Teachers and their Retention

Dylan Brock
Why I am Doing this
● First off, I’m doing this so I can graduate from AMES since Senior Projects are
mandatory.
● The reason why my project is on teaching is my internship was at Twin Peaks
Elementary, helping the sixth grade teachers with their classes. I was intrigued
and curious about the world of teaching.
● But more importantly I wanted to explore the world of teaching through
different angle than most take. I wanted to see why individuals left the field of
education and why some decided to stay in teaching.
The Importance of Teachers
● To explore this topic, I first want to address how important teachers are to not
only us, but to all those who have been education system as a student.
● Without teachers, no one would be able to gain a basic education, unless
pursued by their own fruition and desire. With teachers so widely available to
us, we are able to gain a vast knowledge and experience opportunities which
may have never came to us without teachers.
● Teachers are vital to the education system for two reasons: without quality
teachers, we don’t learn anything and secondly, teachers allow the all students
to have a equal chance at learning about subject.
If Teachers are Cool, What’s the Problem?
● Simple, there is a disturbing trend that is beginning to rear its ugly head in
classrooms across the United States. That monster is the incapability of
schools to retain teachers.
● Though this problem might seem minute, let me assure you it is the exact
opposite and this pandemic will continue to fester and destroy quality teaching
in classrooms due to teachers leaving for various reasons
● In a recent study by the NEA (National Education Association), the NEA found
that; “Some sources estimate that 50 percent of the teachers currently in our classrooms will either retire or leave
the profession over the next five to seven years. The statistics for teacher turnover among new teachers are startling.
Some 20 percent of all new hires leave the classroom within three years.”
Some Teachers Never Quit, so We’re fine
● While some might have this opinion about retention of teachers, like all things,
those teachers won’t always teach. So now we are at crossroads, where
teachers are getting older and older, requiring new rookie teachers to come in.
● And that's where the main problem comes into this equation, a shocking
amount of new teachers will leave the profession shortly after entering it for a
variety of reasons.
● According to study by Yongmei Ni and Andrea K. Rorrer, new teachers leave
the profession for a variety of reasons, which will be shown on the next slide.
Rorrer and Ni’s study
How can Schools Retain Teachers Better?
● While most of you might of thought “just pay them more”, that idea is really not
supported by a survey that I took of the AMES teachers.
So Paying Them ain’t the Solution?
● Demonstrated by the survey, only one teacher brought up getting a pay raise,
and if money was brought up by the other responses, it was to simply put that
money into the system to buy better supplies and materials.
● So if money can’t keep teachers in the profession, how can schools keep
teachers in them? There are a lot of voices and opinions of the subject, but
from my research, I have whittled down the the many solutions into three main,
overlaying answers to the retention of teachers.
Possible Solutions
1. First one up is the possible solution of providing teachers a support system
that allows them to develop and practice their craft by teaching other teachers
or simply learning for themselves.
2. Second, is to help teachers realize that the impact they make on students truly
matters, whether it is from staff appraisal or the success of students.
3. Finally, it is to help teachers feel satisfied in their profession, which relies
somewhat on the first two solutions, but requires that the teacher continually
feels pushed, but not to breaking point.

These are initiated by schools and are acted upon by teachers and
administrative staff.
What You can do Help Teacher Retention?

Simple, do your best and thank you your

teachers for doing a great job! Doing this
allows teachers to feel acknowledged
and wanted! SO SAY THANK YOU
Bibliography
Brock, Dylan. “Why Choose and Stay in Teaching?” Google Forms, 19 March. 2018,
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1DYoK8IXxPZWzFvrkA8adA-UJhEgsS2QVHPt2QRJzQ8I/edit#responses

Ni, Y. & Rorrer, A.K. (2018). Why Do Teachers Choose Teaching and Remain Teaching: Initial Results from the Educator Career and
Pathway Survey (ECAPS) for Teachers. Utah Education Policy Center: Salt Lake City, UT.

NEA. “Research Spotlight on Recruitment and Retention.” National Education Association,

NEA, www.nea.org/tools/16977.htm.