Strategies to Consider

Improve working conditions to attract, develop, and retain teachers for students from low-income and minority families. 

Ensure that local education agencies focus on supporting instructional leadership in high-need schools to provide teaching staff the working conditions they need to succeed for improved teacher recruitment, development, and retention. 

Survey effective teachers and leaders currently working in high-poverty schools to determine what effect, if any, financial compensation has on their decisions to move to or stay in high-need schools.

Examine local and national incentive-based programs for lessons learned in encouraging teachers to stay in or move to high-need schools. 

Support local innovation related to recruitment and retention incentives (e.g., housing incentives and local market-based salary bonuses) as well as career advancement opportunities that encourage effective teachers to stay in hard-to-staff schools. 

Leverage teacher and principal evaluation results to identify targeted, job-embedded professional development.

Reliably implement a comprehensive educator evaluation system to help determine whether the access to great teachers and leaders is equitable in your school, across your district, and across your state.

Evaluate and consider expanding the professional development opportunities that colleges of education provide specifically to strengthen teaching in high-need schools:

Leverage principal evaluation systems to enhance leadership for effective teaching and leading in high-need districts and schools.