Wake FYI and the Wake Regional Education Roundtable series focus each month on the same important education topic. This allows Wake County residents the opportunity to get a deeper and richer understanding of the issues.

You can read about each topic in Wake FYI and then discuss the topics with other community members at the Wake Regional Education Roundtable, sponsored by Wake Education Partnership and the Chambers of Commerce in Wake County. For more information about the Roundtable series, or to view past editions of Wake FYI, please go to our website: www.WakeEdPartnership.org.

REGISTER NOW!  Click here to register for this month’s Roundtable on February 7.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION: Teacher Recruitment and Retention in the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS)

In this issue of Wake FYI, information from the WCPSS and other national and state websites has been collected in an effort to inform readers about teacher recruitment and retention on a national and state level and in the Wake County Public School System.

Teacher Retention in WCPSS, North Carolina, and the Nation

Nationally, about 50 percent of teachers leave their jobs within their first five years, according to a study released in 2006 by the National Education Association and approximately 33% of new teachers leave within the first 3 years of entry into the occupation.  Nationally, the teacher turnover rate is 16.8%.

An independent report by the nonprofit National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, released on June 20, 2007, estimates that the high rate of teacher turnover in U.S. school systems costs more than $7 billion a year.  The report is based on a study of school systems in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Granville County in North Carolina, as well as 6 of the Jemez Valley and Santa Rosa systems in New Mexico.   Costs that make up this figure included advertising and traveling to job fairs; hiring incentives and signing bonuses; the administrative processing and training of new recruits; mentoring and professional development for all teachers; salaries for substitutes; and separations costs if a teacher chose to quit.  Some districts spend on average a minimum of $11,000 to replace a teacher who leaves.

North Carolina’s average teacher turnover rate for the last five years (2002-2007) is considerably better than the national average at 12.53%.  On teaching exit surveys, 18-22% of teachers leaving a district report going to teach elsewhere as their primary reason for leaving; this was the number one reason reported for teacher turnover for those five years.  Of those teachers, 74-80% of those left to teach in other NC school systems. While this is a loss to the local system, it does not represent a loss to the state.

The teacher turnover rate for WCPSS is consistently below the state average.  For the 2006-2007 school year, the rate was 10.03%.  The five year average is 10.23%, with the lowest rate (9.36%) occurring in 2005-2006.  Highest turnover rates in WCPSS are found among middle school teachers, followed by high school and then elementary school teachers.

Recruit, Retain, Respect:  A Report from the Wake Task Force on Teaching Excellence

In April 2005, Wake Education Partnership published Recruit, Retain, Respect: A Report from the Wake Task Force on Teaching Excellence.  This report offers research-based recommendations for recruiting, retaining and supporting excellent teachers for all of Wake's public school classrooms.

We need to recruit quality teachers for Wake County schools.  Once we’ve hired these teachers, we need to retain them.  To retain these teachers, we need to respect them as professionals.  The report highlighted seven priority action items that outline how to best accomplish these goals.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Embed more time within the school day for all teachers to plan and reflect, to participate in professional development and to collaborate with other key personnel.

2. Ensure that principals have the understanding and capacity to create an environment that supports quality teaching and the retention of quality teachers.

3.  Support teaching as a profession through career enhancement and leadership opportunities.
a. Develop a process for teachers to use critical self-analysis and shared reflection    to plan their own professional development, using the “Quality Teaching Characteristics” index or other tools.
b. Make the sharing of best practices routine among teachers within and across schools.
c. Ensure that professional development includes a range of opportunities to support teachers as they grow in their careers from novice to experienced teacher.
d. Improve mentor programs to more consistently meet the needs of new teachers.
e. Create career pathways for teachers using the Teacher Enhancement and Leadership System (TELS).

4. Improve working conditions for special education teachers, including salary incentives, reduced case loads, planning time and paperwork assistance, to reduce increasing turnover rates.

5. Review and upgrade teacher salaries and benefits systematically to keep pace with competitive job markets.

6. More carefully plan how curricular decisions impact teachers with a coordinated, system-wide timeline for new initiatives.

7. Recruit advocates among the business community and parents to support teaching excellence.

Teacher Recruitment in North Carolina

North Carolina needs about 11,000 new teachers yearly.  However, colleges in NC graduate about 3,000 from education programs each year.  Clearly there is a need to recruit teachers from other states to fill the need. 

High needs areas are science, math, and special education

NC DPI reports that for the last three years, the most difficult curriculum areas (licensure areas) for which districts have difficulty finding licensed teachers are:  Math 9-12, Science 9-12, and Special Education.  These areas are followed closely by Science 6-9 and Math 6-9. 

For More Information on Teacher Recruitment and Retention

• Join us at the Wake Regional Education Roundtable on February 7 to learn more from Teresa Cunningham-Brown, Director of Recruitment and Retention and Sherri Morris, Senior Administrator for Recruitment and Retention for the Wake County Public School System.  They will join us to discuss the recruitment and retention strategies and challenges for a district our size.  They will also discuss new mentoring programs that are designed to help retention numbers among new employees in the district.  Registration is required.

• Learn more about this event and register online:
               •  Wake Education Partnership Events

• To view a video clip on recruitment efforts in Wake County, watch this short segment from the The New School Connection  by following the link entitled Recruiting New Teachers:  http://www.wcpss.net/schooltv/11-2007/index.html

• Learn more about Recruitment and Retention Efforts in North Carolin
  • North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program
  • North Carolina Mentoring Program
  • Teacher Cadet Programs  
  • The North Carolina Principal Fellows Program
  • The Recruitment and Retention Component of the North Carolina State Improvement Project
  • NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey
  • Teacher Working Conditions Toolkit
  • National Board Certification Support

• For more on North Carolina Teacher Turnover Data
  • NC Center for Recruitment, Retention, Recognition, and Professional  Advancement: Teacher Turnover Data