The Alliance for Excellent Education reported in August, 2005 that the cost of teachers leaving the profession is $2.2 billion a year. If you add the costs replacing public school teachers that transfer schools, the cost soars to $4.9 billion each year. This is an accounting of the actual dollars spent. The costs to our students (in their achievement as a result of losing the value of an experienced teacher) pushes these figures through the roof.
Researchers and educators alike are coming to the consensus that student performance is determined mainly by the quality of their teachers. If experienced teachers are leaving the profession because of their poor working environments (which 60% quote as the reason they left) then… doesn’t it follow that we need to funnel our (scarce) financial resources into serving their needs?
We have all of the money we need for school improvement. We can enhance student achievement by keeping our teachers in the profession and we can keep them in the profession if we improve their working environment – if we create school standards to serve our dedicated professionals.
The Link to Teachers' Success...
Dr. Kathleen Salzano, Ed.D.
