Breaking Point
Monterey Herald 4/27/07
Whiteman, a fifth-grade teacher at Prunedale Elementary School, is changing careers to become a professional counselor. After five years in North Monterey County Unified School District, it was time to find something new, she said.
"To feel like I was being a more effective educator, I would want the resources," said Whiteman, who taught at three different schools.
Whiteman's reasons for leaving the profession were among several outlined Thursday in a study released by California State University's Center for Teacher Quality that surveyed about 2,000 teachers statewide.
The report, "A Possible Dream: Retaining California Teachers So All Students Learn," made recommendations for improving the teaching climate in California and helping educators stay.
The study pointed out that 22 percent of the state's teachers leave the profession before they reach the five-year mark. About 18,000 California teachers leave the profession yearly, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, which was cited in the report.
The result is that schools are left with too many inexperienced teachers, who typically are concentrated in schools with the highest numbers of poor and minority students.
Retaining those who already are trained and in the classroom is crucial, educators say.
"When we think of a teacher shortage, we sometimes think of it as a supply problem," said Ken Futernick, the study's author and director of K-12 studies at CSU's Center for Teacher Quality. "It is a combination of maintaining a supply of adequate teachers and maintaining the current teachers."
Despite the high rate of attrition, virtually no schools have adopted the standard business practice of exit interviews to survey teachers about why they're leaving, said Futernick.
Doing exit interviews could help schools and districts pinpoint problems with administrators and school cultures at almost no cost, he said.
The state spends about $455 million a year to train and retain its public school teachers, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said.
About one-third of California's 300,000 teachers are expected to retire during the next decade, widening a teacher shortage, pegged at 20,000 during the 2004-05 school year, to 33,000 by 2015.
For Whiteman, an accumulation of teaching difficulties fueled her decision to get out.
North Monterey County has a high population of students whose second language is English. Special-needs students were put in mainstream classrooms. On some days, she would need an aide to help read or do specialized lessons with a small group of students who had trouble.
The high cost of housing in Monterey County also was a factor.
"In this area, the salary doesn't cut it," said Whiteman, who will be moving to Oregon to pursue her master's degree this fall.
Class size is a major challenge to first-year math teacher Benji Tackett, who is balancing the needs of 224 middle school students — 38 in each of his six classes.
"Some days I go home and don't want to come back," Tackett said. "There are a lot of really good days, too. I can understand why teachers don't come back."
Tackett, who studied soil science in college, saw the need for math teachers and signed on at Fitch Middle School in Seaside a year ago. He gets through each day with help from his fellow teachers.
"That is one of the best things about teaching: the camaraderie," Tackett said. "At Fitch Middle School, the community of teachers are really supportive."
Finding a community of support, whether in the same school or same district, are important to a teacher's success.
"Relationship building with people going through the same experiences provides a support system and a source of ideas to share," said Mark O'Shea, a professor of education at CSU-Monterey Bay.
O'Shea is most worried about teachers who move into a new area and have no one in a similar situation to share their daily experiences with.
In his first year in the classroom, he had issues regarding classroom management, discipline and instructional planning. He found a buddy in his first year who was in the same situation, and together they worked through it.
At CSUMB, there are programs to help new teachers find mentors and support.
"Clearly there is a recognition that the first couple years of teaching are challenging and that many teachers leave the profession when they reach frustrations in their classrooms," O'Shea said.
Teacher troubles: According to a study by SRI International, cited in the California State University's Center for Teacher Quality study, California had a shortage of 20,000 fully prepared teachers in 2004-05. That shortage could increase to 33,000 by 2015. About 18,000 of California's 300,000 teachers leave annually. The following recommendations from the survey are:
· Schools administrators should assess teaching conditions locally and continuously.
· Elevate the state's student funding to (at least) adequate levels.
· Resolve the bureaucracy
· Refocus school leadership on instructional quality and high-quality teaching and learning conditions
· Establish statewide standards for school teaching and learning conditions
· Assess and address specific challenges in retention of special educations teachers