After two decades of research using growth methodologies that track the annual progress of individual students, we now know empirically what we have always known anecdotally – good teachers matter. In fact, they are the most important factor affecting the rate of student learning.

Unfortunately, despite their importance, one in three teachers leaves the profession in the first three years of service. While this is not very different from turnover in other professions, the attrition rate increases to 46 percent in the first five years and these rates are a third higher in urban districts. High rates of turnover have significant instructional and financial costs for districts. In fact, The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future recently estimated that the annual nationwide cost of public school teacher turnover may be over $7.3 billion a year.

These high rates of turnover are due in part to the fact that the current school system does not effectively identify, reward, or develop high quality instruction.

• A National Council on Teacher Quality brief demonstrates that the factors driving the current compensation system – credentials and years of experience – have little impact on student learning.
• The 2008 State Teacher Policy Yearbook discovered that most states grant teachers tenure without considering whether they are effective, are not doing enough to help districts identify effective teachers, and are complicit in keeping ineffective teachers in the classroom.
• The New Teacher Project report, The Widget Effect, found that current evaluation systems rated virtually all teachers good or great, failed to recognize excellence or address poor performance, and neglected to provide sufficient professional development, particularly for novice teachers.

Attracting the best and the brightest to the teaching profession – and keeping them there – will require a transformed school system, one that will make teaching a more financially rewarding and intellectually satisfying experience.