In the fall of 2015, Georgia school officials became aware of an alarming trend — 44 percent of the state’s public school teachers were leaving the profession within the first five years of employment. In a survey put together by state education leaders in November of that year, teachers described a profession with too many mandated tests, frustrations with what they deemed unfair and unrealistic evaluation of their work, perceptions that their input in decisions related to the profession did not matter and on top of all that they did not think they were being paid enough. Within three weeks, more than 53,000 Georgia teachers — about half the workforce — had responded to the survey.