Teaching Profession News in Brief

Teaching Force Continues to Grow

By Madeline Will — October 30, 2018 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The teaching force has continued to grow larger, less experienced, and more racially diverse, as high rates of teacher turnover continue, a new analysis shows.

Richard Ingersoll, a professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, studied nearly three decades of federal data on teachers—from 1987 to 2016—to explore what changes have taken place over time. His latest update, released last week, uses data from the National Teacher and Principal Survey. Among the key findings:

Forty-four percent of new teachers leave the field within five years.

Almost two decades ago, Ingersoll estimated that up to half of those who become teachers quit within five years—a figure that has been widely shared. That was always a rough estimate, and this new figure uses national longitudinal data and is more accurate, the report says.

The teaching profession has continued to grow far faster than the student population.

Since the recession, Ingersoll said, teacher hiring “has picked up with a vengeance.”

“I see it as a ticking time bomb, just in terms of the affordability,” he said.

Ingersoll cites such reasons behind the trend as reduced elementary class sizes; more special education, English-as-a-second-language, math, and science teachers; and more elementary enrichment specialists.

The teaching force is becoming more “green.”

For a number of years, the most common age of a public school teacher increased, reaching 55 by 2007-08. Now, the most common age has decreased and spread out—from the mid-30s to the mid-40s.

“Not only have retirees been replaced with newcomers, but the flow of newcomers has become a flood,” the report notes.

In 1987-88, the most common public school teacher had 15 years of teaching experience. In 2015-16, the most common public school teacher is in his or her first three years of teaching.

Teaching is becoming a more racially diverse profession, but retention is a problem.

While teaching is still predominately white, the percentage of all nonwhite public school teachers has increased from 12.5 percent in 1987-88 to 19.9 percent in 2015-16.

Still, the rate at which nonwhite teachers leave the profession is much higher than that of white teachers.

Even more of the teaching profession is female. Women represented more than 76 percent of the teaching force in 2015-16.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the October 31, 2018 edition of Education Week as Teaching Force Continues to Grow

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching Profession Teachers Face New Burdens After Supreme Court LGBTQ+ Opt-Out Ruling
A Supreme Court ruling allowing parents to opt their children out of certain lessons could add new challenges for teachers.
6 min read
Demonstrators are seen outside the Supreme Court as oral arguments are heard in the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor on April 22, 2025. The case contends that forcing students to participate in LGBTQ+ learning material violates First Amendment rights to exercise religious beliefs.
Demonstrators are seen outside the Supreme Court as oral arguments are heard in the case of <i>Mahmoud</i> v. <i>Taylor</i> on April 22, 2025. The justices ruled that parents can exercise their religious right to have their children excused from LTBTQ-themed lessons, which has prompted new logistical and practical concerns among teachers.
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP
Teaching Profession Fewer Teachers Plan to Quit, But Pay and Burnout Are Still Major Issues
Teachers still feel overworked and underpaid, but some signs suggest things may be slowly improving.
4 min read
A second grader shares a story he wrote with a teacher.
A second grader shares a story he wrote with a teacher. This year, 16% of teachers reported an intent to leave the classroom, down from 22% last year.
Allison Shelley for All4Ed
Teaching Profession Q&A 'We’re Not Done Yet': NEA President Becky Pringle on the Union's Next Steps
The leader of the nation's largest teachers' union promises more activism.
4 min read
NEA President Becky Pringle sits for a portrait during the union's annual representative assembly in Portland, Ore., on July 4, 2025.
NEA President Becky Pringle sits for a portrait during the union's annual representative assembly in Portland, Ore., on July 4, 2025. She is entering her final year as the president of the nation's largest teachers' union.
Kaylee Domzalski/Education Week
Teaching Profession Trump Looms Large as the Nation's Largest Teachers' Union Sets Its Priorities
During its annual meeting, the NEA strategized about its response to federal education policies.
8 min read
The National Education Association choir sings before the union's annual representative assembly on July 3, 2025, in Portland, Ore.
Attendees of the National Education Association's 2025 representative assembly cheer during a speech by NEA President Becky Pringle on July 3, 2025, in Portland, Ore. Delegates voted on a wide range of measures, including some related to teacher safety, immigration, and cellphones.
Kaylee Domzalski/Education Week