Abstract & Overview
The purpose of this study was to develop a model that may be used to estimate the financial costs of teacher turnover in urban school districts. It is estimated that 50% of the beginning teachers leave the profession within the first five years on the job (Murname, Singer, Wilett, Kemple, and Olsen 1991; Colbert and Wolff 1992; Ingersoll 2003; Schlechty and Vance 1981). When teachers depart, they take with them their knowledge of instructional techniques, students’ learning styles, and professional development training (Chuong 2008). Teacher turnover creates many problems. The annual recruitment and placement of teachers is not only time-consuming and labor intensive, it is a costly burden on public school administrators (Boe, Bobbitt, Cook, Whitener, and Weber 1997) and the general tax-paying public. Furthermore, teachers hired to replace the teachers who have left often do not have the teaching experience and qualifications of the teachers they are replacing (Rollefson 1993), and the induction of replacement teachers disrupts instructional programs until the new teachers are assimilated to the culture, curriculum, and school community (Boe, Bobbitt, and Cook 1997). In the past ten years, educational researchers have been trying to put a price on teacher turnover using various business and education models—from Benner’s $2.1 billion annual costs in Texas to Alliance for Excellent Education’s $4.9 billion to National Commission of Teaching and America’s Future $7.3 billion price tag. This study presents a 4-component Teacher Turnover Cost Model (TTCM) that accounts for separation costs of a departing teacher, hiring and training costs of a new teacher, and the development of performance productivity in a new teacher.