蜜桃影视

Thousands of public school teachers voluntarily leave their jobs each year, hurting student achievement and costing districts billions of dollars to find replacements.

Lynnette Mawhinney and Carol Rinke were once part of that churn (full disclosure: so was the author of this article). Now, with both women serving as professors at teacher prep programs, Mawhinney and Rinke have co-authored a new book that illuminates the many reasons teachers leave the profession and offers recommendations on how to stem the tide.

The book, There Has to Be a Better Way: Lessons From Former Urban Teachers, published by Rutgers University Press, is based on in-depth interviews with 25 former teachers from around the country who left the classroom on their own terms. Citing , the authors tried to find the stories behind the statistics, focusing on teachers at high-poverty, high-minority, urban schools that suffer from frequent turnover. All of the former teachers interviewed, whom the authors term 鈥渢eacher leavers,鈥� taught in the greatest-need areas of secondary science or English.

Unsurprisingly, the authors don鈥檛 hit upon a single thread explaining why teachers leave in droves. One teacher had four principals in two years. Another taught four different courses in two years. Most of the teacher leavers anticipated education being a more stable profession. Twenty-two of the 25 teachers interviewed 鈥渁dmitted to being overly stressed and tired.鈥�

One central theme: Students weren鈥檛 the ones driving teachers away. 鈥淭he problems I had were mostly with the adults,鈥� said one teacher. 鈥淚 really never had problems with my students; it was the adults that were exhausting.鈥�

The authors also explore how racial insensitivity often pushes teachers of color out of the classroom, a development the authors describe as 鈥渉eartbreaking鈥� given the yawning gap between the diversity of public school students () and public school teachers (who are 20 percent non-white). One African-American teacher relayed a story of a white principal who gave her a critical teacher evaluation, explaining, 鈥淚鈥檓 only hard on you because you鈥檙e Black.鈥� The teacher moved to a different school 鈥� a charter with a black principal and a white school founder 鈥� and left the school, and the profession altogether, after she said her relationship with the founder turned 鈥渃ombative鈥� once she recommended students read more 鈥渃ulturally relevant鈥� texts. Mawhinney and Rinke write, 鈥淚t was the politics that racialized her career as a secondary teacher and led to her decision to leave the classroom.鈥�

Aspects of the book reflect the deep demoralization and cynicism of some teacher leavers. 鈥淚t was insane and I just felt like I was abusing students because I was testing them so much,鈥� said one teacher, adding that the 13-year-olds had 鈥渂een through all these tests and they were sick of it and I was sick of it.鈥� 鈥淭he system is so broken, and I鈥檓 overworked, and I鈥檓 underpaid,鈥� said another. 鈥淲e were doing more harm than good,鈥� said a third.

The authors attempt to lighten the book鈥檚 tone by closing out each chapter with recommendations for policy changes to increase teacher retention. The ideas range from the more conventional 鈥� urging administrators to explicitly discuss different racial experiences 鈥� to uncommon, like pushing districts to shut off their servers evenings and weekends to force teachers to take a break 鈥� but they have the intended effect of making the book more of a constructive resource than a depressing screed.

鈥淲e were very intentional about making sure voices were balanced,鈥� Mawhinney said in an interview with 蜜桃影视. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want people to be 鈥榃omp womp, OK.鈥� We hear these stories, and some of them are hard stories to digest, but we can do something about it.鈥�

Some of the most compelling parts of the book involve the authors鈥� own experiences. Both entered the classroom through traditional preparation programs in the late 1990s and worked at multiple schools before transitioning into doctoral programs. Rinke, whose mom was also a teacher leaver, taught in New York City before realizing that her introversion made it hard for her to lead classes all day long. She鈥檚 now an associate professor at Marist College. Mawhinney, now an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, left after clashing with an administrator who she said told her to change the grades of an official鈥檚 niece. 鈥淚 still see myself and identify as a teacher,鈥� she writes, 鈥渂ut the reality is I am a teacher leaver who is still trying to emotionally recover from that very delayed realization.鈥�

The book builds off of studies by University of Pennsylvania professor and organizations such as the . Given the focus recent teacher strikes have placed on inadequate salaries, it is noteworthy that only six of the 25 teachers interviewed mentioned pay as a reason for leaving. What鈥檚 more, 鈥渟ome teacher leavers have indicated greater satisfaction with their careers outside the classroom, even when their salaries are lower,鈥� Mawhinney and Rinke write.

Part of the book鈥檚 value is its ability to add nuance and personal detail to an issue often lost in the mire of national statistics. But the book is not without its flaws. Its sample is inherently limited, as the authors concede, and other stakeholders involved in teacher retention, such as teachers unions, are curiously absent, particularly since research shows that key features of career satisfaction 鈥� autonomy and control 鈥� run counter to what unions typically advocate for: uniformity. Furthermore, the teachers sampled offer 18 different ways in which their post-teaching jobs offer them more satisfaction than teaching. The only areas in which they are less satisfied 鈥� benefits and job security 鈥� are ones that unions have traditionally made their own. However, the authors do not call on unions to prioritize increasing teacher retention, such as by using mentor teachers or offering sabbaticals, which some schools in England have tried.

All told, There Has to Be a Better Way stands as a useful resource for district administrators and higher-education officials at teacher preparation programs, not to mention teachers themselves.

Said Mawhinney, 鈥淭eachers can use this as a tool to be like, 鈥楬ey administration, there are some things that can be done to make our professional work experience a little bit smoother.鈥欌��

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