Anyone following education policy over the past several years has most likely read a headline along the lines of this: “Disgruntled New Teachers Leave the Profession in Droves.” Readers are led to imagine disillusioned and frustrated educators running out of school buildings, never looking back. Despite recent education policy stories that have reported new teachers leaving the profession in significant numbers—up to 50 percent by the fifth year in the profession—as well as two recent reports that relied on 10-year-old data, the picture since 2007 has been decidedly rosier: Fully 70 percent of beginning teachers stay in the profession for at least five years.
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