfall of a million teachers by 2028. This can negatively impact student growth as school districts are forced to overfill classrooms to compensate for the teacher shortage. This purpose of this study was to better understand how COVID-19 affected teachers and teacher attrition. The target population was teachers in the United States who taught prior to and during COVID-19. The sample size of 106 participants was met. The theoretical frameworks guiding this study were Herzberg's Theory of Motivation and the Cognitive Transactional Model of Stress. This study used a quantitative methodology and retrospective design to examine how stress and job satisfaction changed over the two points in time and if stress and job satisfaction are correlated. Schutz and Long's Teacher Stress Inventory was used to determine how teachers felt prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicated a significant change in stress, a non-significant change in job satisfaction, and a positive correlation between stress and job satisfaction. Recommendations for practice are training on positive coping mechanisms, increasing motivation, and lessen stress and workload when possible. Future research should include a larger study and could show how exercise or other positive coping mechanisms can be incorporated into the teacher workday to lessen stress and decrease attrition. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]