Teacher Turnover: Pre- and Post-Pandemic Trends in Missouri
J. Cameron Anglum, Ph.D.
Teacher mobility in Missouri and most states across the country reached long-term highs following the pandemic over the 2022-23 school year. Though mobility declined in 2023-24, several worrying trends have persisted across the state, including higher turnover among teachers working in urban, rural, and disproportionately low-income schools. Turnover is also disproportionately high among the state’s teachers of color, though the state has more than doubled the recruitment of new teachers of color over the past decade. As legislators and education leaders work to support Missouri’s teacher workforce, policy formation must engage with labor conditions specific to particular school and teacher characteristics to effectively improve outcomes for teachers and the students they educate.
Key Points:
Total turnover across Missouri declined by approximately one percentage point between 2022-23 and 2023-24, but remains at a long-term high.
Teachers of color leave their teaching positions in Missouri schools or the profession altogether much more frequently than their white peers. However, Missouri has significantly increased its teacher diversity, primarily through doubling the share of non-white first-year teachers.
Schools in urban and rural geographic locales experience higher turnover, especially relative to suburban locales. St. Louis and Kansas City teachers are substantially more likely to leave their positions relative both to teachers statewide and teachers in Missouri’s remaining urban locales.
Similarly, students in schools serving the largest shares of low-income students experience larger turnover than their more affluent peers, compounded by transfer trends characterized by teachers moving from lower to higher-income schools.
Each of these trends bear on policymaking decisions both among local districts and at the state level, including teacher salaries, school working conditions, higher education training programs, and state funding of public schools.
Please Cite As: Anglum, J. C. (2025). Teacher Turnover: Pre- and Post-Pandemic Trends in Missouri. Policy Research in Missouri Education, 7(14). Saint Louis University. www.primecenter.org/education-reports-database/teacher-turnover