Probably not.

My skepticism is based on national statistics that suggest anywhere from 33 percent to 50 percent of new teachers will leave the profession during their first five years on the job.

You’ve heard such numbers before, of course. And you may already have taken steps to address this issue. Every day, I see press releases from school systems announcing initiatives to provide new teachers with mentors, to launch support groups for new hires, or to boost training for first-year teachers.

And those all are steps in the right direction.

But have you taken a serious look at what your district’s efforts? Are administrators making retention a priority? Are these efforts actually making any difference?

You have to wonder. Several organizations have reported in the past year that teacher retention rates continue to slide.

That’s not good. Teacher turnover is a major reason that schools serving disadvantaged students have such high numbers of young and inexperienced new teachers. And it’s a major reason reform efforts fail: How can they succeed if you train a school faculty in a new instructional program—and then half the faculty is replaced with teachers who are unfamiliar with the program?

Meanwhile, school boards are paying through the nose for this turnover—more than $7 billion annually, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future suggests. The cost of recruiting, hiring, and training a replacement for a lost teacher can range from $4,300 in rural New Mexico to nearly $18,000 in Chicago. (Chicago apparently spends $86 million annually in turnover-related costs.)

If you do look deeper into this issue, be prepared for a shock: You may discover that your schools are giving tenure to some very mediocre teachers—and creating future problems for you—because principals are so desperate just to have a warm body in the classroom.

You also should know that some administrators are becoming resigned to higher turnover rates. At a school I visited last year, a principal told me that he’s quit worrying if new job applicants will have any longevity. “I’m looking,” he says, “for someone who will give me a good two or three years.”

Del Stover, Senior Editor