Teacher Turnover and Teacher Quality

Abstract

At that time a plausible case could be made that a general teaching shortage might occur under certain conditions if then-quoted teacher attrition rates were accurate (Darling-Hammond, 1984). However, the conditions necessary to produce general shortages have not materialized, partly because then-nationally-published attrition rates were very inaccurate since they did not distinguish between permanent and temporary attrition. However, the report warning of a potential shortage helped highlight the need for, and spurred the production, of better data and research on teacher supply and demand. What followed over the next ten years was the production of some of the best data available on any occupational group in the nation and associated research that has revealed the complex patterns inherent in the teacher labor market. The Department of Education’s Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), together with their Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Survey and some superb state data on teachers, has supported research that addresses most of the important questions concerning the flows of teachers into, out of, and back into teaching. More importantly, these data can provide the basis for describing the dramatic changes approaching in the teacher labor market and lay the basis for the planning and policies necessary to navigate through these changes. The State of Education