Across the state of Pennsylvania, nearly 7% of teachers have left the profession from 2024 to 2025.
A recent report from the Penn State Center for Evaluation & Education Policy Analysis revealed the shocking statistic and just how dire the situation is becoming for education in Pennsylvania.
The report showed that there was a slight increase in the number of in-state teacher certifications to 5,624 in the 2023-2024 school year, up by 47.
Although this increase seemed promising, nearly 8,900 individuals have left the teaching profession in just one year in Pennsylvania.
The figure is also down from 15,031 in-state certifications issued during the 2010-2011 school year.
Ed Fuller, an associate professor at Penn State’s College of Education who wrote the report, said, “Given our shortage of teachers, it makes a difference because it’s another 500 or 1,000 teacher slots you have to figure out how to fill and we can’t do it now.”
In Allegheny County, attrition rates reached 6.4% in 2024-2025, or 737 teachers.
According to the report, districts with higher numbers of white students not living in poverty see lower attrition rates.
Those districts with the lowest percentage of students of color had the lowest attrition rates at 5.5%, compared to those with the highest number of students of color at 11.2%.
Districts with the lowest number of students of color saw the lowest turnover rate at 7.3%. Those with the highest number had a 17.5% turnover rate.
Turnover rates at schools with the lowest number of students in poverty was 8.9%, compared with those with the highest number at 16.1%.
Attrition rates were also impacted by school type. Charter schools were found to have attrition rates “substantially greater than those for [career and technical centers] and school districts.”
Between 2022 and 2024, charter school attrition rates were 14.2%. The rate at traditional school districts only reached 6.3%.
The report explains that high attrition rates coupled with low numbers of newly certified teachers “continue to strain the teacher supply and demand system in Pennsylvania.”
In the report, Fuller proposed possible policy solutions that could help fix the teacher shortage problem.
The proposals included a ‘retain your own’ program to provide financial support and technical assistance to districts through a university-state partnership aimed at reducing teaching attrition, increasing salaries for teachers, adopting a comprehensive performance pay program for teachers in high-needs schools, and more.
