Gender Differences in Teacher Attrition Rates at K-12 Schools in the United States

A new study from the U.S. Department of Education looks at teacher attrition at the nation’s public schools.

Among public school teachers who were teaching during the 2020–21 school year, 84 percent remained at the same school during the 2021–22 school year (“stayers”), 8 percent moved to a different school (“movers”), and 8 percent left the teaching profession (“leavers”). For women teachers in the public schools, 83.7 percent were “stayers,” 8.1 percent were “movers,” and 8.2 percent were “leavers.”

Thus, women teachers were more likely than men to move to a different school and were more likely than men to leave the teaching profession.

In private schools the opposite was true. Nearly 83 percent of women teachers were “stayers,” 5.9 percent were “”movers,” and 22.5 percent were “leavers.”

Male private school teachers were more likely than women to move to a different school or to leave the teaching profession.