It is often said that no one goes into teaching for the money. Nevertheless, new research shows that the teacher turnover rate is twice as high in the poorest-paying Texas school districts.
“Salary and Ranking and Teacher Turnover: A Statewide Study” 
published in the International Journal of Education Policy & Leadership in July, described the results of a three-year examination of data obtained from the Academic Excellence Indicator System for Texas schools. The data for school years 2003–04, 2004–05, and 2005–06, revealed that, across all public school districts, teacher salary was consistently negatively related to teacher turnover.
Why is teacher turnover so high? Contrary to common speculation, the leading cause is not retirement. In all schools, teachers are moving out of the profession; however, the rate of attrition is roughly 50 percent higher in poor schools than in wealthy ones. Many researchers believe that the turnover problem stems from the fact that beginning teachers are more likely to be assigned to classes with low-performing students than their more experienced colleagues. The difference in the types of students assigned makes beginning teachers more vulnerable to leaving the teaching profession.
Roughly half of the teacher turnover in recent years resulted from teachers transferring to a different school, and the other half resulted from teachers leaving the profession for various reasons. Whatever the cause, teacher turnover is a problem that affects the ability of school leaders to sustain high student achievement ratings while constantly having to hire teacher replacements.
Salary is clearly a factor linked to high turnover rates. For 2005-06, the average teacher turnover was 15 percent for school districts in the top quartile of average salary and 32 percent in the bottom quartile of average salary. This pattern of turnover being twice as high in the lowest paying districts was consistent in all three years studied by researchers. Texas’ average teacher turnover rates varied from 20 to 22 percent during those three years.
While these findings should come as no surprise, this study reinforces the notion that efforts to improve the quality and stability of teachers in the classroom must include salary improvements in our poorer districts.
—“Salary and Ranking and Teacher Turnover: A Statewide Study,” Garcia, C.M., Slate, J.R., Delgado, C.T., International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, July 2009.
