Phil Dunn

Courier-Post

Grace Ahn admits teaching was the furthest thing from her mind when she graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in economics.

But while working through her first year in the high-paying field, something changed.

"Don't get me wrong, it was interesting," Ahn said while seated in her empty classroom at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Washington Township.

"I just knew I couldn't work the rest of my life doing something I wasn't passionate about."

So the Cherry Hill native left high finance and took a teaching job in South Korea, not knowing what to expect. A year later she was back in the States for graduate school and on her way to a new career.

"To me, I've found my home and I know how rare that is," said the fifth-grade teacher. "I purposefully chose this career and it took a lot of time and energy to get here and I want to stay here."

But Ahn is part of a shrinking group: While many young people are choosing education as a career, few stick with it.

According to a recent University of Pennsylvania study, teacher attrition is similar to that of police officers. Teaching also has a much higher turnover rate than more lucrative careers, such as law and engineering.

More than 41 percent of new teachers leave within five years of entry, according to the study, which was published by Dr. Richard Ingersoll in the Consortium for Policy Research in Education.

Anecdotally, most veteran teachers in New Jersey share this sentiment. Some say changes to the field, like the new evaluation system that links teacher performance to test scores, have caused educators young and old to leave the profession.

Others claim the newer generation of teachers lacks that certain "Je ne sais quois" which has kept thousands of baby boomers committed to the profession for the long term.

"My general feeling is we are losing teachers on both ends of the spectrum," said longtime Delran High School teacher Michael Kaminski.

"We are losing the art of teaching and putting too much emphasis on the science of teaching."

The AP History teacher added too much focus on data and measurements has caused a shift away from what is most important — the students.

"That's not what makes a student remember a lesson," Kaminski said of increasing pressure to "teach to the test."

"We are losing that creative connection."

And that connection is why Kaminski and many other teachers became educators in the first place.

Daunting task

Ingersoll's study suggests most new hires are young, recent college graduates; however, a growing number of older, but inexperienced teachers — like Ahn — also are joining the ranks as a second career.

For example, in the 1987-88 school year there were about 84,000 first-year students nationwide. Despite several years of layoffs and cutbacks, there were still 147,000 first-year teachers during the 2011-12 school year, according to the study.

New Jersey Education Association President Wendell Steinhauer said the teachers union also sees about 5,000 to 6,000 of its members retire in a normal year. However, those numbers have been up recently.

"Last year, we had about 9,000," he said. "That's about a 30 percent jump."

Steinhauer could not say definitively that the influx in retirements was linked to recent school reforms, but he did feel they played some role in the mass exit.

The union leader added "teacher bashing" also has created an uncomfortable work environment for new teachers, which can make an educator "burn out."

Principal Dr. Deirdre Spollen-LaRaia noted it's difficult for some teachers to adapt to the rapidly changing education landscape, on top of the normal day-to-day class work.

"It becomes a daunting task," said Spollen-LaRaia, an administrator at Hawthorne Elementary in Teaneck, Bergen County.

Gov. Chris Christie signed an executive order in July that allows school districts to gradually phase in results of new standardized tests to judge the performance of New Jersey's teachers.

This fall, language arts and mathematics teachers in fourth through eighth grades will have 10 percent of their evaluations based on statewide assessments, 20 percent based on student academic growth as measured by individualized student growth objectives, and 70 percent based on observations.

The previous system called for standardized tests to represent 30 percent of teacher evaluations, with 55 percent classroom observations and 15 percent student growth objectives.

While these changes have lessened the anxiety for some educators, the links between test scores and evaluations reach far beyond firing and hiring.

Delran High School English teacher Ani McHugh worries it could affect the number of teachers who volunteer to mentor student-teachers.

"With so much riding on test scores, I could see some teachers not wanting to give up control of their classrooms," McHugh said.

Upward mobility

But not all young teachers are leaving the field entirely. Spollen-LaRaia said educators often trade in the classroom for supervisory or administrative positions.

Upward mobility is often something younger educators strive for because the thought of staying in the same classroom denotes failure, a stark difference in thought from their older counterparts.

"It's a growing trend," Spollen-LaRaia said. "A positive one at that."

However, longtime Cherry Hill educator Martin Sharofsky argues there is still a need for career classroom teachers. He explained the notion of upward mobility could be a hard pill to swallow for school districts in years to come.

"Now that is a good thing for education, but it is difficult for a district as they 'watch' their best and brightest move to other positions...," said Sharofsky, who spent 32 years in the classroom.

"When I walked into my first classroom, I knew I was starting a career, not a job."

Future educators

Rowan University Dean of Education Dr. Monika Shealey said they see the writing on the wall with school reform. The department is doing what it can to work with the state to effectively change the college curriculum to better meet the challenges teachers face as 21st century educators, she said.

But enrollment has continued to drop at the once prominent teaching college, which in recent years has put more stock in educating future doctors, engineers and business people.

Shealey notes the number of education students went down from 2,312 in 2010 to just fewer than 1,500 last year.

"Recruiting students is one thing, but keeping them here, that gets more complicated," Shealey said.

The New Jersey Center for Future Educators is trying to change that. The College of New Jersey-based organization hosts thousands of middle school and high school students from around the state each year.

The goal is to expose young minds to a career as a teacher.

"We find more and more students want to be educators," said the center's executive director Larry Fieber.

"Our programs get a great response."

That makes Ahn happy. The third-year educator said teaching has changed her life and she knows it could do the same for others.

"Working with kids in this capacity is a gift and an honor and while it can be difficult and challenging, I walk away most days in disbelief that I actually get paid to do this," she said.

Reach Phil Dunn at (856) 486-2456 or pdunn@couriepostonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @philmdunn.

41 %

of new teachers leave within five years of entry according to a study published by Professor Dr. Richard Ingersoll in the Consortium for Policy Research in Education.

1,500

The number education students at Rowan University last year, down from 2,312 in 2010.

9,000

teachers retired last year, said New Jersey Education Association President Wendell Steinhauer. He said the teacher's union usually sees about 5,000 to 6,000 of its membership retire in a normal year.