Abstract: retaining high-quality teachers is a challenge for many countries, especially in rural areas and weak schools. On the basis of extensive literature collection, this paper combs and summarizes the problem of teachers' retention in rural and weak schools abroad, and finds that foreign research on this problem mainly focuses on the negative impact of teachers' loss, the related factors of teachers' retention, and the construction of theoretical model of teachers' retention. Through systematic analysis, this paper summarizes the characteristics and Enlightenment of foreign research, such as paying attention to the theoretical research of teacher retention, paying attention to the demonstration of influencing factors of teacher retention, strengthening interdisciplinary comprehensive research, and adopting diversified research methods. These studies will help us to understand the key behind the problem of teachers' retention, and then take effective measures to strengthen the rural and weak school teachers.