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The number of principals in Chicago Public Schools and across the state resigning from their jobs increased dramatically last year, records show, as the pressures of leading schools intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing burnout among educators.
In 2021,103 principals throughout the state resigned, according to State Board of Education data. The following year, that number shot up to 198. Likewise in Chicago Public Schools, the number of resigning principals went from 15 to 27, according to CPS data. The state figures are lower than the actual number of resignations since schools are not required to report that data but do so voluntarily.
While some turnover is normal, the surging number of principals leaving — and the declining number of teachers interested in moving up — worry state education leaders about the disruption it can cause schools and communities.
The state saw 2.5% of its principals resign in 2018, while that number shot up to 5% in 2022, according to state data.
Many principals say they are leaving their jobs because they lack the support, time and resources to do their work effectively and avoid burnout. Those pressures only increased during the pandemic.
* Nationwide, educators are exiting the classroom. Chalkbeat…
The data is in: More teachers than usual exited the classroom after last school year, confirming longstanding fears that pandemic-era stresses would prompt an outflow of educators. That’s according to a Chalkbeat analysis of data from eight states — the most comprehensive accounting of recent teacher turnover to date. […]
The turnover increases were not massive. But they were meaningful, and the churn could affect schools’ ability to help students make up for learning loss in the wake of the pandemic. This data also suggests that spiking stress levels, student behavior challenges, and a harsh political spotlight have all taken their toll on many American teachers. […]
Chalkbeat was able to obtain the latest teacher turnover numbers from eight states: Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Washington. These figures encompassed turnover between the 2021-22 year and this school year.
In all cases, turnover was at its highest point in at least five years — typically around 2 percentage points greater than before the pandemic. That implies that in a school with 50 teachers, one more than usual left after last school year.
* Institute of Education Sciences….
Forty-five percent of public schools reported having one or more vacant teaching positions in October.
Fifty-three percent of public schools reported in August feeling understaffed entering the 2022–23 school year.
Teacher turnover increased 4 percentage points above prepandemic levels, reaching 10 percent nationally at the end of the 2021–2022 school year. Principal turnover increased too, reaching 16 percent nationally going into the 2022–2023 school year.
Teacher turnover in 2021–2022 was highest (around 12 to 14 percent) in urban districts, high-poverty districts, and districts serving predominately students of color. Meanwhile, principal turnover was highest (around 21 to 23 percent) in high-poverty districts and in rural districts.[…]
Researchers, philanthropies, professional associations of school principals, and the federal department of education should seek to understand how the school leader job is changing. These individuals and organizations should also develop policies to attract and retain high-quality principals. Both state-specific and national work is needed.
posted by Isabel Miller
Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 12:54 pm
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It is sad, but I can certainly understand the reasons why teachers and principals are currently more likely to leave the profession that in past years.
Certainly, COVID itself caused a lot of stress. In addition, teaching online as opposed to face-to-face (I do both) is very sterile and lacks the intimacies that can develop when we are sharing the same room and space.
In addition, our community responses to COVID ultimately made teachers “middlemen” between omnipresent policies, and parents who felt it their right to verbally confront those who were entrusted to care for their children’s health. This social factor should not be ignored. Regardless of how teachers and principals felt about masks, they became the point of contention on a daily basis.
I think however, the burnout factor comes and goes, it ebbs, it flows. One factor that has not been so resilient is the recruitment and training of teachers. If we use input and output modeling, the real problem is a steady, ongoing decline in the number of teachers being produced each year. That must change, and indeed, that is the solution to the current situation.
Comment by H-W Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 1:18 pm
I wonder what the turnover is in other major industries as a comparison? Children do represent the future so this is an important topic.
Comment by Steve Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 1:29 pm
I personally know three superintendents that walked away from their jobs. One was making a salary of $225,000 and still outside of the retirement window. I have heard a lot of stories though. Same goes for Principals and other admin. Most retiring early, not just walking away for another career.
