Beginning Teacher Attrition and Mobility

This First Look report provides selected findings from the first three waves of the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study (BTLS) along with data tables and methodological information. The BTLS follows a sample of public elementary and secondary school teachers who participated in the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), and whose first year of teaching was 2007 or 2008. The BTLS sample includes teachers who leave teaching in the years after the SASS data collection and those who continue to teach either in the same school as the last year or in a different school. The purpose of the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study is to provide a better understanding of the impact that different life events have on teachers careers (such as getting married, moving to a new location, or starting a family). It will also provide some insight on how school and/or district characteristics and policies affect teacher satisfaction, and how teachers respond to transitions in their lives and careers (such as moving to a different school, changing the grade levels or subject taught, becoming a mentor, transitioning into a K-12 administration position, or exiting the teaching field). The study will contribute to policymakers’ understanding of teachers and of teachers’ careers as they enter, leave, or re-enter the teaching workforce and make important career and life decisions.