Nearly three quarters (74%) of teacher turnover between 2020–21 and 2021–22 was voluntary and preretirement¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2031: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? 74% of teachers who moved or left did so voluntarily for reasons other than retirement, up from 67% a decade earlier. → Tan 2026

Evidence¶

Tan 2026¶

Tan, T., Wei, W., Carver-Thomas, D., & García, E. (2026). Teacher turnover in the United States: Who moves, who leaves, and why. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/248.479

q2 · i? · associational · r3

Descriptive analysis of the 2020–21 NTPS and 2021–22 TFS (Figure 4) classifying turnover as voluntary preretirement, retirement, or involuntary. The report finds "74%" of turnover was voluntary preretirement, about 14% retirement, and nearly 12% involuntary.

"nearly three quarters of teachers who moved or left teaching did so voluntarily and for reasons other than retirement (74%), slightly more than 14% of teachers retired, and nearly 12% moved schools or left the profession involuntarily."

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 — related
• Dissatisfaction is the most-cited reason for leaving, cited by 55% of profession-leavers and 66% of school-movers — related
• Minority teachers who depart rarely cite retirement; dissatisfaction, pursuit of better jobs, and personal reasons dominate their reported turnover reasons — related
• Retirement accounts for only a small portion of total teacher turnover — related