Personnel Issues

Teacher Retention in Adult Literacy Programs:
Uncharted Territory - or Something We Already
Know How to Achieve?

Turnover among teachers in the K-12 arena is a source of concern nationwide. Data on Texas public school teachers derived from Texas Education Agency’s Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) in 2004 tracked the hiring and retention of Texas public school teachers from 1999 through 2003. Of the 271,045 teachers in 1999, 10.8% had left the public school system by 2000, and the attrition rate of first-year teachers continued at between 10% and 11% through 2002. By 2003, only 72.4% of the original 1999 cohort of teachers remained in the system (Gibson Consulting Group, Inc., 2004, p. 206). Retention numbers seem even more alarming when you include private and charter schools. According to an August 2005 Issue Brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education (2005, p. 5), almost 17% of public, private, and charter school teachers in Texas either left the profession (7.14%) or transferred schools (9.66%) during the 1999-2000 school year — not including retirement. The cost of replacing those teachers in Texas that school year alone is estimated to have been over half a billion dollars.

But how does the turnover rate among adult literacy teachers compare to that of K-12 teachers? According to Smith and Hofer (2003, p. 6), “Figures are not available for adult basic education, although almost every major evaluation or survey cites it as a problem.” As one indicator, when researchers with the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) followed a sample of self-selected ABE teachers for 18 months, 13 of 104 teachers (12.5%) reported leaving the field at some time during that 18 months, and another nine were still working in an ABE program, but not teaching. That’s a teacher turnover rate of 21% over about 18 months in this sample (reported in Smith, et al, 2003).

In the course of a discussion on teacher retention among members of TCALL’s Adult Education Administrators email discussion list last fall, one local adult literacy program director in the Coastal Region reported a teacher turnover rate of 11.2% per year (email to author, December 6, 2004). However, state-wide statistics are difficult to come by. According to Dr. Victoria Hoffman’s overview of teacher retention at her 2005 Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education (TALAE) conference session on the subject, no systematic study of Texas adult literacy teacher retention has yet been done (TALAE presentation, January 29, 2005).

Nevertheless, the subject often comes up whenever groups of administrators and other practitioners meet. Getting a grip on the size of the problem would be a useful exercise. In that same email list discussion last fall, David Joost of the Houston Community College System suggested, “Ultimately what will be most helpful to directors in the near term is a yardstick that helps directors with what range of teacher retention is acceptable and what range is worrisome” (email to author, December 6, 2004).

Dr. Hoffman suggests that program management is easier when teachers are retained, leaving more time and money to focus on instructional outcomes. She further asserts that administrative costs should be less when teachers are retained, because of the cost of time and effort to train new personnel. Finally, Dr. Hoffman suggests there is an assumption that teacher retention is related to student outcomes (TALAE presentation, January 29, 2005). Two adult education teachers interviewed in a NCSALL professional development study by Smith, et al (2003, p. 63) agreed. Both teachers “made a strong connection between learner retention and teacher retention; both expressed the opinion that a critical strategy for enhancing learner persistence was for programs to provide teachers with more support to alleviate teacher turnover.”

Compared to K-12 or higher education, the field of adult literacy presents unique challenges to teachers. A NCSALL staff development study found that most adult literacy teachers are “part-time and do not receive benefits or salaries commensurate with their K-12 counterparts [and] are faced with working conditions and environmental factors that make it difficult for them to learn about and deliver quality instruction” (reported in Smith, et al, 2001). Although the majority of the 95 teachers surveyed by NCSALL had taught in the K-12 system, only 43% had taken any undergraduate or graduate courses related to teaching adults. In terms of working conditions, 39% did not have their own teaching or classroom space; and 29% had neither their own desk nor a place to store materials. 32% received only one to 12 hours of paid professional development time yearly, and 23% received none at all (Smith, et al, 2001, pp. 3-4).

Another particular challenge in adult literacy is that, more often than in a graded K-12 environment, teachers of adults must often contend with multilevel groups. This is particularly true of English language classes. “Since all learners are different in language aptitude, in language proficiency, and in general attitude toward language, as well as in learning styles, we can probably say that most language classes are multileveled. Language classes also tend to be highly heterogeneous. That is, students in many of our classes are of different genders, maturity, occupations, ethnicities, cultural and economic backgrounds, as well as personalities” (Hess, 2001, p. 2).

