Why They Leave: The Reasons Teachers Give for Quitting the Profession

Thousands of public school teachers voluntarily leave their jobs each year, hurting student achievement and costing districts billions of dollars to find replacements. Lynnette Mawhinney and Carol Rinke were once part of that churn. Now, with both women serving as professors at teacher prep programs, Mawhinney and Rinke have co-authored a new book that illuminates Read more about Why They Leave: The Reasons Teachers Give for Quitting the Profession[…]

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Retaining Teachers: Fostering Conditions Where Talent Thrives

Education Evolving has launched a new blog series focused on the growing problem of teacher turnover, and telling the stories of schools, strategies, programs, and leaders that buck the trend. 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 Read more about Retaining Teachers: Fostering Conditions Where Talent Thrives[…]

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State Efforts to Solve Teacher Shortages by Strengthening the Profession

Most states have been struggling to address teacher shortages for several years now, often filling the vacuum with underprepared teachers who aren’t able to give children the high-quality learning they need and who leave at two to three times the rate of well-prepared teachers. Most often, these teachers are hired in schools serving students of Read more about State Efforts to Solve Teacher Shortages by Strengthening the Profession[…]

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Teachers in the US Are Even More Segregated than Students

Michael Hansen and Diana Quintero, writing in a Teacher Diversity in America series for the Brown Center on Education Policy, recently explored the distribution of teachers of color and find that teachers in the US are even more segregated than students. As we know, an increasing amount of evidence shows that alignment in the racial Read more about Teachers in the US Are Even More Segregated than Students[…]

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Denver’s New Experiment with the First Year of Teaching

Melanie Asmar, writing for Chalkbeat, recently explored Denver’s new experiment to make the first year of teaching more bearable. Excerpts from the piece appear below:   Next year, Denver is piloting the role of “associate teachers” in Denver Public Schools. These teachers will teach part-time in a high-poverty school and spend the rest of their Read more about Denver’s New Experiment with the First Year of Teaching[…]

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Core Education Issue Brief: Teacher Retention

A highly effective teacher can inspire incredible growth in students, but too often, our most talented teachers leave the classroom. How to retain teachers has emerged as a key area of interest for district leaders and policymakers. In Core Education’s June issue brief, we explore a variety of incentives, strategies, and school cultures to determine Read more about Core Education Issue Brief: Teacher Retention[…]

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Supporting our Teachers of Color

Recently in the Hechinger Report, former Education Secretary John B. King, Jr. and Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the Learning Policy Institute wrote an op-ed recommending several actions that can be taken at the school, district, state and college levels to better support teachers of color. Excerpts from the piece appear below: Qualitative research from The Read more about Supporting our Teachers of Color[…]

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Retaining High Performers: Insights from Teacher Exit Surveys

A new Bellwether report by Kaitlin Pennington and Alexander Brand analyzes District of Columbia Public Schools’ teacher exit survey data to better understand why high-performing teachers left, where they went, and what they say would have retained them. As school districts across the country report various kinds of teacher shortages, how to retain teachers has Read more about Retaining High Performers: Insights from Teacher Exit Surveys[…]

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What does pre-service teacher quality tell us about entry and retention in the profession?

It is often difficult for school and district leadership to identify high-quality teachers who will remain in the classroom, especially among those who are just entering the profession and in the first years of employment. However, a recent study by Robert Vagi, Margarita Pivovarova and Wendy Miedel Barnard suggests that examining a prospective teacher’s instructional Read more about What does pre-service teacher quality tell us about entry and retention in the profession?[…]

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Strategies for Building Teacher Pipelines from CCSSO

As state leaders in education, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) aims to make sure every child has an effective teacher every year they are in school. Unfortunately, today, the education sector is facing a major challenge when it comes to the education workforce: States struggle to attract teachers to the profession, even Read more about Strategies for Building Teacher Pipelines from CCSSO[…]

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An Accurate Look at Teacher Turnover Data

NCTQ recently took a closer look at the teacher turnover data in a report titled NCTQ Clears Up Latest “Crisis” in Teaching: An Accurate Look at Teacher Turnover Data. Some are claiming that teacher turnover is the latest crisis affecting the “national” teacher shortage, but NCTQ researchers find that some often repeated statistics are wrong Read more about An Accurate Look at Teacher Turnover Data[…]

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Which states are friendliest to teachers?

In some states, teachers are more fairly paid and treated than in others and therefore less likely to face a revolving door of teacher turnover. To help America’s educators find the best opportunities and teaching environments, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 21 key indicators of teacher-friendliness, divided Read more about Which states are friendliest to teachers?[…]

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Retaining Minority Teachers in Schools where Most of their Colleagues are White

Minorities continue to be largely underrepresented among elementary and secondary teachers relative to the racial and ethnic composition of the nation’s student body, and tend to be concentrated in urban, high-minority schools. This means that many nonwhite or Hispanic students who attend schools with few minority teachers lack valuable role models. Many studies find that Read more about Retaining Minority Teachers in Schools where Most of their Colleagues are White[…]

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How Teacher Stress Affects Students

Sarah Sparks, writing for Education Week, reviews the research on teacher stress and how it can impact students. Excerpts of her piece appear below: In one 2016 study, University of British Columbia researchers tracked the levels of stress hormones of more than 400 elementary students in different classes. They found teachers who reported higher levels Read more about How Teacher Stress Affects Students[…]

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Great Districts for Great Teachers

Eight school districts just became the nation’s first-ever Great Districts for Great Teachers. This new honor, developed by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), recognizes districts for their exceptional programs and policies on recruiting, encouraging, supporting, and retaining great teachers. The winners are: Boston Public Schools; Broward County Public Schools; Denver Public Schools; District Read more about Great Districts for Great Teachers[…]

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New Survey from CAP: Districts Not Investing Enough in Human Capital

To succeed in today’s economy, organizations must invest in the skills, knowledge and abilities of their staff – i.e. human capital – to maximize their performance. Ranging from talent recruitment, to creating workplace practices and environments that encourage employees to develop and stay, these tactics are being used by organizations throughout the country to be Read more about New Survey from CAP: Districts Not Investing Enough in Human Capital[…]

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