Overall U.S. teacher turnover is about 16% annually, with about 8% leaving the profession and about 8% moving schools¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr2·q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2022: baselines and conditions change
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? About 8% of teachers leave the profession each year and about 8% shift schools, for an overall turnover rate of about 16%. → Carver-Thomas 2017
Evidence¶
Carver-Thomas 2017¶
Carver-Thomas, D. & Darling-Hammond, L. (2017). Teacher turnover: Why it matters and what we can do about it. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/teacher-turnover doi:10.54300/454.278
q2 · i? · associational · r2
Descriptive analysis of the nationally representative Schools and Staffing Survey (2011–12) and Teacher Follow-Up Survey (2012–13), reporting that "about 8% shift schools" and attrition is about 8%, yielding roughly 16% total turnover.
"In addition to the 8% of teachers who leave the profession each year, about 8% shift schools. Thus, the overall turnover rate is currently about 16%."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Between 2020–21 and 2021–22, 15.1% of U.S. public school teachers moved schools or left the profession, and turnover is now about 20% higher than in 1992 — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
- Teachers of color leave schools or the profession at higher annual rates than White teachers, driven largely by school moving — related
- Teachers of color leave the teaching profession at higher rates than white teachers (about 19 percent vs. 15 percent turnover). — related
- Teacher turnover is 35%–37% higher in schools with the largest concentrations of students of color and students from low-income backgrounds than in schools with the smallest — related
- Dissatisfaction is the most-cited reason for leaving, cited by 55% of profession-leavers and 66% of school-movers — related
- Alternatively certified teachers are 25% more likely to leave their schools and the profession, controlling for other factors — related
- Turnover is higher in charter schools (17.8%) than traditional public schools (14.9%) and higher in city schools (17.7%) than other locales — related
- Teachers with little or no pedagogical preparation are 2 to 3 times more likely to leave the profession than those with the most comprehensive preparation — related
- Teaching has a relatively high turnover rate compared to nursing and national employee turnover benchmarks — related
- Teacher attrition rose from 5.1% in 1992 to 8.4% in 2005 and has hovered around 8% since — related
- Teachers of color are more likely than White teachers to intend to leave teaching and to actually leave the profession — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
- Occupational commitment is the strongest positive consequence and turnover intentions the strongest negative consequence of teacher wellbeing — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
teacher-turnover-16-percent-annual |
title |
Overall U.S. teacher turnover is about 16% annually, with about 8% leaving the profession and about 8% moving schools |
description |
Overall U.S. |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2017 |
recheck_by |
2022 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-10 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — carver-thomas-2017 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.