According to Dr. Hoffman, articles from the K-12 and Human Resource Development (HRD) fields are generally consistent about variables that affect staff retention – and not all of them involve money. Important “soft” variables include: opportunities for professional development and growth; a feeling of “connectedness” with colleagues; a sense of coherence in the stated goals of the organization and what one is doing; and a feeling of being appreciated for work well done. Yet in an informal conversation with literacy administrators, Dr. Hoffman reports that one director told the group that her teacher retention problem was solved when she raised the salary by $3 an hour (email to author, August 17, 2005).

Dr. Ana H. Macias of West Region GREAT Center agrees that the variables affecting retention are many and complex. In the aforementioned email list discussion, Dr. Macias wrote “My suggestion (based on experience and educator’s intuition) is that retention is aided by a) full-time employment; b) job benefits; c) salary; d) professionalization on the job; and e) a love for the work. Not necessarily in that order” (email to author, December 6, 2004).

The challenges of novice teachers are particularly key. “For many years, the metaphor most widely used to describe entry into teaching has been ‘sink or swim’” (Bartell, 2005, p. xi). TCALL Professional Development Specialist Ken Appelt describes witnessing in his teaching career an attitude of “Let’s throw the new kid to the wolves,” as novice teachers were given the students or classes no one else wanted. Appelt believes that attitude is changing. As it becomes harder to recruit teachers and more expensive to train new hires, administrators are offering new teachers more support and orientation to the profession (personal interview, August 26, 2005).

Contrary to the sink or swim approach, K-12 literature and practice are rich in references to the importance of comprehensive new teacher induction and long-term mentoring. Success stories also abound. For example, Lafourche Parish Public Schools in Thibodaux, Louisiana reduced their teacher attrition rate from a startling 51% annually to 15% in the short term and around 7% in the long term, after implementing an induction program that immerses novice teachers in the district’s lifelong learning culture. Beginning with a four-day pre-service training for all new teachers, the program continues with three years of ongoing training, support, mentoring, monthly support group meetings, and access to onsite curriculum facilitators. The Lafourche Parish model was so successful, it has been adopted statewide (Wong, 2002, p. 54).

Given the unique challenges for teacher retention in adult literacy, new teacher induction and mentoring take on even greater importance. It is critical for new teachers to surround themselves with exemplary experienced colleagues (Hicks, et al, 2005, p. 10). Janell Baker of the Harris County Department of Education Adult Education Program has implemented a mentoring approach for teachers involved in the Adult Education Credential Project (see more on the Credential Project below). As the teachers develop their professional development plans, Baker works individually with them to look at their student data and what is happening in their classrooms, and to use that information to identify the real-life classroom issues or areas of weakness that the teachers want to work on. Examples of these growing edge issues are working with multilevel classes, and developing a student-teacher relationship in which learners are comfortable communicating to the teacher that they don’t understand something. After classroom issues are identified, the teacher observes the classroom of a mentor teacher who is particularly skilled in the classroom techniques or approaches identified as challenges. In turn, the mentor teacher observes the classroom practice of the newer teacher and offers feedback. Baker believes that classroom-based and data-based identification of teaching challenges is a critical piece in the Credential Project’s professional development planning process. “I really want it tied back to what they’re doing in the classroom and their learners’ progress” (personal interview, August 26, 2005).

Another form of professional development that is particularly empowering for literacy teachers is teacher action research. Action research is “inquiry conducted by teacher researchers to gather information about the ways that their particular school operates, how they teach, and how well their students learn. The information is gathered with the goals of gaining insight, developing reflective practice, effecting positive changes in the school environment and on educational practices in general, and improving student outcomes” (Donato, 2003, p. 1). Texas has a tradition of innovative projects that support teacher action research for adult educators. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Project IDEA engaged teachers in long-term professional development that incorporated teacher action research as “an active process of observing, critically analyzing, and reflecting on their own practice in order to improve it” (Davis & Baird, 2002, paragraph 1).

NCSALL’s preliminary findings from its staff development study address the working conditions of adult literacy teachers. The researchers concluded, “Few would argue that the recruitment and retention of good teachers are key to improving adult basic education. . . Even though numerous teachers do wonderful jobs, our findings so far indicate that we need to pay more attention to what teachers have to say about their working conditions if we are to design and deliver effective staff development, improve student retention, and professionalize the field as a whole” (Smith, et al, 2001, p. 7).

