Teenagers may drop out of school because of pregnancy, a family emergency or simply because they just don't like a certain class -- and it's the same with teachers.

"Most of them have a real good feel for the classroom when they leave," said Dr. Briant Farnsworth, the dean of the college of education at Utah Valley State College. "Some of them realize it's a lot harder and a lot more work than they imagined it would be."

A report, submitted to Utah's K-16 Alliance from its special task force on teacher shortages in March, addressed the high teacher turnover rate in an improvement plan for the state for retaining teachers. But with school out for the summer in Utah County, some teachers have decided to leave the building for more than three months.

"The state is experiencing a high turnover rate among new teachers," the study reads. "For example, in 2005-2006, nearly 20 percent of those resigning K-12 positions reportedly had only taught one year for the school district they were leaving."

The task force found that in 2005, Utah experienced a shortage of 1,400 teachers between the number of teachers hired and those produced by colleges around the state. The most important factor it found in teacher retention was compensation.

In that same school year, the public education system reported a turnover rate of 11.4 percent, said Dr. Dave Sperry, Utah System of Higher Education scholar in residence, in the report. He found that half of the turnover rate was due to retirement, 17.6 percent of leaving teachers cited personal or family issues, and 2.7 percent of all who left went to another type of employment.

Caprise Steadman, a BYU graduate student, left her teaching position in January to go back to school. She is now studying geology.

"I didn't really like teaching," Steadman said.

There were some things she had not anticipated about being a teacher, including trying to balance her time between all of her duties and adapting her lessons for 20 special education students.

"In school they talked about the concept, but never the practical application of how to format your lessons for those students," she said.

In May, 22 teachers resigned from Provo School District alone. As of June 1, 22 certified vacancies were posted on the school district's Web site.

Alpine School District has 59 certified teaching positions open on their Web site, and Nebo School District has 29 positions available for certified teachers.

Among those leaving in Provo, Tanya Roundy left for a job closer to home in Manti, and said a lot of fellow teachers left because of pay, benefits and the feeling they weren't receiving needed support from school administrators, the district and the state.

The state Legislature did approve hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding this year for education, including raises for teachers.

"I think a lot of new teachers are optimistic and think it will change, and then realize it's not once they start teaching," said Roundy, who has been teaching school for one year.

According to a 2002 report by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 30 percent to 50 percent of new teachers will leave the profession within five years.

"Sometimes it has to do with the fact that many teachers are female, and they want to start a family and have children," said Farnsworth, adding that some of them might choose to come back after a few years.

Brooke Barker can be reached at 344-2559 or bbarker@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.