Strategies to Consider

Consider giving principals more input into teacher hiring and placement decisions.

Examine and possibly revise local teacher dismissal policies. 

Examine and possibly revise local teacher transfer policies. 

Provide preparation for school leaders on equitable assignment and school scheduling practices. 

Provide principal professional development on school scheduling and teacher assignment. 

Determine which students have been repeatedly assigned a new teacher; reassign those teachers or students. 

Avoid assigning new teachers to low-performing students or lower tracked classrooms. 

Establish opportunities for teacher leadership:

• Provide strong instructional support to teacher leaders.
• Empower teacher leaders to collaborate on curriculum and instructional design.
• Empower teacher leaders to provide constructive feedback to peers.
• Empower teacher leaders to provide induction, mentoring, and other professional development support to develop a strong collaborative school atmosphere. 

Encourage school leaders to use climate and working conditions data to focus and improve their school improvement plans and their own leadership performance. 

Conduct working conditions surveys, focus groups, and interviews among teachers, other instructional staff, and students, and encourage school leaders to use the resulting data to focus and improve their school improvement plans and their own leadership performance. Research continues to show that working conditions influence a teacher’s decision to stay in or leave a school and sometimes the profession. Research also shows that working conditions can affect teacher effectiveness.