Teacher Retention in Tennessee

1. Teacher Retention
in a Post Covid-
19 World

2. Teacher Shortages Impact
Student Achievement
The most important factor directly impacting the rate of
student achievement is teacher quality ( Rivkin et al., 2005;
Rockoff, 2004; Sanders & Horn, 1998).
Reform initiatives like the NCLB(2001) and the RTT(2009)
influenced states to improve educational systems based on
research that found that differences in educator effectiveness
impacts student learning; teacher quality was a dominant
theme in both initiatives (Zhang & Robertson, 2016)
Thus, student achievement is seriously impacted by a
persistent teacher shortage. High teacher attrition rates can
lead to both short-term and long-term adverse outcomes for
students.
Students are more likely to face a host of factors that may
impact their learning such as being taught by ineffective
teachers, larger class sizes and reductions in course offerings
as the school struggles to provide necessary classes (Collins &
Schaaf, 2020).
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

3. The High Cost of Teacher Attrition
For educators, high teacher turnover
reduces collaborative opportunities,
strains educator relationships and
reduces overall institutional knowledge
(Carver Thomas & Darling-Hammond;
2017).
In addition, “the financial cost of
replacing a teacher has been estimated
to be as high as $20,000 for urban
districts, putting extra strain on
districts with limited resources who
must absorb the cost of teacher
attrition” (Collins &Schaaf, 2020, p. 3)

4. Retention Rates in
Tennessee
• An in depth look at retention rates
reveal an alarming statistic, from the
2013-14 cohort at public schools only
six out of 10 teachers were still
teaching in the same school after 5
years (Collins &Schaaf, 2020).
• .

5. What The Teacher Shortage means for
Students of Color
Urban school districts have the
lowest teacher retention rates at
the state, district, and school
level, with only three out of four
urban teachers retained at their
school (Collins &Schaaf, 2020).
Research has revealed that
educators of color are important
to increasing favorable student
outcomes for students of color
(Dee, 2005).
Many of Tennessee’s black
teachers teach in urban districts
which have the lowest retention
rates when compared to
suburban or even rural districts
(Collins &Schaaf, 2020).

6. My Own
Experience

7. My Own Experience
continued
None of that made up for the lack of
administrative support. It is widely known that
new teachers in their first year are regarded as
least effective for a plethora of reasons that stem
from lack of experience including struggling to
fulfil their roles and striving to find the
intersectionality between theory and practice. The
relationship that administrators developed with
me was fraught with tension. I never felt accepted
or supported.
All of my queries were met with faint
annoyance. It always seemed as though they
did not want to be approached with queries.
As a result, even though I formed long lasting
connections with my students, my first year
was a nightmare because I never felt valued
or appreciated; thus, I could not wait to leave.
This leads me to the most important factor
impacting teacher retention.

8. My Own Experience
continued

9. Key Takeaways

10. References
• Collins, E., & Schaaf, K. (2020). Teacher retention in Tennessee. Tennessee Department of Education. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED608848.pdf
• Dee, T. S. (2005). A teacher like me: Does race, ethnicity, or gender matter?. American Economic Review, 95(2), 158-165. https:// doi:
10.1257/000282805774670446
• Carver-Thomas, D. & Darling-Hammond, L. (2017). Teacher turnover: Why it matters and what we can do about it. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.
https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/teacher-turnover.
• Rivkin, S. G., Hanushek, E. A., & Kain, J. F. (2005). Teachers, schools, and academic achievement. Econometrica, 73, 417-458. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-
0262.2005.00584.x
• Rockoff, Jonah, E. 2004. "The Impact of individual teachers on student achievement: evidence from panel data." American Economic Review, 94 (2): 247-252.
https://doi: 10.1257/0002828041302244
• Sanders, W.L., Horn, S.P.(1998). Research findings from the Tennessee value-added assessment system (TVAAS) database: Implications for educational
evaluation and research. Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education 12, 247–256 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008067210518
• Robertson-Kraft, C., & Zhang, R. S. (2018). Keeping great teachers: A case study on the impact and implementation of a pilot teacher evaluation system.
Educational Policy, 32(3), 363–394. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904816637685