Examining Teacher Retention and Mobility in Small and Rural Districts in Washington State Ana M. Elfers Margaret L. Plecki With the assistance of Michelle McGowan Rena S. H. Kido Michael Schulze-Oechtering University of Washington College of Education Educational Leadership and Policy Studies November 2006 Table of Contents Executive Summary......................................................................................................... iii I. Introduction ...................................................................................................................1 II. Research Questions......................................................................................................1 III. Background: The Unique Challenges Facing Small and Rural Districts ............1 IV. Overall Approach and Methods................................................................................2 V. Defining Terms.............................................................................................................3 VI. Selection of Districts for the Sample.........................................................................4 VII. Findings......................................................................................................................6 A. Characteristics of Teachers in Small and Rural Districts as Compared to the State.....................................................................................6 B. Retention and Mobility of Teachers in Small and Rural Districts ..............8 C. Retention and School Characteristics ............................................................9 D. Retention of School Principals......................................................................15 VIII. Concluding Comments..........................................................................................16 Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................18 References.........................................................................................................................19 Appendices........................................................................................................................20 i List of Tables and Figures Table 1 Small and Rural Districts in Washington State: Summary of All Districts and Sample Districts...................................................................................................................5 Table 2 Small and Rural Districts in Washington State: Characteristics of All Small Districts, Sample Districts and State....................................................................................6 Table 3 Characteristics of the Washington Teacher Workforce in 2000............................7 Table 4 Retention and Mobility Patterns for Teachers Statewide, All Small and Rural Districts and Sample Districts: All Teachers, Novice Teachers and Beginning Teachers…………..……………………………………………………………………….8 Table 5 Selected Characteristics of Small and Rural Schools in Sample…….................10 Table 6 Percent Teachers Retained at Same School for All Schools in the Sample and by School Level….. ................................................................................................................11 Table 7 Retention and Mobility of Teachers in Schools in Isolated and Non-Isolated Districts………..................................................................................................................11 Table 8 Correlations with Teacher Retention by School: School and Student Characteristics....................................................................................................................12 Table 9 School Retention by Poverty ...............................................................................13 Table 10 School Retention by Region of the State: Differences between East and West and Regions Grouped by County………...........................................................................14 Table 11 Retention of Novice Teachers by Region of the State: Differences between Regions Grouped by County……......................................................................................15 Table 12 Principal Retention in Small and Rural District Sample: Districts with Identified Principals in 2000..............................................................................................16 ii Executive Summary Small and rural schools face a distinct set of challenges with regard to locale, regional socio-economic conditions and trends, and attracting, retaining and supporting talented teachers. This study provides information about small and rural districts in Washington state with respect to the retention and mobility of their teacher workforce during a recent five-year period (2000-01 and 2004-05) and compares data from these districts to statewide conditions and patterns. For purposes of this study, teacher turnover includes both mobility and attrition – the extent to which teachers move to other schools and other districts, change professional duties, or leave the state’s education system. The study addressed the following research questions: 1. At what rates do teachers in small and rural districts stay, move or leave? 2. How do retention and mobility rates vary among schools within small and rural districts? 3. Does the experience level or age of teachers in small and rural districts affect whether they stay, move or leave? 4. What school characteristics are related to the retention of teachers (e.g., student poverty, percent minority students, percent ESL students served, student performance)? 5. At what rates are principals staying, moving, or leaving? 6. How do teacher retention and mobility rates in small and rural districts compare to other districts in Washington by region, poverty level, and degree of isolation? In 2004, 152 districts in Washington state had a student enrollment of less than 1000 FTE. For purposes of the study, these districts were identified as “small.” Aggregate data about teacher retention and mobility is provided for these 152 districts and compared to statewide patterns. We also selected a sample of these small districts for more detailed analyses. Half of the small districts (n =76) were selected based on a variety of characteristics (e.g., region of the state, county and location within the county, ESD, district size, student poverty, student ethnicity, levy valuation per student, and degree of isolation from a major population center). In order to understand teacher retention and mobility patterns, it is important to first examine how the basic characteristics of the teachers in small and rural districts compare to the statewide profile. Generally speaking, the characteristics of all teachers in small and rural districts do not vary greatly from the state’s teacher workforce. As is the case statewide, there is a mismatch between teachers of color and the increasingly diverse student population in theses districts. In small and rural districts, approximately one fourth of students are from racial and ethnic minorities compared to just three percent of the districts’ teachers. One difference can be noted with respect to the distribution of teachers by age range. Teachers in small and rural districts are slightly older than the overall teacher workforce. Sixty-seven percent of teachers in small and rural districts are over the age of 40, compared with 61 percent of all teachers statewide. The retention and mobility analyses tracked the assignment of classroom teachers at two points in time. The teachers were located during the 2000-01 school year and then iii tracked five years later, in 2004-05. Each teacher was placed in one of four categories: “stayers” (those who remain in the same school after 5 years), “movers in” (those who change schools within the same district), “movers out” (those who leave for employment in another district in Washington state), and “leavers” (those who are no longer in the Washington education system, either temporarily or permanently). When examining overall teacher retention patterns, we find that the general patterns for teachers in small and rural districts are similar to all teachers statewide for “stayers” and “leavers.” In the 152 districts, sixty-one percent of teachers stay in the same school after five years and nineteen percent leave the state’s education system, either temporarily or permanently. In other words, the overall rates of teacher retention and attrition for small and rural districts are almost identical to the statewide profile. Differences do exist in small and rural districts with respect to the rates at which teachers move to other districts, particularly novice teachers (less than 5 years of experience) and beginning teachers (less than 1 year of experience). Twenty percent of novice teachers in the small and rural districts move out of district compared with only 12 percent of novice teachers statewide. Beginning teachers in small and rural districts are also less likely to stay at the same school after five years. Forty-two percent of beginning teachers in small and rural schools were still at the same school five years later, compared to 46 percent of beginning teachers statewide. As might be expected due to the size of the districts, novice and beginning teachers move to other schools within their districts at lower rates than their peers statewide. Issues of teacher retention often reside at the level of the individual school where considerable