Improving Teacher Well-Being and Teaching Conditions

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Improving Teacher Well-Being and Teaching Conditions

Address teacher shortages, avoid teacher strikes, and improve teacher satisfaction by creating the teaching conditions that educators deserve. 

Educator shortages toolkit

Creating the Teaching Conditions that Educators Deserve

Do you know what our teachers think about the conditions they work in every day? Do they have adequate time, leadership opportunities, and support from school leaders? Challenging teaching conditions are often a contributing factor to teacher attrition rates in our districts and schools. We offer a suite of resources and services to help states and districts to better understand:

  • the latest evidence and research linking teacher satisfaction, retention, and teaching conditions;
  • how to administer and collect teaching conditions data, whether through AIR's Teaching Conditions Survey, or other valid and reliable instruments;
  • how to use teaching conditions data to address teacher attrition and teacher shortage patterns, and;
  • the competencies that school leaders need to improve teacher satisfaction and improve the culture of all schools, particularly in schools that are low-performing or hard-to-staff. 

Top Resources

Teaching Conditions Toolkit

The Teaching Conditions Toolkit assists states and districts in understanding what teaching conditions are and how improving key aspects of teaching conditions can create a more positive teaching and learning environment, raise teacher retention rates, and strengthen positive school culture. The 5-part toolkit includes the following modules:

Click the button below for free access to Module 1.

Need support? The GTL Center team offers customized services and supports for states and districts interested in facilitating all of the modules included in the Teaching Conditions Toolkit. For support with facilitation or access to modules 2-5, please contact us

Visit Toolkit

AIR's Teaching Conditions Survey

AIR's Teaching Conditions Survey is a valid, reliable survey centered around nine crucial teaching conditions factors:

  • Time
  • Facilities and Resources
  • Community Support and Involvement
  • Managing Student Conduct
  • Teacher Leadership
  • School Leadership
  • Professional Development
  • Instructional Practices and Support
  • New Teacher Support

Our team has two decades of experience using the survey to assess and improve teaching conditions in wide-range of schools and districts. AIR’s Teaching Conditions Survey provides states, districts, and schools with dashboards and reports that visualize important feedback from teachers and noninstructional staff that policy-makers can use to improve teaching conditions and school culture and climate. The GTL Center team offers state-of-the-art survey and professional learning services to help clients identify the most salient findings and take action based on a collaborative review of the data. 

Contact Us to Learn More

Featured Project

Improving Teaching Conditions in High-Need Schools: Chicago Public Schools

The GTL Center, Midwest Comprehensive Center, and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) partnered with nine schools to improve teaching conditions, teacher voice, and support for mentors of new teachers. AIR staff helped both CPS and school teams collect and analyze their teaching conditions data and identify actionable next steps.

Read About the Project

 

GTL Center Services for Improving Teacher Well-Being and Teaching Conditions

Interested in improving teaching conditions in your schools as an integrated talent management strategy for recruiting and retaining effective teachers? Our tools and services were designed with you in mind. We can assist with consultations, modification and customization of GTL tools to meet your unique context, administering online teaching conditions surveys, as well as more in-depth, sustained supports based on need. We offer three service levels, which can be customized and tailored to your unique needs and starting point:

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EXPLORING

Interested in better understanding how teaching conditions can impact teacher retention and satisfaction? We offer short-term engagements to build your knowledge and expertise, including:

  • Expert consultation or subject matter experts to support knowledge-building
  • Presentations or keynote speakers to provide the latest research and examples. 
  • Single-day workshops to explore the key teaching conditions that support teacher retention, how to collect and interpret data to understand teaching conditions, or strategies for improving teaching conditions. For a preview, explore Module 1 in our toolkit.  

INVESTING

Ready to invest in teaching conditions in your state? We offer packages for 5+ day, on-site workshops rooted in our Teaching Conditions Toolkit to support your team in: 

  • Collaborative data interpretation to understand teaching conditions challenges. 
  • Engaging stakeholders to identify specific strategies for improving teaching conditions.
  • Action planning to guide implementation of strategies to transform teaching conditions, including data collection and monitoring.
  • Reflect on data to adjust implementation and scale-up sustainably.  

ALL IN

Looking for a partner to guide you step-by-step, over the long haul? We offer long-term, on-the-ground supports for survey administration, data analysis, piloting identified strategies, continuous improvement, and program evaluation.   

  • Teaching conditions survey design, administration and data collection.
  • Co-interpretation process to analyze and take action using survey data
  • Side-by-side planning and program design through a process centered on implementation science, research, and best practice. 
  • Train-the-trainer sessions to build capacity and support sustainability and scale-up.