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A First-Ever Look at Teachers Switching Jobs in Iowa

Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest

Researchers at the University of Missouri are releasing a first-of-its-kind study on the mobility of teachers and principals from job-to-job within Iowa. The findings might prove useful to policymakers.  

The study by the Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest finds an average of 6.7 percent of teachers in Iowa move to another job within the state each year. Nine-point-two percent of principals do the same thing. The report says this comes at some cost to school districts. Educators are leaving under-performing schools at a higher rate. The lead researcher for the study, Michael Podgursky, says this information could be useful to school administrators.

“If you’re concerned with closing achievement gaps and helping low-achieving kids move forward, you have to be cognizant if this phenomenon,” he says.

Podgursky says many more special education teachers move from job-to-job, around 12 percent a year. He says this is useful information for school administrators.

“A lot of schools have trouble attracting and retaining special ed teachers, so this gives us some insight to the patterns of mobility for special ed teachers,” he says.

The study also indicates male teachers are more likely to transfer than females.