Almost one-half of beginning teachers leave teaching within the first five years. Each year approximately one-fifth of all teachers nationwide decide to leave the school at which they are teaching.  This section looks at the issue of teacher turnover and the research being done on attrition.

The AEA, along with the Arizona Governor's Office, spearheaded the Arizona Teacher Working Conditions Survey conducted by The Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ).  About 5,200 educators participated in the survey, which looks at issues such as time, teacher empowerment, school leadership, professional development, and facilities and resources, and how they correlate to increasing student achievement and retaining teachers. These statewide efforts, along with similar surveys of over 100,000 teachers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Kansas demonstrate that improved working conditions are not only central to teachers’ well-being and satisfaction, they are also important to the success of the students they serve. For more information about the survey, visit www.aztwc.org.

The Teacher Working Conditions Toolkit
This Toolkit was developed with support from the BellSouth Foundation and BellSouth North Carolina to help communities and schools better understand and respond to data from teacher working conditions surveys. The toolkit includes examples of schools that have addressed teacher working conditions successfully, checklists and concrete ideas to provide a roadmap for working condition reforms, and background research to give some theoretical perspective in identifying school reform strategies. It offers specific strategies for various groups, including teachers, community members, principals, district officials, and policy makers.  Visit www.teacherworkingconditions.org to view the toolkit.