Keeping teachers in school: Education officials say faculty retention is key to student performance.

Byline: Christina Cooke

Sep. 3--Three weeks into the school year, Brown Academy principal Lea Ann Burk already is trying to make sure her teachers want to come back next year. She has turned faculty meetings into training sessions and is surrounding teachers new to the school with experienced mentors.

"Teacher retention is essential for an effective school," Ms. Burk said. "If a teacher leaves, with that teacher leaves a lot of essential information about the children." Each February, teachers who want to transfer to a different school may submit to the district a list of five schools where they'd like to work the following year. Last year, about 415 teachers, or 13 percent of Hamilton County's estimated 3,200 teachers put in bids to teach at different schools in the district.

At Brown Academy, 63 percent of teachers put in bids to teach elsewhere, the highest in the school district, followed by 52 percent at Harrison Elementary, 46 percent at Orchard Knob Elementary, and 43 percent McBrien Elementary. …