Burned Out and Dissatisfied?

Abstract

The current annual teacher attrition rate is about 16%. This loss of teachers results in reduced student achievement and increased financial costs to school districts. Using repeated cross-sectional nationally representative data, we identify the relationship between teacher dissatisfaction and burnout with attrition and whether certain teachers are at risk for dissatisfaction and burnout. We consistently find dissatisfaction and burnout are higher among teachers in secondary school; teaching a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subject; with more experience; and in low-income schools. Teacher dissatisfaction and burnout are highly associated with teacher intention to leave teaching and their actual attrition behavior. We discuss implications of our findings for policy and practice.