TNTP report: Group claims best teachers are given short shrift

Yesterday, TNTP launched "The Irreplaceables," a report which documents the challenge of retaining the most effective teachers, advocating for retention to be a top priority and to build higher expectations into the teaching profession. (One of the districts surveyed includes New York City.) Check out coverage from SchoolBook and the NY Daily News, and look to our news blog later today for E4E teachers' thoughts on the launch.

Group Claims Best Teachers Are Given Short Shrift

Original article in The New York Times/WNYC's SchoolBook by Beth Fertig.

School districts need to get smarter about retention strategies because the strongest teachers are just as likely as weak teachers are to leave their schools after five years, according to a study by the New Teacher Project.

“Only 10 percent of teachers are leaving, each year,” said Timothy Daly, president of the project, which trains city teachers. “The problem, though, is that we lose so many great teachers, especially early in their career, that half of them are gone by year six.”

The study looked at four urban districts, including New York City. Its authors say they relied on student test scores to identify the top 20 percent of teachers, whom they call the “irreplaceables.” These are teachers whose students consistently make the most progress on state exams, year after year. On average, they help students learn two to three additional months’ worth of math and reading compared with an average teacher. And they get high marks from their students.

To read the complete article, visit The New York Times/WNYC's SchoolBook.