The SC Teacher Exit Survey is designed to offer more nuanced insights into how working conditions relate to teachers’ decisions to work in another school district or leave the classroom entirely. Each year, SC TEACHER administers the survey to public PK–12 classroom teachers not renewing their teaching contracts.
This annual survey has been conducted by SC TEACHER at no cost to school districts since 2021.
- In the 2023–24 SC Teacher Exit Survey, 30 school districts and 1,019 teachers participated. The next survey will take place in Spring 2025.
- Each year, we release a report with analysis of that year’s data, plus longitudinal comparisons across administrations. Read survey findings from 2023–24 here.
- Districts that participate in the survey receive district-specific findings. They’re also invited to a webinar focused on interpreting the data for strategic planning.
Is my district eligible to participate in the 2024 survey administration?
The 2024 SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey is for districts that did not participate in early 2023 survey administration or did not have a response rate above 25%. The 2024 survey will run from Jan. 29 to Feb. 16, 2024. The standard survey runs on a biannual schedule and will occur again statewide in 2025.
Is your district highlighted in blue?
Your district is eligible to take part in the 2024 SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey!
District personnel will have received information on how to participate.
Is your district highlighted in grey?
We appreciate your participation in the Spring 2023 survey. While your district will not be asked to complete the survey again until the 2025 administration, your results grant district personnel access to specific data, ongoing expert support, and other free resources through SC TEACHER.
Not sure how to access resources? Email SCTinfo@mailbox.sc.edu.
Findings from the 2024 SC Teacher Exit Survey
Percentages of Exiting Teachers by Mobility Type
Percentages of Primary Reasons for Role-Changers
Figure 5 & Figure 7 from the SC Teacher Exit Survey: Summary of Results for 2023–24
FAQs
This annual exit survey collects data from public PK–12 classroom teachers leaving their positions or the profession in South Carolina. It’s designed to offer state-level insights into teacher attrition, while also providing participating districts with meaningful and specific insights informing recruitment and retention practices.
The survey has been administered by SC TEACHER since 2021 (at no cost to districts). Each year, more districts have chosen to participate, helping to build comprehensive data unique to South Carolina.
This survey is an opportunity for districts to learn about the specific working conditions affecting attrition within their schools, while also contributing to the collection of statewide data.
Participating districts receive a report with district-specific results — a helpful resource for understanding why teachers have opted not to renew their contracts. Districts can also attend a webinar, where the SC TEACHER team will break down data interpretation and specific takeaways useful for district planning.
The next SC Teacher Exit Survey will take place in Spring 2025. School district personnel administrators throughout South Carolina will receive invitations and information around survey participation in April. For questions or information about participating, please email SCTinfo@mailbox.sc.edu.
Survey responses are confidential, but not anonymous. This is so SC TEACHER can share results with districts that have a minimum of five teachers participating.
To maintain the privacy of respondents, we work to ensure teachers can never be identified by their responses. Individual responses and any identifying data are kept confidential and not shared with school districts or the state.
District-specific results are shared only in aggregate and with the district point of contact (most often the personnel administrator). SC TEACHER also collects results into a state-level report. None of this information can be traced back to the individual.
Given that a district meets the minimum threshold of five teachers participating, district-specific survey results are confidentially shared with the district point of contact.
Each year, SC TEACHER produces a state-level report on exit survey findings using aggregated data. Through this report, collective data from districts help inform South Carolina policymakers’ decisions around teacher retention and recruitment efforts.
For the 2025 survey administration, all South Carolina public school districts should receive invitations to participate in early April 2025. For districts that agree to participate, instructions on how to submit data will follow.
Districts must agree to participate before SC TEACHER can administer the survey to exiting teachers. Teachers in participating districts will receive invitations to take the survey via their district emails.
If you have any questions about participating, please email SCTinfo@mailbox.sc.edu.
The SC Teacher Exit Survey is conducted by the South Carolina Teacher Education Advancement Consortium for Higher Education Research (SC TEACHER). SC TEACHER is a state-funded research consortium that administers, coordinates, and disseminates high-quality research on teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention to inform and assist districts in South Carolina.