The State Board of Education this week heard a draft report on the State of the Teaching Profession. The annual report details the attrition rates for teachers in North Carolina.
That's a tally of teachers who left their jobs -- whether that's changing schools, moving out of state or leaving the profession. It also includes teacher losses due to retirement, death or termination.
Last school year, the overall attrition rate was 8.65 percent statewide. That's down almost half a percent from the previous year.
A majority of teachers who left their jobs said it was for personal reasons. The three most common personal reasons cited were to relocate, change careers or teach in another state. The report notes that several of these reasons could be relevant to statewide education policy.
On average, teachers who left employment in North Carolina were considered less effective teachers based on their EVAAS index score, which is data used for statewide educator evaluations.
The report found that more than half of all teachers who left their jobs are still teaching in North Carolina, but they moved to another school district or charter school. That means teacher mobility is also a factor in an individual school district's attrition.
Overall, attrition rates vary substantially across schools and counties. The school districts with the highest rates lost about one in every three teachers in the course of a year. Weldon City Schools had the highest attrition rate of all districts, with more than 20 percent of teachers in a single year leaving state employment, and another 9 percent leaving the district.
