July 30, 2024
Pennsylvania Teacher Attrition and Turnover from 2014 to 2024
Last year, the Pennsylvania teacher attrition rate of 7.7% was the highest on record. A Chalkbeat report found high rates of teacher attrition were evident throughout the US. With about 9,500 teachers leaving the profession in 2023, there was concern that the high attrition rates would exacerbate the existing shortage of teachers. This was especially true since we also experienced the lowest number of initially certified teachers ever in 2023. Thus, the demand for teachers was increasing while the supply of teachers was decreasing.
Fortunately, from 2022-23 to 2023-24, fewer teachers left the teaching profession in Pennsylvania than in the prior year. Indeed, as shown in Figure 1, the teacher attrition rate declined from 7.7% to 6.7%.
The one percentage point decline was the second greatest decline since 2014-2015. Despite the decline, the 2023-2024 teacher attrition rate is still greater than the rates for 6 of the 10 years since 2014-2015. Numerically, 8.326 teachers left the teaching profession in Pennsylvania. This was about 1,200 fewer teachers leaving the teaching profession in Pennsylvania compared to the prior year.