Why? I know this is anecdotal, but I think good research would confirm it, the culture around public education has become toxic. Parents, community members, outside groups looking to create issues have all coalesced to make this job just about impossible at times. And it isn’t just rural districts either. Some suburban districts are the worst. Naperville has become a hostile environment for teachers and admin thanks to Awake Illinois.
The legislature needs to put in protections for schools. These people make all number of frivolous accusations and use FOIA as a cudgel, wasting endless hours and money top respond to outlandish requests. But the legislature is deaf to our concerns. I have talked to all of my area reps and some out of my area and they all say it is a political loser.
So it is no surprise when the number of people taking licensure tests dropped by 75% since 2011.
That is right when Tier 2 was in place and then Rauner/the state cut funding then add COVID and the conservative culture war and progressive obsession with pronouns and this is what you get.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 1:38 pm
Could it be that administrators and teachers see future pressure from far right school boards placing restrictions on what can be taught and how it should be taught?
Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 1:40 pm
==o it is no surprise when the number of people taking licensure tests dropped by 75% since 2011.
Wow. Thanks–I was hoping to hear your take. It’s not surprising but I respect your views on this.
Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 1:51 pm
@streator curmudgeon. I actually think the opposite. I see things being required to be taught that simply are opposed to reason. I was a substitute teacher but stopped that if got to be an incredibly painful way to spend the better part of a day. Teaching right now is hard work.
Comment by clec dcn Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 1:51 pm
The teacher shortage is so bad in my district they’re using retirees as substitutes in my high school. Teachers currently employed are also asked to work an extra period per day. Last spring we all received retention bonuses if we agreed to return for the following school year. It’s getting worse every year.
Comment by Wensicia Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 1:54 pm
While important, it should also be pointed out that the US is in a fairly massive demographic change right now that has been warned about for quite awhile. Fewer children as a percent of total population. Means fewer teachers will be needed, and fewer schools need to be built. Many districts that have been accustomed to boom times for the past 20 years are having a hard time adjusting to the new reality where they should be shifting into maintenance mode and out of building boom mode.
My school district, one of the largest in the state(4 or 5 I think), has had increasing yearly enrollment declines every year since 2008. Since that time, total enrollment is down about 15% from a peak of 25k. However, the total population of all ages living in the district has been increasing during that same time, increasing by about twice that number. Interestingly, the pandemic time period is when the enrollment declines seem to have slowed.
Stress is certainly an important issue, but I don’t think it should be focused on more than the changing demographics.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:01 pm
Why do you assume the pressure on teachers is from the far right and not from laws passed in Springfield?
544 districts opted out of the new sex Ed curriculum passed last year, 22 opted in.
https://districtadministration.com/why-one-states-updated-sex-education-standards-led-hundreds-of-districts-to-opt-out/
Comment by Lucky Pierre Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:05 pm
==Could it be that administrators and teachers see future pressure from far right school boards placing restrictions on what can be taught and how it should be taught?==
Could it be centrist and conservative-leaning college students avoid the education field altogether due to not wanting to surround themselves with far left colleagues for 30 years?
Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:08 pm
Pay’em, or teach’em yourselves.
Comment by PublicServant Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:12 pm
“not wanting to surround themselves with far left colleagues”
You shouldn’t be allowed to use utensils.
Comment by Flying Elvis'-Utah Chapter Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:17 pm
==Tier 2 was in place==
More professionals leaving and fewer coming in to replace them. Tier 2 retirement no longer gives teachers a reason to stay and is a hindrance to recruitment.
Comment by Sangamo Girl Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:17 pm
City Zen, have you ever actually been to a college?
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:22 pm
===544 districts opted out of the new sex Ed curriculum passed last year, 22 opted in.
So, not so much pressure given it’s opt in? I’m confused.
Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:25 pm
The burnout is real, the numbers show it, the crisis to it is real too.
It’s not that teachers don’t wanna teach sex Ed, the burnout of parents unwilling to have teachers do their jobs that they as parents seemingly have this idea “they aren’t doing their job”
Merely look at the Awake Illinois platform(s)
So many of them contain “parental input” where “accepted” curriculum was welcomed.
