Teacher Turnover in Charter Schools

Today the New York Times published an important article about teacher turnover in charter schools. The average length of service for teachers in public schools is around 14 years. Meanwhile the Times reports on charter school operators who are content with - and in fact seem to prefer - high teacher turnover that results in the average length of service for teachers in charter schools is more in the range of two to three years. The New York Times also reports that the research indicates that high teacher turnover "diminishes student achievement". Ron Thorpe, the president of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, perhaps said it best: "“To become a master plumber you have to work for five years, shouldn’t we have some kind of analog to that with the people we are entrusting our children to?” Click here to read the New York Times article.