Teacher Retention and Attrition-in Special and General Education

Abstract

The primary purpose of this paper is to review major factors: (a) external (e.g., societal, economic, research findings related to teacher retention and and institutional), (b) employment (e.g., profesattrition in special education. Major findings sional qualifications, work conditions and rewards, from general education retention studies are also commitment, and employability), and (c) perreviewed to provide a context for understanding sonal (e.g., demographics, family, and cognitive/ special educators' career decisions. Research findaffective). Conceptual and methodological conings are organized around a conceptual model of siderations related to attrition/retention research teachers' career decisions that includes three are also considered.An examination of teacher retention and attrition is timely in this era of special education teacher shortages. Boe (1990) suggests that teacher retention is the most promising approach to minimizing teacher shortages in special education since attrition is the major factor causing the shortage problem. Policymakers need knowledge about retention/attrition in order to understand the factors contributing to career decisions and to develop appropriate policies for increasing the retention of special educators. This article reviews and critiques the retention/attrition literature relevant to special education and outlines considerations for future research and the development of retention policies. The importance of retaining qualified special educators becomes apparent when studying the shortage problem. Recent estimates indicate that an additional 29,774 special education teachers were needed to replace uncertified staff and fill vacancies in the U.S. during 1988-89 (The Thirteenth Annual Report to Congress, 1991). E.E. Boe (personal communication, 1991), using the Annual Reports to Congress, found that the need for fully certified special educators increased by more than 12,000 (or 74%) over a recent 4-year period, while the supply of new teacher graduates declined by well over 7,000 (34%).Another indicator of the shortage problem is the high number of state personnel reporting teacher shortages (Schofer 8c Duncan, 1986;Smith-Davis, Burke, & Noel, 1984). Recent projections by a national consortium of special education organizations suggest that the teacher shortage problem in special education will reach crisis proportions in the years to come (American Speech-LanguageHearing Association, 1989).

Finding their way on: Career decision‐making processes of urban science teachers

“…These case studies relied upon multiple data sources to gather evidence and identify patterns in career decision making (Merriam, 1998;Yin, 2003). They also answered calls for more qualitative work in the field of teacher retention (Billingsley, 1993;Bloland & Selby, 1980). This study is situated in the William City Public Schools, 1 a K-12 urban school district on the Eastern seaboard with approximately 90,000 students and 12,000 teachers and staff, making it one of the 30 largest school districts in the United States (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2001).…”

“…Much of the existing literature on teacher retention treats career decision making not as a process but as an outcome, identifying a variety of individual and contextual factors predictive of attrition or retention decisions (Billingsley, 1993;Gold, 1996;Rinke, 2008). Some studies take an alternate approach, following teachers' career moves over time and allowing the complexities of decision making to emerge.…”

The missing foundation in teacher education: Knowledge of the structure of spoken and written language

“…Turnover in teaching is high; about fifty % of teachers leave their jobs within five years. Commitment and longevity is greater, however, in those whose self-efficacy ratings are strong (Billingsley 1993). Many factors contribute to the erosion of efficacy, but the mismatch between teacher preparation and the expertise demanded by hard-to-teach children may be a significant contributor to this high rate of turnover.…”

Sources and Determinants of Job Stress among Employees Working in Therapeutic Toddler Classes in Dutch Rehabilitation Centres

“…It differs, however, from the results of Kelly and Berthelsen's (1995) study in which preschool teachers mentioned stress arising from their relationships with colleagues. A possible explanation for this inconsistency is the fact that in The Netherlands rehabilitation medicine and child care is based on working in teams, contrary to educational settings in which teachers work more individually without a natural peer support system (Billingsley, 1993).…”