LOS ANGELES—Teachers at Los Angeles Unified charter schools are up to three times as likely to quit their jobs as their counterparts in traditional district schools, according to a University of California, Berkeley study released Tuesday.

Teachers at charter high schools in high-poverty neighborhoods are particularly likely to leave their schools—40 percent as compared to about 18 percent in regular inner-city high schools, reported the study, which was to be presented to LAUSD officials Tuesday morning.

Study co-author Xiaoxia Newton, an assistant education professor, called the inner-city charter turnover rate "alarmingly high" and noted that it likely stems from difficult teaching conditions.

Charter school teachers often have to grapple with students entering very low academic skills and an evaluation system based on standardized test scores, which may not show student improvement because the student started