It was as always parents complained about Susie or Johnny not making JV basketball or not getting enough playing time… now it’s the refusal to see Confederates as traitors, that slavery was ok for some slaves, that science and God need a “reckoning”
A family member is a teacher. Actual rural Illinois, not “Oswego-type” rural.
This teacher and friends fight off depression and anxiety as parents print off Right propaganda to defend their child’s… whatever. Berating the teacher as “woke” when the question is a simple as “how old is earth”
The burnout of dealing with parents, think on this, anecdotal or not to my above…
How many teachers get into the industry to find the reward in working with… parents?
That’s the *thing*, the whole thing.
You may want to see teachers see a reward in their craft or trade, but it’s not with fighting parents, or from parents’ smiles, it’s from the students and the reward of shaping students to be the best students they can be, and love learning.
Parents at home telling kids or anyone that’ll hear that “teachers are the big problem”… how can educators fight to teach when students’ parents see teachers as enemies?
You can’t pay teachers enough when facing daily the duality to find it rewarding to teach those whose parents think are the enemy?
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:30 pm
==Why do you assume the pressure on teachers is from the far right==
Last I checked, most centrists and leftists don’t care about gender identity, sexual orientation, DEI, or what books are on the shelves.
Comment by Jocko Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:34 pm
I appreciate hearing from JS Mill who is a great source of information on education in today’s environment. I suspected the shortage related to the political pressures being placed on teachers and administrators.
Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:47 pm
Kids going into college aren’t thinking about Tier 1 versus Tier 2, or any other retirement options. That is not what is driving away candidates but it is making it harder to retain them after they’ve experienced the toxic culture after a few years. A handful of parents in each class make the job horrible. They don’t want their kid disciplined and will take the side of their kid over the teacher. The administration is often too scared to properly back up the teacher. A handful of kids are stopping the majority from learning and no one can do anything about it. We have to fix the culture.
Comment by Grimlock Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:53 pm
–The burnout is real, the numbers show it–
At no point in my life, has teacher ever been considered an easy job. 30 years ago the running joke was “why do school boards have a hard time getting competent board members - because the stakes are so small(a pun of kids being small)”.The numbers simply show turnover rate, the site posting the numbers has then editorialized a meaning on top of that - and they chose burnout. However, they only have data for 8 states. The turnover rate increased by 2%, which is well within the noise-level of yearly turnover.
Chalkbeat certainly has a bias to linking stress with turnover rate, but again has not once mentioned the demographic changes. Those same demographic changes leading to fewer children in many schools, also is leading to the cohort at the age of administration to be leaving in larger numbers with fewer replacements. Population changes alone could also lead to these results, and if all it takes is a site to say ‘the data suggests there is a link between stress and turnover’, then is can just as easily be stated after including the demographic info that ‘the data suggests demographic changes are the cause of the turnover’.
I think there is a strong want to link these changes to stress, but the demographic changes have been warned about for far longer than the pandemic. Perhaps these suburbanite and rural schools are latching onto the pandemic to excuse their inattention to the warnings they have been given for the past decade and longer about these demographic changes. NCES has long predicted this, even before the pandemic - the number of White public school students schools has steadily declined from 29.0 million in 1995 to 24.1 million in fall 2017. NCES projects that enrollment of White public school students will continue to decline, reaching 22.4 million by 2029.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:56 pm
As The Invisible Man stated above, there’s the demographic issue and closely bundled with that the gender issue. Women in the 60s and 70s went into teaching because it was a career they could do and it was part of the worldview of women at the time that they were carers. This has all changed with the changing of all those norms and the last who lived and made decisions under those norms are gone or going.
But burnout is also a problem. My teacher taught special ed in a high school and finally hung up her spikes in 2022. She said it was the parents post-Covid.
