The Real Reason Teachers are Leaving the Profession

I left my teaching position with Chicago Public Schools after giving a decade of my life to the profession. I departed for multiple reasons, including a family move, the need for a challenge in my career, and the desire to escape the grind and stress.

Back then, I didn’t know many teachers who wanted to leave teaching. I was the outlier, and people were shocked when I made my departure. I was a standout educator with strong student and parent relationships, and my test scores and student growth were always through the roof.

Wind the clock ahead; I’ve been out of the classroom almost longer than I was in it. I’ve spent the second decade of my career working in edtech (eSpark Learning and Discovery Education) and in the last five years building educators 2 educators.

Back when I left the classroom, we were all stressed. Yes, parents were demanding. Yes, we had a few students who made our classroom hard to manage.

But we faced nothing like what teachers are facing today.

Covid, plus social media, plus technology, plus a mental health crisis, plus a downward economy…

I’ve spent the last ten years traveling the nation, visiting school districts of all sizes, and building an educator network of over 70,000 educators. I talk to teachers, coaches, and administrators every day. And today I’m going to tell you WHY teachers and administrators are leaving education in a steady stream.

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