According to a new report from the University of Pennsylvania, teachers are leaving the field faster than colleges can train replacements. In 1987-1988 school year teachers had 15 years experience. in the 2007-2008 school year they had 1 year experience. In the 1987-1988 school year 17 percent of teachers had five years experience. While in the the 2007-2008 school year, 28 percent had five years or fewer years of experience.
In the 1987-1988 school year, about 65,000 first-year teachers taught children. By the 2007-2008 school year the number had grown to 200,000.
The Obama administration would like to recruit 10,000 math and science teachers a year but schools lose 25,000 teachers annually.
Why are teachers leaving at an accelerated rate? Obviously some of it has to do with teachers “aging out” of the system. But I believe that the decreased morale thanks to the imposition of high stakes testing, governor’s assaults on education and the low pay play a major role. It appears that those who attack education lack a vision of the future. Go into a room of successful people anywhere in the world and you will find one commonality – the ability of those in the room to have been successful through education.