Comment by cermak_rd Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:57 pm
I was fortunate enough to retire at an age that afforded me an opportunity for a second career. That second career was going to be teaching. In prep for taking that plunge, I substituted at a couple schools a number of times. I never had to deal with parents, but I must say, discipline and decorum amongst the kids were way, way different than when I was in school, or when my kids were in school. Problematic kids were sent to the office, only to have them returned within minutes. No call to a parent, no detention, no discipline, nothing. Time and time again, day after day. Teachers take so much fodder from so many directions, I understand why nobody wants to become one.
Comment by Wading in... Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:58 pm
Thank you, thank you… - JS Mill -
You’d insight into education is always appreciated, and read by me so I can learn.
OW
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 3:01 pm
The implosion of public education has been underway for quite some time. Mindless attacks by politicians portraying teachers as incompetent serfs, undeserving of for their efforts. The refusal of many student, parents, or the public at large to extend any modicum of civility to educators has made it clear there is no future for teachers in Illinois.
What is the reward to look forward to? After a career of constant verbal abuse, ridicule, and humiliation, what is the reward? A 50% pension after 42 years. Capped at $80,000.00 so those Administrators don’t get rich at the taxpayer’s expense.
I wonder what that pension will buy in 2057?
Then at age 67, work doesn’t stop. It moves to Walmart or McDonalds. Maybe there will be a little better pay. Maybe they will be treated like people instead of property.
No need to ask why there are not “enough” teachers. Everyone already knows why. The cycle of blame and abuse has been going on for many years. Soon there will be NO teachers left willing to teach at ANY price.
Several states are there now. The rest creep a little closer each year. Most everyone who can leave has left. What remains of the teaching profession are “Dead People Walking”. Why in the world would anyone stay?
Comment by Shades of Diogenes... Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 3:04 pm
In case you wanted to understand the reasons there is this from another post:
=When: Saturday, March 11, 2023, 2:45 p.m.
What: Press Conference
Who: Coalition of parents from multiple school districts, Illinois Families for Public Schools, Library Defense Collaborative, FLAG and other advocacy orgs=
These folks are the vanguard of the crazy we deal with.
=Why do you assume the pressure on teachers is from the far right and not from laws passed in Springfield?=
Because I, unlike you, am actually in the middle of all of this. And, since we could opt out of the standards it did not add stress. In my earlier post I noted that some of the issues are chalked up to a pronoun obsessed progressive group, but they are not the ones disrupting board meetings, suing, FOIAing, threatening violence et al. Given your proclivity for ignoring the wrongs of the radical right your post comes as ZERO surprise for its’ tone deafness.
=not wanting to surround themselves with far left colleagues for 30 years?=
You should visit a school someday. Teachers are FAR more conservative than people realize. In rural Illinois there are very few (none in some districts) that see themselves as liberal in anyway.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 3:14 pm
School superintendent in IL here and JS has hit upon many of the big issues surround the reason for folks leaving. I can tell you this…the last two summers (and this upcoming summer) have left me concerned who is leaving because it is been far more than normal. Most are not returning to education. We used to have 100-200 applications for an elementary teacher, we now are happy if we have 2 viable candidates.
I will echo what someone else said — this started long ago under A Nation at Risk, NLCB, etc…finally the dam has broken and folks are not willing to put up with the baloney to be a teacher or administrator. The reaping….has been underway for quite a while and the pandemic just put gasoline in the fire. unfortunately, it is kids who suffer today and communities will suffer tomorrow.
Comment by Opiate of the Masses Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 3:43 pm
I think basically all the claims about burnout are correct, so I’m mostly trying for some marginal, extra insights here: I’d be interested in the studies that talk about the average age of the teachers leaving today, and their relative prior experience.
A tighter job market might also be more enticing for some 20- and 30-somethings today; they figure they can make more cash elsewhere, and the strategies some schools employ to kind of burn through a lot of cheap-labor 20- and 30-somethings, expecting they’ll be more coming up behind, aren’t working so well when the young’uns for a change have a lot of businesses clamoring to hire them.
