Why teachers leave

Research on Seattle's public schools conducted by the University of Washington confirms what many suspected: teachers are less likely to stay at schools in poorer neighborhoods:

Poverty rates were one of the biggest factors in determining whether teachers stayed or left, especially at the elementary school level. With a few exceptions, schools in poorer areas and those with higher minority populations struggled to keep teachers.

One of those exceptions is Daniel Bagley Elementary in the Green Lake area, which had the lowest teacher-retention rate in the state, with 90 percent turnover in five years.

However, turnover is highest at the district's 15 high schools, nine of which saw more than 50 percent turnover in their teaching staffs between 1999 and 2003.