So You Want to be a Teacher ?!

1. So You Want to be a Teacher?!

2. Teaching • Teachers drop out at a higher rate than their students. • An estimated 10% leave the profession in their first year • 30-40% flee the classroom within four years • (Michigan drop out rate for students is 24%)

3. Experience? • About 1 in 8 teachers have less than five years of experience in their school. • There are almost as many teachers with one year or lessexperience in their current school as teachers with more than 20 years of experience.

4. Young? • The percentage of U.S. teachers younger than 30 doubled in just five years, from 2006 to 2011. • Those young teachers are dropping out at a faster rate than in the past, with 1 in 10 educators with 1-3 years of experience leaving the classroom every year.

5. Need? • Bridge Magazine found that high poverty schools are more than twice as likely to have inexperienced teachers than wealthy, suburban schools. • Kids who are most in need of experienced teachers are the least likely to get them.

6. Why do they leave? • An estimated 40% of teachers spend as much or more time training to be a teacher than being a teacher. • Teaching often is a high-stress job, particularly for young teachers trying to figure out how to manage a classroom – something most are expected to learn on the job.

7. References: • Detroit Free Press Online • Michigan-teachers-leaving-dropout-rate-teacher-evaluations • Ron French-Bridge Magazine