Half of new teachers leave the field within five years, according to the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing students with qualified teachers.

A recent California State University study showed a quarter of California teachers leave the profession within four years because of bureaucratic impediments, unnecessary meetings and inadequate support. As a result, the state of California has spent more than $455 million each year recruiting, hiring and preparing replacement teachers.

Nevada has no state recruitment program and doesn't track statewide retention rates, costs or whether large class sizes or student discipline problems are driving teachers out of the classroom.

The nationwide problem of teacher shortages might be that teaching is losing its appeal.
Nat Lommori, superintendent of the Lyon County School District, remembers attending
out-of-state teacher career fairs years ago where hundreds, if not a few thousand, applicants waited for interviews.

"We didn't even take lunch," he said of a two-day affair in Greeley, Colo. "It was that busy. We don't even go there anymore because there's nobody there."

He said things are different because of the low pay.

"(Teaching) does not compare with other professions," he said. "These people have to get a bachelor's degree, and if you have a bachelor's degree in engineering or accounting, you're making $40,000, $50,000, even $60,000 coming out."

Rich Alexander, Douglas County assistant superintendent, said statistics show that people have several different careers during their lifetime.

"We are seeing that change in teaching," he said. "Simplistic solutions -- just pay them more to stay -- offers no assurance that they will stay and are little incentive compared to family and other issues."

Reasons to leave

Keith Rheault, Nevada superintendent of education, listed the three most significant reasons teachers leave off the top of his head: relocation, retirement and problems with a school district.
Gloria Dopf, deputy superintendent of instruction for the Nevada Department of Education, said the department handles licensure and related issues but not recruitment.

"The hiring and recruitment of teachers is a local function, so essentially, the districts have more direct access with teachers and have the ability of analyzing why teachers leave," she said.

Districts do track why teachers leave.

"The people that we do see leaving might be moving to another state or maybe closer to family," said Richard Stokes, associate superintendent of human resources for the Carson City School District. "Or, people are moving with a spouse because a spouse has relocated.
"We don't see all of the reasons as to why they're going," Stokes said. "We chat with them and find out why they're leaving. Sometimes, they don't go into why they're leaving."

Not all teachers have exit interviews, and only about 50 percent accept the invitation for an exit interview in Carson City, Stokes said.

Administrators are not sure how accurate the termination and resignation numbers are because some teachers resign before they are fired, said Tom Stauss, assistant superintendent of human resources for the Washoe County School District.

Lynn Warne, president of the teachers union for Washoe County, said resignations occur because of burnout, poor classroom conditions, unresolved discipline issues with students and too many students in a classroom.

"The class-size reduction that the state tried putting in place has led to team-teaching," she said. "The true spirit of class-size reduction has never been implemented or implemented correctly."

The poor physical condition of a school can lead to a drop in a teacher's spirit, said Warne.
"The deferred maintenance price tag the district carries is huge," she said. "Not only are the buildings falling apart, we're packed to the rim with teachers. It's a huge morale buster."

Many teachers leave to follow a spouse who is moving. Sometimes, the family moves to be closer to relatives. Of late, Stokes said he'd seen some resignations occur because of the high cost of gas. Teachers who lived in Reno left their job with Carson to work in the Washoe County School District, and vice versa.

Taking the reins

Ten years ago, Washoe County School District administrators noticed that teachers were flocking out the door. Eighteen percent left that year.

The school district started a mentoring program to provide teachers with support. In the past 10 years, the attrition rate has dropped from 18 percent to 5 percent.

Attrition is a reduction in staff numbers due to resignation, retirement or death. Retention is the percentage of teachers that return each year.

"We found new teachers need more support their first year because of the many demands a new teacher faces," said Sharyn Appolloni, program coordinator for the Washoe County School District's mentoring program.

"A novice teacher in their first years needs that support to be the best teacher they can be," Appolloni said.

Just this past year, the Washoe district matched 300 trained mentors with 300 first- and
second-year teachers.

New teachers take district-

offered classes, such as classroom management or math and literacy. Mentors meet weekly with new teachers, observe them in classrooms and accompany them on learning visits.
Teaching assessments show that mentored teachers perform at the same levels as veteran teachers in the classroom, Appolloni said. That means students benefit, too, she said. In addition, 19 instructional coaches were hired in 2006-07 and placed at schools to provide on-site professional development.

"The real beauty is they are there all the time helping teachers with what they need," said Susan Denning, a district coordinator with the teaching and learning program.
Carson City also provides a mentoring program. Teachers are given tips for managing the classroom, preparing for lessons, ordering supplies and setting up field trips. But there are no data showing that its mentor program has improved teacher retention rates.

"Since I have been at the Carson City School District, since July 2001, we replace 8 to 10 percent of our certified staff -- teachers, counselors, etc. -- each year," Stokes said. "The percentage has only varied slightly over the past six years. I don't have data that shows that our mentoring program is preventing teachers from leaving our district."

Hiring not a problem

Administrators in the Washoe, Carson City, Lyon and Douglas County school districts said they do not have problems hiring the teachers they need, except in a few niche areas, such as special-education or high school science and math.

"I would say that for elementary education, there are enough applicants for the vacancies we have," Stokes said. "Anything on the secondary level gets a little trickier because it's a
more-focused discipline."