Important components of improved staff development to enable professionalization of the field would include a comprehensive new teacher induction program with long-term mentoring, a variety of professional development opportunities both within and outside the local program, and paying special attention to the challenges of teaching diverse, multilevel classes.

Texas adult educators have access to a wealth of resources and services to meet these needs. The Texas State Plan for Adult Education and Family Literacy (Texas Education Agency, Division of Adult and Community Education, 2005) addresses the critical role of state leadership through the provision of a system of Regional Professional Development Centers, the GREAT Centers of Excellence; through implementation of an Adult Education Credential Model leading to the credentialing and professionalization of adult education teachers; and through the resources and services of the Texas Adult Literacy Clearinghouse Project at TCALL, including this newsletter. Another unique opportunity for mentoring and professionalization is provided by the Multi-Region Master Teacher Initiative described in Ken Appelt’s article, Multi-Region Master Teacher Initiative Launched Get on the Train or Get off the Tracks, as well as regional master teacher initiatives that are ongoing in some regions through the GREAT Centers. See links to websites of Project GREAT and the Adult Education Credential Project.

In the Welcome to Our Library section of this issue, you will find selected resources available for checkout by mail in the areas of Mentoring, Teaching Multilevel Classes, and Teacher Action Research. If you have never borrowed materials from the Clearinghouse Library, now is the time to try it. Even your return postage is provided through a postage-paid return mail sticker. Free resources in those subjects are also available and can be mailed to you on request.

To join in email discussions with your colleagues on topics such as teacher retention, visit the Discussion Lists page of TCALL’s website for information on the statewide email lists you can join.

Alliance for Excellent Education (2005). Teacher Attrition: A Costly Loss to the Nation and to the State [Electronic version]. Retrieved August 19, 2005 from the Alliance for Excellent Education Web site http://www.all4ed.org/publications/TeacherAttrition.pdf.

Bartell, C. A. (2005). Cultivating High-Quality Teaching Through Induction and Mentoring. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. (Available from Clearinghouse Library.)

Davis, R. and and Baird, B. (2002). Professional Development: An IDEA Whose Time Has Come. Literacy Links, 6(2). Retrieved from http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/newsletr/win02/win02g.htm

Donato, R. (2003). Action Research (Report No. EDO-FL-03-08). Retrieved from Center for Applied Linguistics Web site http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0308donato.html
(Available from Clearinghouse Library.)

Gibson Consulting Group, Inc. (2004). Evaluation of Student Success Initiative: Teacher Training Academies. Retrieved from TEA Web site http://www.tea. state.tx.us/opge/progeval/teacher_academies_ final_12_ 01_04.pdf

Hess, N. (2001). Teaching Large Multilevel Classes. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (Available from Clearinghouse Library.)

Hicks, C. D., Glasgow, N. A. and McNary, S. J. (2005).What Successful Mentors Do: 81 Research-Based Strategies for New Teacher Induction, Training, and Support. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. (Available from Clearinghouse Library.)

Smith, C. and Hofer, J. (2003). The Characteristics of Adult Basic Education Teachers. Retrieved August 19, 2005, from the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy Web site http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/report26.pdf (Available from Clearinghouse Library.)

Smith, C. and Hofer, J., Gillespie, M., Solomon, M., and Rowe, K. (2003). How Teachers Change: A Study of Professional Development in Adult Education. Retrieved August 19, 2005, from the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy Web site http://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/research/report25.pdf (Available from Clearinghouse Library.)

Smith, C. and Hofer, J., and Gillespie, M. (2001). The Working Conditions of Adult Literacy Teachers: Preliminary Findings from the NCSALL Staff Development Study. Focus on Basics, 4(D), 1-7. (Available free from the Clearinghouse Library.)

Texas Education Agency, Division of Adult and Community Education (2005). Texas State Plan for Adult Education and Family Literacy: July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006. Retrieved August 19, 2005, from the Texas LEARNS Web site http://www-tcall.tamu.edu/docs/stateplan/cover.htm

Wong, H. K. (2002). Induction: The Best Form of Professional Development. Educational Leadership, 59(6), 52-54.