Teacher Mobility in the School District of Philadelphia, 2009u201310 through 2015u201316

To learn more about PERC, visit www.phledresearch.org.Teacher Mobility in the School District of Philadelphia, 2009–10 through 2015–16September 2018MATTHEW P. STEINBERGRUTH CURRAN NEILDW. KYLE CANUETTESHARIN PARKEMILY SCHULMANMELISSA WRIGHT Acknowledgements The authors are grateful for the feedback on drafts provided by Kate Shaw and Katie Carter at Research for Action. Megan Morris created the report design and graphics. This work was made possible through the support of the William Penn Foundation. The Foundation did not exercise editorial control over this report, and its contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation. How this report was produced This report is the result of a collaboration between the Philadelphia Education Research Consortium (PERC); Dr. Matthew Steinberg, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education; and students enrolled in Dr. Steinberg’s Spring 2018 Education Policy Research Practicum class. This course pairs groups of students with community clients who have practical, pressing questions that require data analysis to answer. With Dr. Steinberg’s guidance, students plan and conduct the analysis and prepare a report for the client (in this case, PERC). This published report, co-authored by the students, is based on their end-of-class report. About PERC The mission of the Philadelphia Education Research Consortium is to provide timely, actionable, rigorous, and non-partisan research on the most pressing issues facing Philadelphia public education. To do this, PERC seeks to engage the region’s colleges and universities, nonprofits, and the Philadelphia public education sector in respectful, mutually beneficial research-practice partnerships. By providing Philadelphia’s leaders and citizenry with high-quality information about progress, challenges, and effective strategies in education, PERC aims to increase education opportunities and achievement for all Philadelphia students. Suggested Citation APA STYLE: Steinberg, M., Neild, R., Canuette, W.K., Park, S., Schulman, E., & Wright, M. (2018). Teacher mobility in the School District of Philadelphia, 2009-10 through 2015-16. Philadelphia: The Philadelphia Education Research Consortium. CHICAGO STYLE: Steinberg, Matthew, Neild, Ruth Curran, Canuette, W.Kyle, Park, Sharin, Schulman, Emily, & Wright, Melissa. (2018). Teacher Mobility in the School District of Philadelphia, 2009-10 through 2015-16. Philadelphia: The Philadelphia Education Research Consortium. Teacher Mobility in the School District of Philadelphia, 2009-10 through 2015-16 Matthew P. Steinberg, Ruth Curran Neild, W. Kyle Canuette, Sharin Park, Emily Schulman, and Melissa Wright • September 2018 Summary Teachers are the most important influence in schools on student achievement, which makes attracting and retaining excellent teachers a high priority for all school districts. But public schools in large cities like Philadelphia are especially challenged to provide every student with a highly-effective teacher. Teacher mobility—that is, transferring from one school to another or leaving the profession entirely—is disproportionately concentrated in urban school districts and has negative consequences for student performance. For these reasons, it is critical for policymakers and school leaders in Philadelphia to have a clear picture of the extent and nature of teacher mobility. This report provides evidence on teacher mobility in the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) during the 2009-10 through 2015-16 school years. Using publicly available data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, we examine the extent of teacher mobility as well as the characteristics of mobile teachers and the schools that they exit and enter. For this report, teacher mobility is defined as occuring when an SDP teacher does not return to the same school in the following year. Therefore, a mobile teacher is one who moved to another SDP school, moved to a Philadelphia charter school or a Pennsylvania public school outside of Philadelphia, or left public education in Pennsylvania. Key Findings  On average, 27 percent of teachers exited their schools in a given school year, either to transfer to another SDP school or to leave the district. Teacher mobility rates spiked at the end of 2010-11 and 2012-13, likely due to SDP’s Rennaissance School Initiative, under which district schools were converted to charters, and staff layoffs following the district’s major round of school closings at the end of the 2012-13 school year.  Over half of all mobile teachers exited SDP, resulting in an average annual district departure rate of 14.6 percent. Of those who left SDP, about 10 percent taught in any Pennsylvania public school during the following school year.  Across all study years, 2.9 percent of teachers exited SDP for a charter school in Philadelphia. Olney Charter High School and Mastery Charter School Gratz Campus—both part of