Keung Hui of the News & Observer published an article today that discusses Wake County teacher turnover findings (pdf) and various responses to them (including mine). Hui writes,
A total of 528 of Wake’s 10,000 teachers resigned between July 2014 and April 2015, a 14-percent drop from the 612 resignations during the same period last year. In April 2014, Wake school leaders were holding press conferences and calling for teacher pay raises because of the 41 percent jump in resignations from the 433 the year before.
As expected, members of the Wake County Board of Education took credit for the drop and took aim at the Republican-led General Assembly.
Of the 528 teachers who resigned during the 2014-15 school year, only 62 (12 percent) cited career change or dissatisfaction with teaching as the reason, which was 15 fewer teachers than a year ago. In comparison, 76 teachers (14 percent) resigned because of a family relocation and 71 teachers (13 percent) retired with full or partial benefits.
In other words, personal circumstances and retirement, not necessarily policies initiated by elected officials, push most teachers out of the classroom.
In the graph below, Wake County Schools staff adjusted for year over year increases in total number of teachers, so it does not reflect the actual turnover count.
