R&R Project - Why Do Teachers Leave?

1. External Factors
Retirement incentives, alternatives outside of teaching, availability of other teaching positions, and employment climate are variables external to the teacher and the school district. 2. Employment Factors include:

Work conditions are factors which deal with the design and management of work responsibilities within the school and district environment (teacher's roles, availability of resources needed to perform their jobs, caseload/class size issues, collegial and parent support, requirements from administration, autonomy and decision making abilities, paperwork issues, type of first assignment).
Rewards refer to the feedback and recognition, self-evaluation, responsibility and autonomy, and intrinsic/extrinsic rewards of teaching (approval and recognition from supervisors, value of work, salary).
Commitment towards the school, district, teaching field and profession by the teachers' strong belief and acceptance in the organizations' goals and values, a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization, and a strong desire to maintain membership in the organization/profession.

3. Personal Factors
These include teacher demographics and background (gender, age, interests, expectations, motivations, and/or personality).

This conceptual model of the influences of teachers' career decisions was developed through research studies on attrition for the National Clearinghouse for Professionals in Special Education.

References
Billingsley. B. Teacher Retention and Attrition in Special Education and General Education: A Critical Review of Research. Journal of Special Education, Vol. 27, No. 2, 1993.p. 137-173.

Liason Bulletin. Recruiting and Retaining Special Educators: It's Everybody's Job. Vol 19, No. 4, May 1993.

What's working in Special Education, May 1999.

Gonzales, P. Factors that influence teacher attrition. NSTEP 1-95. Aug. 1995.

Miller, Brownell, Smith. Factors that Predict Teachers Staying in, Leaving, Transferring from the Special Education Classroom. Exceptional Children, Vol. 65, No.2 pp 201-218. Winter 1999.