How Teaching Conditions Predict Teacher Turnover in California Schools by Susanna Loeb, Linda Darling-Hammond, and John Luczak Presented by Amy Ewing

Background Teachers tend to migrate away from low- achieving, low-income schools toward more prosperous and successful ones. This is a public policy problem because high turnover reduces continuity and may reflect problems retaining quality teachers. To understand how to fix this, we need to understand why teachers leave low- achieving, low-income schools.

Research Questions Can we disentangle student body factors from other factors that are more easily addressed by public policy? What are the reasons for teacher migration away from low-achieving, low- income schools?

Methodology January 2002 survey of 1,071 California teachers –Telephone interview –Random representative sample containing an oversampling of teachers in low-income census tracts Student demographic data Teacher salary data

Methodology This study examines three measures in particular: –Whether teachers report their school has a serious problem with teacher turnover –Whether teachers report that their schools’ vacancies are difficult to fill –The proportion of beginning teachers in the school

Data Whether there are enough copies of textbooks for every student to use in class. Whether there are enough copies of textbooks for students to take home. Whether students have access to computers in the classroom. Whether the teacher’s largest class is less than 25 students. Whether the teacher’s largest class is greater than 33 students. Whether the teacher reports that his or her classroom is too small for the number of students in the class. Whether the school uses space for instruction that was not designed as a classroom (e.g., gymnasium, auditorium, cafeteria). Whether the temperature in the classroom is uncomfortable. Whether the classroom has too much noise for students to concentrate. Whether the teacher has seen evidence of cockroaches, rats, or mice during the last year. Whether the school bathrooms are open and clean.

Results 22% of teachers report turnover is a problem 22% of teachers report having trouble filling teaching positions The strongest predictor of turnover problems is teachers’ rating of school conditions Student body demographics also factor in

Policy Implications Reducing teacher turnover may require improving salaries and working conditions

Questions? Citation: Loeb, Susanna, Linda Darling- Hammond, and John Luczak. "How Teaching Conditions Predict Teacher Turnover in California Schools." Peabody Journal of Education 80(2005):