Recruiting a diverse staff and building a “family-like” school culture are among the key action steps more than 100 Black educators recommend school leaders follow in a recent report released by Teach Plus and the Center for Black Educator Development. The paper presented the findings of focus groups conducted during Read more
Recently, AIR published a report from Keri Ingraham, fellow at Discovery Institute, focused on the possibility of using adjunct teachers for K-12 classrooms for limited roles. Excerpts from this intriguing piece appear below: Trends in higher education tend to trickle down to K–12 schools over time. In the K–12 setting, Read more
The District of Columbia Public Schools is well-known for its comprehensive teacher-evaluation and performance-based compensation systems. But an equally important component of the district’s work to strengthen its teaching workforce has been a systematic, data-driven approach to hiring the strongest candidates in the first place. Known as TeachDC, the system Read more
The National Council on Teacher Quality recently released a report by Patricia Saenz-Armstrong comparing the salary trajectories of teachers in 90 large school districts across the country. Excerpts from the piece appear below: “Teacher pay is low.” It has been said hundreds of thousands of times before. The search term Read more
Although almost everyone understands the importance of student well-being, there is much less consideration for the well-being of teachers themselves. Healthy educators are more productive, less likely to be absent, and better equipped to support student development when they themselves are mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally well. By creating opportunities Read more
A new study focusing on Missouri and Tennessee shows that principals of color are more likely to hire and retain teachers of color. After five years, having a Black principal leads to a 5 percentage point increase in a school’s share of Black teachers. Findings not only demonstrate that principal Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic has added more stress to an already high-stress profession: American public school teacher. The authors of a new report by RAND share the results of a survey of nearly 1,000 former public school teachers and reveal how important stress has been—even more so than pay—to teachers’ decisions Read more
Writing for Edutopia, Sarah Gonser explores how school leaders can help create the conditions for educator health and well-being. Excerpts of the piece appear below: The stress of this disrupted school year is impacting all educators. Instead of “make space to restore your balance” or “find time to exercise more,” Read more
Writing for The 74, Brenda Tanner, a former school administrator and superintendent, explores the promise of gathering valuable information from teachers through customized surveys in order to improve retention. Excerpts from her piece appear below: District leaders have little access to the authentic, unvarnished perspectives that determine whether a teacher Read more
Over the last year, Education Evolving published a series of blog posts focused on the growing problem of teacher turnover, and uplifting the stories of schools, strategies, programs, and leaders that buck the trend. This series has now wrapped up. Check out some of the top posts: Why Teachers Leave: Read more
Addressing shortages in a state’s teacher labor market can present unique challenges and requires access to comprehensive data and an understanding of available policy levers. To support informed policy, the Education Commission of the States has compiled a national comparison of state policies related to teacher recruitment and retention, with Read more
Through their goal of transforming the teaching profession and increasing the cadre of educators and administrators in P12, the National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY) has partnered with University of Phoenix (UOPX) to examine the current trajectories of Black male educators as they enter into and advance Read more
Teachers have long been identified as the number one in-school factor that influences student outcomes. Conversely, teacher turnover is correlated with lower student outcomes and contributes to school cultures where churn and instability prevent positive change from taking root. How to retain teachers has emerged as a key area of Read more
Helen Ladd and Lucy Sorensen, writing for the Brookings blog, recently explored the concerns associated with within-school turnover, focusing on the churn in middle school core subject areas. Excerpts from their piece appear below: We draw on a recent paper in which we examined how middle schools in North Carolina Read more
Every year, schools must hire new teachers to replace the nearly 15 percent who leave annually. But what if schools are doing it wrong? In Core Education’s May issue brief, we explore the data science behind teacher hiring, look at the teacher characteristics that have the most impact on teacher Read more
Writing for the Brookings Institute, Amy Roberts and Helyn Kim explore the importance of teacher well-being for student success. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Without question, teachers are central to student success. Anyone who has taught knows how rewarding it is to witness student learning. Teaching can also be Read more