This report explores the dramatic increase in Head Start teacher turnover during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from the Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) from 2010 to 2022, the study investigates trends in teacher turnover across all Head Start program types and examines the reasons behind teacher departures. The report finds that…

For many years, schools in the Bronx have faced challenges related to teacher recruitment and retention, as well as student achievement. In 2017, to address these issues, the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) launched the Teacher and School Leaders Bronx Human Capital Initiative (TSL). TSL was designed to help build a "highly…

Responding to an Illinois law that took effect in 2010, the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA), Chicago Public Schools (CPS) created and implemented the REACH (Recognizing Educators Advancing Chicago's Students) educator evaluation and support system. REACH was piloted in 2012-13. It is still being implemented as of the 2019-20 school year,…

Teacher mobility, or teacher turnover, has long garnered attention as a critical educational equity gap. This attention is warranted as, within schools, teachers have the single greatest impact on student achievement. The unprecedented interruptions to school-based learning and the trials of navigating remote and hybrid instruction due to the…

Research shows that process quality in early childhood education (ECE) programs--specifically teacher-child interactions--is the strongest predictor of children's gains in learning and development. Due to a number of factors associated with the city's early childhood infrastructure and the budgets of the current Head Start grants, it has been…

During the last decade, education research and policy have generated considerable momentum behind efforts to remake teacher evaluation systems and place an effective teacher in every classroom. But schools are not simply collections of individual teachers; they are also organizations, with structures, practices, and norms that may impede or…

There is growing evidence that the middle school years are critical to students' long-term success. In New York City, middle schools have been the target of several high-profile improvement initiatives. One factor that has the potential to facilitate or complicate these efforts is the stability of the middle school teaching force. Yet there have…

The technical appendices presented in this document correspond to the synthesis report, "'Who Stays and Who Leaves?' Findings from a Three-Part Study of Teacher Turnover in NYC Middle Schools." The appendices include: (1) Description of Data Source and Samples; (2) Methods; and (3) Who Are the Middle School Teachers in NYC? [The…