Comment by ZC Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 3:56 pm
I am convinced that Tier 2 contributes more to this issue than we care to think: 1. Current Tier 1 teachers are less likely to encourage their best and brightest, including their own children, to pursue a career in education. 2. Current Tier 2 teachers have little incentive to persevere through the tough times when a decent retirement is so far off. We see this now with educators who are 8-10 years into their career and thinking a lot more about the long-term than when they started.
Comment by Redbird Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 4:05 pm
Wensicia- without minimizing any teacher shortage concern-
Illinois has used retired teachers as subs for time immemorial which is why the TRS statute specifically permits retired teachers to work as subs for a specified number of days without screwing up the payment of benefits
Comment by Sue Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 4:16 pm
@- clec dcn - Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 1:51 pm:
===@streator curmudgeon.===
===Teaching right now is hard work.===
Teaching has always been hard work. The day doesn’t end at the end of the school day. Teachers typically put in several hours doing lesson plans, grading papers, writing up quizzes, attending meetings, etc.,etc… Then they have to go back to college in the summer and take additional classes to keep their teaching credentials.
Teaching right now is HARDER work than ever.
Comment by DuPage Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 4:49 pm
We shouldn’t forget to add the persistent fear of being a victim of a mass shooting to the list of plausible reasons for teachers to exit the profession. Plus, having to deal with schools being on frequent lockdown because kids are calling in prank bomb and shooting threats. Fake threats seem to be a semi-regular occurrence, recently triggering lockdowns in Tuscola and Urbana High schools.
Teaching has always been hard, but the heightened disciplinary issues coupled with new threats of violence are unprecedented. Why stay?
Comment by Dr. M Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 5:11 pm
So many factors contribute to teachers leaving the profession and students not pursuing Education as a career. Low pay has always been cited as a factor and it is. However, the toxic attitude toward Educators by the public and politicians is huge as well.
The Tier 2 factor (problem) isn’t totally the extension of age till retirement, or the reduced benefit but the slap in the face toward those entering with high aspirations. It says you’re not worth a good retirement after giving so much to so many. You keep giving but don’t expect anything much from those you gave to.
Who would choose this? I think we’ve finally gotten what we deserve by having good people choose better things for themselves and their own families than degradation and abuse in so many ways
Comment by A Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 5:13 pm
@- Grimlock - Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 2:53 pm:
===Kids going into college aren’t thinking about Tier 1 versus Tier 2, or any other retirement options.===
Tier 2 members will end up paying more into the Pension system then they will collect in retirement. They should be fully informed of this by the colleges before deciding to go into teaching in Illinois. The state should make it mandatory so that students don’t waste their time going for a degree in education to teach in Illinois.
Comment by DuPage Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 5:20 pm
Tip of the cap to OW and Norseman.
If there was any doubt as to the primary source of stress for educators these days just look to Congress.
Rep Jim Jordan issued subpoenas to members of the National School Association in a total false flag bunch of nonsense.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 5:27 pm
Tier 2 is causing significant questions for teacher longevity. Along with aggressive kids and parents, mountains of paperwork, and just general ambivalence to the profession. People fall all over themselves to honor first responders. During AEW we were lucky to get Panera Bagels. Teachers are the ultimate first responders as well as being the canary in the coal mine. As far as principals go it is a brutally tough job. As the saying goes if you have to many friends become a principal
Comment by Stormsw7706 Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 7:26 pm
Using retired teachers as subs is a temporary fix for now. Teaching requires energy–lots of it, positivity–lots of that too, forward thinking and long term commitment. We get administrators from the young classroom teachers who work their way into administrative positions. Teaching is a young person’s “thing”. We need young people to enter the profession. How to attract good ones with those qualities is…..don’t know. Seems our society has done it’s best to discourage it from happening.
Comment by A Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 8:37 pm
My son is student teaching this semester and will obtain a history degree with a certification to teach HS history. His finance is in her first year as a grade school music teacher in Texas.
I worry what the future holds for both of them.
Comment by Cimry90 Tuesday, Mar 7, 23 @ 10:58 pm