http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/CCSR_Teacher_Mobility.pdf
A few of the highlights (lowlights):
- Only 9 high schools were characterized as "high stability" in '05-'07 (retaining 90%+ of teachers year over year)
- Less than 50% of CPS teachers stay in their school for 4+ years.
- In '98-'99 39% of teachers left their schools within 5 years
- In '01-'02 a separate study found that 31% of teachers left within first two years.
- The most unstable schools (highest amount of turnover) tend to be the lowest performing, with the highest minority populations.
Certainly some unfortunate statistics. It should come as no surprise then that other professional development efforts within CPS consistently fail so miserably. On a yearly basis most schools are trying to get a considerable portion of their staff adjusted/oriented, leaving little room/effort/time for improvement true professional development and craft improvement. Institutional knowledge, community relationships are consistently in turmoil. To be sure this problem is not isolated to traditional schools in the slightest, by some measures charter schools have even higher levels of turnover. Unfortunately the University of Chicago study doesn't have a breakout between charter and traditional.
Also, and very importantly the Chicago study above did not have access to teacher performance data (of any sort - observations, lesson plans, test scores, student surveys etc). So, not only are we losing a considerable number of teachers to a highly mobile and chaotic system, we don't know which teachers are leaving their classrooms: the best? the worst? the average?
Coupled with the findings of TNTP's The Irreplaceables, recognition and retention of Chicago's best teachers is a critical part of the education reform conversation moving forward. Interestingly though it is a topic that has received little or no comment from CPS or CTU. I hope that changes.
