Dive Brief:
- New research from the Center for American Progress has found that 70% of new teachers are staying in the field for at least five years, an increase of about 20-30% compared to prior studies.
- Robert Hanna, one of the study's researchers, told the Huffington Post that he did not know why the numbers rose.
- The study was a replication of a report by University of Pennsylvania education researcher Richard Ingersoll, who in the past found that only 40-50% of beginning teachers stayed in the classroom for five years.
Dive Insight:
Interestingly, the study found the increase was consistent in both low- and high-income districts.
Penn's Ingersoll, who did the original research, had been a high-school social studies and algebra teacher in public and private schools before quitting to get his Ph.D in sociology and joining U Penn's staff. When interviewed by The Atlantic in 2013, he explained, "One of the big reasons I quit was sort of intangible. But it’s very real: It’s just a lack of respect. Teachers in schools do not call the shots. They have very little say. They’re told what to do; it’s a very disempowered line of work.”