Teacher Mobility
Teacher Turnover in Illinois
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Population of Illinois Teachers | Analysis of Teachers Moving From, Staying In, and Leaving Illinois | Illinois Teacher Survey Results | Policy Recommendations for the Midwest Region | References
Analysis of Teachers Moving From, Staying In, and Leaving Illinois
Teaching is a field that loses many of its newly trained practitioners very early in their careers. Figure 2 illustrates, by selected personal characteristics, the percentages of 1994-95 teachers who moved from, stayed in, and left Illinois during their first five years of teaching. These results emphasize the importance of clearly specifying how "teacher turnover" is to be defined. If one considers the traditional definition of "teacher turnover" (i.e., those teachers who leave the profession altogether), no group of teachers in Illinois is statistically more likely to leave teaching. However, when both "movers" and "leavers" are considered, the results are more revealing. As shown in Figure 2, there was nuanced behavior between teachers who transferred to another school district or districts within Illinois ("movers") and those who left Illinois public school teaching and did not return ("leavers").
*Includes whites as well as ethnic minority groups who numbered too few to form another representative sample.
Illinois teachers beginning their teaching careers in the 1994-95 school year showed the highest attrition rates among the four states. Cumulative losses of teachers from the Illinois school districts that hired them were 58 percent, consisting of 26 percent of teachers who moved to different districts and 32 percent who left teaching altogether. The percentage leaving teaching in Illinois was higher than previous national and regional findings (Ingersoll, 1995; Theobald & Michael, 2002).
Illinois teachers beginning their teaching careers in the 1994-95 school year were examined further by selected professional characteristics. Figure 3 illustrates these findings. As shown in Figure 3, arts, English, science, and vocational teachers as well as secondary teachers were most likely to leave teaching; also, teachers in low-wage districts were more likely to leave teaching. However, these results also emphasize the importance of looking both at teachers who transfer districts in addition to those who leave the state. As also shown in Figure 3, although special education teachers were no more likely to leave the profession than other types of teachers, they were much more likely to transfer among school districts.
*Includes whites as well as ethnic minority groups who numbered too few to form another representative sample.
Population of Illinois Teachers | Analysis of Teachers Moving From, Staying In, and Leaving Illinois | Illinois Teacher Survey Results | Policy Recommendations for the Midwest Region | References
