Welcome to "Why We Don't Teach"
This site is intended to give policy makers, administrators, and others interested in the current state of public education in the United States an understanding of why teachers are leaving the profession.
It has recently been shown that the shortage of quality teachers we are facing as a nation stems from problems of retention rather than problems of recruitment. According to one study, nearly 50% of all teachers leave the field within their first five years of teaching.
Why is this happening?
While this topic is complex with many factors that confound easy remediation, this site offers resources and curriculum for exploring the issue both systemically and from the perspective of teachers who have left the profession.
The curriculum in this site is divided into three sections intended to be addressed in the classroom over a course of three consecutive weeks. Each week has its own theme as follows:
As you progress through this site, listen to the experiences and adventures of former classroom teachers, and reflect upon this complicated issue, we hope that you will gain greater insight into this problem and help to be a part of the solution.