Why Do They Leave?

From the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

The revival of a push for the regulation of hundreds of teacher education programs was announced today by Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Duncan's plan relies on the false assumption that teachers are leaving the profession due to poor teacher preparation programs. He appears to be relying on anecdotal evidence for this assumption:

"Virtually every school I go to, I ask teachers whether they were prepared when they first entered the school or the profession," Duncan said. "There's often a good deal of nervous laughter," he said, before teachers confess that they were nowhere near ready for the job. (Politico, April 25, 2014)

Duncan is either drawing the wrong conclusion from these exchanges, or not asking the right follow-up question--what was missing? Extensive research points to the problem, and it's NOT because teacher preparation programs haven't prepared new teachers. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching released a comprehensive report in March 2014, Beginners in the Classroom: What the Changing Demographics of Teaching Mean for Schools, Students, and Society that addresses the question of "why do they leave?"

According to this report, "a raft of research points to the problem". The references for this body of research can be found in the report itself, so I won't list them here.

Here are some key quotes:

"It's not money, or a lack of it, that's causing most teachers to leave. Rather, the primary driver of the exodus of early-career teachers is a lack of administrative and professional support." (p. 5)

 "Teachers abandon charter schools at especially high rates." (p. 5)

 "Too few principals spend time in classrooms, support teachers in their dealings with parents, and do other things large and small that buttress teacher morale." (p. 5)

"The biggest reason teachers leave is because they are working in a dysfunctional structure. If you put good people in a bad system the system is going to win every time." (Jesse Solomon, p. 6)

Duncan needs do his homework and examine the research.

UPDATED: 8-10-14 Teacher attrition costs the U. S. up to 2.2 Billion annually, Michigan schools up to 59 Million annually. From The Atlantic, Why do Teachers Quit?

UPDATED: 4-1-15  From an interview with Richard Ingersoll of University of Pennsylvania: "Most turnover is driven by school conditions." From NPRed, March 30, 2015: Revolving Door of Teachers Cost Billions Every Year

Does Grade Retention Work?

The Michigan legislature is considering HB 5111, which mandates retention for 3rd graders who do not pass the state reading test, even if they are proficient in all other subjects, and HB 5144, which requires support for struggling readers and provides for alternative reading proficiency assessments, although it is contingent upon passage of HB 5111.

While at first consideration, holding kids back might seem like a good idea, this is one of those counter-intuitive issues. A vast body of research exists that shows that retention at best, has little to no lasting effect, and at worst, is a disaster for the lives of children who have been retained. Unfortunately, this policy will largely impact children who are living in poverty.

Regardless of which side of this debate you find yourself, relying on intuition isn't enough. Make sure you are well informed. If you are aware of any additional resources, please feel free to post them in the comments below.

I've compiled a number of resources on the subject of grade retention below:

Larry Ferlazzo's extensive list of resources for information on grade retention

Nancy Flanagan's most recent blog post: "The Third-Grade Crackdown Club"

My updated blog post with additional links: Keeping 3rd Graders Behind

Oakland Schools Blog includes video with Dr. Joan Firestone: Intervention Beats Retention

UPDATE: 3-26-14: John Hattie's Visible Learning: A Synthesis of over 800 Meta-analyses Relating to Acheivement, page 97, effect size of retention: -1.5 (yes, that's negative 1.5)

Keeping 3rd Graders Behind

(SEE UPDATES BELOW) In his Mlive article, Should third-grade students with reading trouble be held back? Take our poll, Brian Smith describes a proposal introduced on October 29, 2013 by Rep. Amanda Price, (R-District 89). The bill is now being considered by the education committee of the Michigan House of Representatives. House Bill 5111, creates a law that would prevent any student from enrolling in 4th grade who has not achieved a score of "proficient" on the 3rd grade Michigan reading assessment. This applies both to students currently enrolled in a public school or public school academy (charter school) as well as students new to that school. No exceptions.

This is an equity and social justice issue. Below, is the comment I posted in response:

Brian Smith--you've cited one study, I hope you will continue your research into this incredibly important issue. There are hundreds of studies that have been conducted on retention. Overall, they have found that retention is not an adequate solution, for example see this article in ASCD's, Education Leadership (March 2008) that analyzes the research literature on the subject of retention up to that date:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar08/vol65/num06/Grade-Retention.aspx

Not only do short-term gains quickly disappear, students who have been retained continue to struggle, have higher special education placements, are much more likely to drop out, and more than twice as likely to be minorities. The statistics show that "Black students are more than twice as likely to be held back as white students, and boys twice as likely as girls (National Center for Education Statistics, 2006)." The author concludes that "Although individual studies can be cited to support any conclusion, overall the preponderance of evidence argues that students who repeat a grade are no better off, and are sometimes worse off, than if they had been promoted with their classmates."

Other than for symbolic, political reasons, why would we do this to children when we know it doesn't adequately solve the problem? It seems to me that tax dollars that would be required to educate retained students for an additional year (that is, if they don't drop out first) would be much better spent on early interventions in Preschool to 3rd grade, where research has demonstrated it makes a real difference.

Research on early interventions/preschool:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/us/language-gap-study-bolsters-a-push-for-pre-k.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0  (Hat tip to @Kyle_Mayer1 Assistant Superintendent, Instructional Services, OAISD)

HighScope Perry Preschool longitudinal study

UPDATE 11-23-13: John Hattie's meta-analysis indicates a negative 'effect size' for retention of -0.16. Check out this graphic of 138 effect sizes that impact learning and student achievement, adapted from Hattie's (2009) Visible Learning: A Synthesis of over 800 Meta-analyses Relating to Achievement
Also, check out Hattie's 2012 book, Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning

UPDATE 12-4-13: Nancy Flanagan's blog post "The Third-Grade Crackdown Club".

UPDATE 1-20-14: Michigan lawmakers and educators continue to work on bill that would flunk 3rd graders via @MichiganRadio http://bit.ly/1e8Dclu

UPDATE 2-21-14: Oakland Schools blog post includes video with Dr. Joan Firestone: Intervention Beats Retention