Study Looks at California Teacher Retention

Bureaucracy a major issue among many who leave, along with lack of support.

California teachers who leave education before they reach retirement say they feel bogged down by bureaucracy and a lack of support for their work in the classroom, according to a new report on teacher retention in the state, which has the nation’s largest population of public school teachers, more than 300,000.

Those who stay in teaching, by contrast, say they have strong relationships with other staff members and chances to contribute to decisions that affect their schools, according to the report by the Center for Teacher Quality at California State University-Sacramento.

Released April 26, the study comes as the state is in the midst of re-examining its school finance and governance systems. In March, researchers released a package of studies declaring those systems “broken,” and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Advisory Committee on Education Excellence is expected to announce some plans before the end of the year. ( "California’s Schooling Is ‘Broken’," ...