Retaining Urban Teachers in the Classroom

It would, perhaps, appear appropriate to reflect on the statement published over a decade ago, September 1996, by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future indicating:

Never before has it been so important to find new ways of providing and retaining quality teachers for each classroom. With the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) a definitive focus has shifted from the student to the teacher.

After decades of debates over school reform, a consensus is, perhaps, building that the quality of our nation's schools depends on the quality of the teacher. It has apparently dawned on policy makers as well as to traditional educators among us, who for years have tended to support the status quo, that what students learn is directly related to what and how teachers teach; and what and how teachers teach depends on the knowledge, skills, and commitments they bring to their teaching and the opportunities they have to continue learning in and from their practice.

Colleges of education provide numerous undergraduate and graduate degrees that offer quality preparation for new teachers. These are often that the traditional certification programs approved by the state. Yet, existing teachers leave the profession at a rate similar to those entering the field for the first time (Ingersoll, 2001). The issue of high turnover in teachers' early years particularly plagues schools that serve poor children and children of color, with some districts reporting annual turnover rates that exceed 40% for their new teachers (National Center for Teaching and America's Future, 2003).

U.S. schools will need to fill approximately two million vacancies in the next decade. The highest demand is in the perennially hard-to-staff urban schools as well as in subject areas such as bilingual education, special education, math, and science (Weiss & Weiss, 1999; Geringer, 2000; Lenhardt, 2000; Ingersoll, 2003). While the teacher shortage is felt throughout the nation, urban schools particularly those serving higher population of diverse populations are less likely to have access to either certified or more experienced teachers.