Indiana needs to slow loss of good teachers from classrooms

Gov. Mike Pence signed House Enrolled Act 1388, the bill that aims to improve teacher preparation programs, into law. This is an important and timely issue that many teachers, including Teach Plus teachers, support. The bill also includes a clause that requires the Department of Education to publicly report teacher retention data by school on an annual basis. This specific recommendation came from a group of Teach Plus Teaching Policy Fellows who have experienced tremendous mobility and turnover early in their teaching careers. They have watched excellent teachers leave the classroom, and they didn’t see principals, schools or districts doing much to stop the bleeding.

This group of full-time Indianapolis teachers decided that if we’re going to build systems to hold teachers and students accountable, we need to have equal accountability for school and district leaders to attract and retain top talent in the classroom. Their report, “Musical Chairs: Teacher Churn and Its Impact on the Profession in Indianapolis Public Schools,” found that of the teachers surveyed, 85 percent had changed schools at least once by their fourth year; of those transitions, 75 percent were involuntary.

I know this experience only too well, because it is my own. I began my teaching career at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis in 2010. After a year of building relationships with colleagues and students, I was handed a letter telling me that I would need to change schools the following year. I was a great teacher, the letter said, but there weren’t enough teaching positions at Tech for 2011. I would need to transfer but I was told not to worry, I would still have a job. That job was teaching seventh grade — after a year of teaching 10th and 11th grades — at Emma Donnan Middle School. Donnan was named a turnaround school three weeks into my tenure, and I had a nearly impossible year in the classroom. At the end of the 2011 school year, my second year of teaching, I was laid off due to declining enrollment. My performance was still good, but I was a second-year teacher in a subject where there were just too many teachers. Again I was told not to worry; I would probably get a call during the summer with space for me somewhere. I decided not to wait for that call. Instead I made the decision to leave the classroom.

My story is not unique. Schools and school districts across the country must address teacher turnover. Studies have shown that as many as half of all teachers leave the classroom by their fifth year. In Indiana, prior to HEA1388, there was no way for parents, students or prospective teachers to know whether their school was retaining its teachers. Now that information will be available to all stakeholders.

Teach Plus is working with Indianapolis Public Schools to identify the issues impacting teacher mobility and retention in the classroom, but it is time that the data are publicly available statewide. I am grateful that the governor signed this legislation — not only for its impact on teacher preparation programs, but also for its impact on drawing attention to teacher retention as a key strategy in student success.

Hannon is executive director of Teach Plus Indianapolis and a commissioner on the Indianapolis Public Schools Board.