Who Will Teach? Experience Matters

Read the full report:
Who Will Teach? Experience Matters

Between 2004 and 2008, 300,000 veteran teachers left the workforce for retirement. Baby Boom teachers who made lifelong commitments to education are retiring, and in many cases are taking their hard-earned wisdom with them. 

See the Shifts in the Age of the National Teaching Workforce.

Why can't we just recruit our way out of this challenge? Because the rate at which new teachers leave has been increasing steadily over the last 15 years.

Together, these trends have resulted in a precipitous drop in experience in the classroom. In 1987-88 the typical teacher had 15 years of experience, but by 2007-08 the typical teacher had just 1 to 2 years of experience. 

See the Dramatic Shifts in K-12 Teaching Experience.

Every state will be impacted by these shifts. Schools that have depended on a core of veteran teachers are already seeing those teachers retire, and in some cases are creating new work arrangements for teacher at or nearing retirement.

What does the situation look like in your state?

Search by State: Age and Experience Graphs for 2007-08.

This report validates NCTAF's April 2009 report, Learning Teams: Creating What's Next that predicted the massive wave of teacher retirements based on the 2003-04 National Schools and Staffing Survey demographics.

NCTAF is responding to the 21st century demographic and workforce realities by developing Learning Studios that draw upon the skills and knowledge of professionals of all generations to create collaborative, cross-generational learning organizations. For more about this strategy and to share your responses, ideas, or models, visit: www.learningteams.org.

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