Career Paths of Beginning Public School Teachers

To learn about the early career patterns of beginning teachers, NCES undertook the BTLS, which is a nationally representative longitudinal study of public school teachers who began teaching in 2007 or 2008. The BTLS provides researchers with the opportunity to examine the career paths of beginning teachers as well as factors that may influence those paths. 

Findings from the report include the following:

•    About 155,600 public school teachers began their careers in 2007–08 and about three quarters of these teachers taught all 5 years of the study (77 percent). Among those who taught all 5 years, about three-fifths taught in the same school during this time (62 percent). Among the 23 percent of teachers who did not teach all 5 years of the study, about one quarter had returned to teaching (26 percent) and about one-third are expected to return (32 percent).

•    Having a mentor and participating in an induction program were related to teacher retention. A larger percentage of teachers who were assigned a mentor during their first year of teaching taught all 5 years of the study (80 percent) compared to those who were not assigned a mentor (64 percent). Eighty percent of beginning teachers who participated in an induction program taught all 5 years and 69 percent of those who did not participate in such a program taught all 5 years.

•    The percentage of beginning teachers who taught all 5 years was smaller for teachers with base salaries less than $40,000 during their most recent year of teaching (68 percent) than for teachers whose base salaries were $40,000 or more during their most recent year of teaching (85 percent; figure 8).