Retaining Quality Teachers for Alaska

Abstract

Historically, Alaska has depended heavily on teachers educated outside the state. Over time, Alaska has imported roughly 70 percent of its teachers. As a consequence, national trends—in certification of new teachers, teacher shortages, retirements, and salaries—are of immediate relevance to teacher supply and demand in Alaska. Before we delve into data on Alaska educators, therefore, we will look at the wider national picture. Specifically, projections of student enrollment, teacher retirement, turnover, and new entrants to the teaching field seem critical to the issue. The data suggest that a significant number of people do not teach after earning their certificates—perhaps as many as 40 percent of the graduates of teacher education programs nationwide. And the attrition rate for teachers in the first five years of teaching is also high—between 30 and 50 percent, depending on location (Darling-Hammond, 2000; NCES, 1997). Consequently, a graduating class of 100 teachers might yield, five years later, between 30 and 42 teachers in the classroom.