PRESS RELEASE
July 16, 2007

Contact: Stephen Kroes, Utah Foundation President
(801) 355-1400, ext. 5
(801) 573-8824 (mobile)

UTAH FOUNDATION URGES STRONGER MENTOR PROGRAMS, TARGETED PAY INCREASES TO RETAIN TEACHERS

Utah Foundation today released a research report entitled “Teacher Attrition: Why Do Teachers Stop Teaching in Utah and What Policies Will Encourage Them to Stay?” The report is attached to this release and is also available at www.utahfoundation.org.

The report finds that teachers are increasingly leaving their careers in the U.S. and in Utah. This, coupled with a decline in the number of college students studying to become teachers, is leading to teacher shortages. Utah schools are particularly vulnerable to teacher shortages now, because the student population is growing rapidly and will continue to do so through the year 2015.

A review of national research studies shows that increasing teacher attrition places our education system at risk in three ways:

• Lower teacher quality as teacher shortages lead to hiring of less qualified teachers
• Greater inequity in student opportunities as disadvantaged schools typically receive a disproportionate share of the lower qualified teachers
• Increased inefficiency as more funds are diverted to recruiting and training new teachers

Utah Foundation analyzed four public policy solutions that are prominent in discussions about reducing teacher attrition. We make the following recommendations for action:

1. Mentoring and induction programs: Expand Utah’s efforts to retain new teachers with comprehensive induction and mentoring programs. These programs have been shown to reduce attrition of new teachers (the most vulnerable to attrition) by significant rates. State funding is likely needed to ensure consistent application in the districts.
   
2. Differentiated teacher pay: Provide significant, targeted pay increases for teachers in shortage subjects (such as math) or locations (such as disadvantaged schools) or with skills or training that would provide higher pay in other careers (such as science).
   
3. Higher salaries for all teachers: Salary increases are probably needed to induce more teachers to stay in the profession or to persuade more college students to prepare to become teachers. However, across-the-board salary increases do not provide the same level of benefits as targeting pay increases to those types of teachers experiencing the greatest shortages.
   
4. Smaller class sizes: Although this is an important element of teacher working conditions, it is a very expensive reform which would be best postponed for a number of years. Utah’s rapidly growing student population is already leading to teacher shortages, and increasing the demand for new teachers by reducing class sizes now would worsen the shortages and reduce the quality of Utah’s teaching corps.

A well-rounded package of policies designed to provide support and training to new teachers and reforming teacher compensation in ways that respond to the labor market would be most likely to reduce teacher attrition in the most cost-effective manner. These policy changes should be accompanied by well-designed and adequately funded data collection activities to ensure that reforms are producing the intended outcomes and to provide evidence for adjusting the reforms to ensure their success.

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The mission of Utah Foundation is to promote a thriving economy, a well-prepared workforce, and a high quality of life for Utahns by performing thorough, well-supported research that helps policymakers, business and community leaders, and citizens better understand complex issues and providing practical, well-reasoned recommendations for policy change.