How do public and private schools differ in their teacher turnover rates?
What school characteristics are associated with turnover? Are teachers’ salaries related to the rates at which teachers leave schools? Data from the 1990-91 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), can be used to address these questions. This survey collected information on the percentage of teachers, both full-time and part- time, who recently left positions in their schools, either to teach in other schools or to pursue different occupations. Regardless of whether the exiting teachers moved within the same district, to another school elsewhere, or left teaching, the turnover meant a decrease in staff for that particular school and the probable need to hire a replacement. IN 1990-91, PRIVATE SCHOOLS EXPERIENCED HIGHER TEACHER TURNOVER RATES THAN DID PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Across elementary and secondary levels and central city to rural locations, teacher turnover rates were higher in private than in public schools in 1990-91 (table
