Teachers Who Interrupt Their Careers: Characteristics of Those Who Return to the Classroom

Abstract

Using maximum likelihood logistic regression analysis, this study of public school teachers identifies the characteristics that distinguish teachers who return to the classroom after a career interruption from those who do not. Its purpose is to improve our ability to monitor and predict teacher supply and demand by determining areas that may be vulnerable to shortages in the future. The findings show that the teachers most likely to return are those with subject area specialties that provide limited opportunities for better paying employment outside of public schools, those who have more than 2 years of experience coupled with a master’s degree, and those who interrupted their careers at an older rather than a younger age. Although females return in higher proportions than males overall, this appears to be the result of females’ greater representation in areas with lower opportunity costs. Therefore, when subject area specialty is held constant, females and males return at approximately the same rates.