Round and Round They Go: The Relationship Between Changing Grades and Schools and Teacher Quality and Absence Rates

Abstract

Research on teacher churn has produced conflicting conclusions as to its impact on students and teachers. We bring clarity to this work by combining and expanding on analytical approaches used in earlier research to determine how and when different types of churn (i.e., grade, school) impact teacher effectiveness and attendance. Using data from the Los Angeles Unified School District, our results suggest differences based on analytical approach but ultimately show that changing schools and grades may be less of an issue than previously reported. In addition, in the case of school churn, a beneficial match in their new school sites may matter more for teacher outcomes than potential disruptive effects of churn. We conclude with implications for policy and future research.

Resources of emotional resilience and its mediating role in teachers’ well-being and intention to leave

“…A teacher may find conditions in one school to be unacceptable, but moving to a new workplace may alleviate the reasons for leaving the profession. Recent research has also looked at a phenomenon called teacher churn when teachers change grade levels, subject areas, or schools (Dhaliwal et al, 2023) to find a better "fit. " While this may be an apt partitioning of intention to leave for a future study, we focus on the primary workplace with which our study participants identified themselves.…”