Teacher Attrition Rates: Who are the Winners in this War?







The U.F.T. recently pointed to increased teacher attrition rates in NYC during the Bloomberg administration.  More than 32,000 teachers resigned over the past 11 years.  The percentage of mid-career teachers (with 6-8 years experience) resigning between 2008 and 2013 jumped from 15% to 43%.  4,600 teachers overall apparently left for the suburbs.  No surprise!

Teaching in the City became akin to a war.  Many fled the battlefield, seeking sanctuary in the suburbs.  Others became homeless ATR refugees following closures, forever condemned to wander the City from school to school, never finding a home.  Indeed, given the tenor of educational reform throughout the country, it is amazing so many teachers remain.  From what I know of the situation in North Carolina, I'm surprised the state is not "teacherless" by now.  

Several months ago I spoke on the phone with a former high-school history teacher.  I explained the situation.  I remember his reaction very clearly.  He asked if I would like to teach on the Island.  Wouldn't it make all the sense in the world?  If teachers will be evaluated by the progress of their students, why not work in more affluent districts where students buy into the system and will be pushed hard by parents to succeed in school.  Moreover, teachers in the suburbs will enjoy higher salaries, smaller class sizes and better working conditions.  Sadly, I have grown accustomed to my City kids and I love my City school community.  Stupid sentimentality!

I am sure teacher attrition rates are just the tip of the iceberg.  If more detailed studies were conducted, one would surely find many more teachers suffering from physical ailments, mental stress and, perhaps, severe depression under this  new system.  I'm betting teacher absenteeism has also increased.  Sadly with all the stress of the new APPR system and the need to prove one's professional innocence given the blanket assumption of guilt, teachers must plot how to game the system rather than how to best serve their students.  Who are the winners in this war against public schools?  Surely, not the students who lose some of their finest teachers and witness others coping with unusual stress.

Given the tenor of current educational "reforms" largely filtering down from the federal level, I propose a new crest for the D.C. D.O.E.