Dive Brief:

• Kristi Cole, the COO of Milwaukee College Prep, a charter network in Wisconsin, is calling for schools to focus more on teacher feedback and observation in order to keep turnover down.
• Milwaukee College Prep uses observe4success, a cloud-based observation tool, to record and share observations; staff receive two to three observations a month, although teachers who are struggling can get weekly visits.
• Teacher retention in the charter network averages 92% per year.

Dive Insight:

Teacher retention has become a hot button issue, with headlines touting a 50% turnover rate within the first five years of teaching. But a study released this spring cautioned against too much furor. The National Center for Education Statistics found that just 17% of teachers left their posts within the first five years of teaching, according to recent data.

The study didn’t look at ties between observations and retention but did find that teachers with mentors were more likely to stay in the classroom. Salary helped, too, as teachers with higher year-one salaries stuck around longer.

Still, teacher turnover can be costly and academically damaging for districts. Despite the national average, some states have seen increasing turnover, especially in rural areas and in reform hotspots. Milwaukee College Prep’s model may work, at least in the second case, where high stakes teacher evaluations are the norm.