Looking to transfer schools in NYC?
June 9, 2007 pm30 3:49 pm
I’ve got a question for you. You probably have already thought about level, about location, about reputation. You may have thought about safety, about parking. At the high school level you may have considered curriculum in your content area. If you are clever/web savvy you may have checked out the UFT’s “Grapevine,” (though it is not big enough yet) or Inside Schools, or the DoE’s website, or the school report cards.
But the big question should be: are last year’s teachers coming back?
Think about it. There is no better measure of morale than the proportion of teachers who stay. And teacher morale will tell you if this is the school you want to be in.
(and incoming new teachers, including Fellows, this goes for you, too)
JD2718 
Great questions all new teachers should ask themselves. I’ve been posing similar ones to all our student teachers.
Our school — and you know about my school — has 11 teachers staying and 14 leaving by yesterday’s tally. 10 of the teachers leaving teach core subjects.
I hear much from the Bloomberg administration about 1) “accountability” and 2) running the schools like a business. In a corporation, employee retention is closely tracked and managers with high staff turnover are considered to have a big problem.
Is there any place where teacher retention is tracked, the same way they want to track kids’ test results and the count of parents who turn in their survey? I’d like to know how many teachers quit by school, district, region, etc. That would tell me much about the quality of the supervision.
I’d say that 44% teacher retention is lousy, but teasma (and I met some of your new colleagues earlier today, nice people), are you saying that no one left during the year? If they did, the percentage is going to be worse.
It makes me feel better about my advice when I hear that veterans give similar advice. Thanks P.O.
And of course Patrick asks the right questions. How do we get retention numbers? How do we publicize them?
I agree with Patrick, and this is one of the reasons that I am generally in favor of making it easier for teachers to transfer… we should be voting with our feet whenever possible. I think the DOE should track not only how many people leave, but also how many ATTEMPT to leave each school. And do some exit interviews at schools with very high turnover. One note, though, is that small schools could get crazy numbers simply because of the sample size. I’d say that, overall, my school in NYC is a decent place to work, but we’ve had years with very high turnover, due to a large number of new teachers and the simple fact that if four people leave in one year, that’s 25% turnover. That’s why the exit interviews are important… get to the bottom of what is driving people out of certain schools, and the schools in general… and then do something about it!
ms. v –
there is a real problem with who would do the interviews. In the end, with multiple years of data, the details would wash out. Three teachers going on maternity leave? Sure it happens. But not three years in a row.
Small schools’ numbers would be buffeted by small annual differences – but not every year.
And if a school is committed to only hiring new teachers, then that school will not be a great place to work in the long run. And yes, there will be lots of good reasons for individual teachers leaving, but taken as a whole…
The raw metric is a good one. Anomalies can be explained, but should not be used as an excuse for not looking (if we can find a way to look)
I have been denied a transfer by my principal, even though I applied through open-market and gave my notice to her in June. There was a change in administration in my new school and the open-market paper work did not go through in time. Now my principal will not release me. I was hit twice and sexually harasssed twice by students during school last year. I need to leave this school because I am concerned for my safety and well being. Any ideas?
Please check your e-mail.
I am going through the same process. I have to speak to my principal tomorrow about transferring, and I hope she lets me go. I’ve had a desk thrown and two fist fights in my room. The proper paper work was not filled out. I would recommend calling your burrough union head quarters and speaking to someone there. The kids get safety transfers, why can’t we.
yo wass gud
het ;p