\n\n“\u201cI think what is clear among all the noise is that there hasn\u2019t been a mass exodus. In some districts there have been elevated rates of teachers leaving,\u201d said Heather Schwartz, senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. \u201c\u2018Mass exodus\u2019 is an undefined term. But we may all think of it as doubling or tripling the normal attrition rate and we have not seen that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some data sources suggest that the number of teachers really has declined, even if it hasn\u2019t yet hit mass exodus levels. There were about 270,000 fewer school staffers in July 2022 \u2014 including teachers, bus drivers, counselors, and librarians \u2014 than there were in January 2020, according to preliminary data<\/a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bleiberg and Kraft, using both national and state-level data, found that overall employment in the K-12 labor market declined by 9.3 percent<\/a> at the onset of the pandemic and was still 4 percent below pre-pandemic levels in March 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A survey<\/a> from RAND of 291 school district leaders, released in July, found that 58 percent of district leaders foresee a small shortage this year and 17 percent anticipate a large shortage. The survey also found that more than three-quarters of district leaders said that they have expanded their teaching staff, in some cases including substitute teachers, above pre-pandemic levels as of spring 2022.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The usual culprits for teacher dissatisfaction are ever-present. About 75 percent of pre-K to grade 12 teachers who participated in the AFT survey<\/a> reported that conditions have changed for the worse over the past five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reasons included their workload, greater responsibilities, unrealistic expectations, student behavioral issues, pay that doesn\u2019t keep up with inflation, a lack of support from school leadership, and a lack of support from parents. About 74 percent of respondents said they would not recommend the teaching profession to a prospective new teacher. (Other large surveys of teachers from the National Education Association<\/a>, the largest labor union in the country, and RAND<\/a> tell a similar story.)”
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