The Talent Development Framework (TDF)

With so many separate educator talent management initiatives—from preservice training to professional development and compensation—and with district, state, and federal involvement in teacher policies, policymakers often have adopted a piecemeal approach to dealing with this system-level issue, particularly under times of crisis.

In response, we developed the Talent Development Framework, which provides an opportunity and a road map for state- and district-level policymakers to systemically improve educator quality, address teacher shortages. and improve equitable access for all students. By promoting a comprehensive, systemic approach, the framework helps state and district leaders:

proactively and purposefully address talent challenges per local context;
make sense of talent challenges across the educator career continuum by illustrating and systematizing the complexity of developing human talent in education;
take a more strategic approach to securing the teachers and school leaders needed to create a strong, equitable education system.

Explore the Talent Development Framework Overview

TDF Resources

The Talent Development Framework: Improving Access to Excellent Educators for All Students (May 2020)

Read the full TDF to begin your journey to proactively and purposefully address educator shortages and talent challenges in your local context. Our team can support your state in applying the principles of the TDF to meet the needs of your unique COVID-19 talent challenges.

Advancing Quality Teaching for All Schools: Examining the Impact of COVID-19 on the Teaching Workforce

Examine projections about the impact of COVID-19 on the teacher workforce and explore recommendations for addressing resulting challenges.

The Talent Development Data Tool

Plan for COVID-19 staffing needs and challenges by visualizing different slices and segments of the teacher workforce across the entire educator career continuum. This easy-to-use, Excel-based tool assists states in targeting funding, incentives, and other programmatic supports for the greatest impact, as well as allowing states to provide support to districts in making strategic staffing decisions.

Investing in Talent Development: A Funding Guide for Supporting the Teacher Workforce with Federal, Private, and State Funds (June 2020)

Funding the important work of teachers can be supported through a variety of federal programs, private foundations, and state legislative appropriations. This guide identifies potential funding that can be leveraged by states, districts and educator preparation providers to address teacher professional growth and talent development across the full educator career continuum.

GTL Center Services for the Talent Development Framework

We offer evidence-based resources and supports to help states and their districts take a data-driven approach to comprehensive talent development. Our services are tied to concrete, measurable outcomes for states and districts and informed by our extensive work across the United States in the last decade. 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 comprehensive talent development? We offer short-term engagements to build your knowledge and expertise, including:

INVESTING

Ready to invest in a comprehensive solution to educator talent development in your state? We offer 5+ day workshops to support your team in:

Analyzing data and engaging stakeholders to identify talent development challenges and their root causes in local contexts
Selecting and prioritizing evidence-based strategies to address your state or district's identified root causes
Action planning to connect short-term and long-term strategies as part of comprehensive, systemic solution, particularly in the COVID-19 context
Progress monitoring to refine and improve implementation to ensure programs are READI for schools and districts who need them most.

ALL IN

Are you looking for a partner to guide you step-by-step, over the long haul? We offer long-term, on-the-ground supports for development and implementation of comprehensive solutions:

Explore the Talent Development Data Tool

The Talent Development Data Tool is an easy-to-use, Excel-based tool to visualize teacher workforce data across the full educator career continuum, including disaggregating teacher workforce data to identify teacher shortages by segments like subject area, school type, income level, geographic area, and race or ethnicity. Our team can support states in using the data tool with cross-agency teams, district leaders, educator preparation providers, and other key stakeholders to hold data-driven, grounded conversations to identify top talent challenges, root causes, and relevant strategies.

Learn more in the video demonstration below, and contact us for more information about ways to access the tool and our support services.

Client Perspective

“The GTL center has provided an extremely helpful resource with the TDF. It is chock full of thoughtful questions and recommendations that are directly in line with our approach.”

Michael O'Connor,
Coordinator, Educator Pipelines, Preparation & Certification,
Rhode Island Department of Elementary & Secondary Education

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Client Perspective

“The team brought a high level of attentiveness to our district's needs and nuanced understanding of the regional context, making it a true collaboration and thought partnership.”

DC Office of State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) Staff Member
“Our state is where it is now with mentoring and induction due to [T4TLA]—consistent and continual efforts to ensure we are building high-quality mentoring and induction templates that can be used by all.”

T4TLA Participant
“As a result of the GTL Center's efforts, many of the districts are now implementing working conditions surveys. Not just administrating surveys, but looking at the data and figuring what does those data tell them about what they need to do differently to improve working conditions for teachers.”

State Education Agency Client
“The GTL Center helped us pick evidence-based strategies that we felt were right for Ohio. [They] really respected our working group and let things come out naturally, but also guided [the process] with evidence....By the end, people were voting and prioritizing the recommendations.”

Staff Member, Ohio Department of Education
"It's great to be sitting at the table with partners who understand how important this is and how they impact our work in Indiana. We simply could not do this work without their help and we look forward to our continued partnership down the road."

Staff Member, Indiana Department of Education

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The Talent Development Framework (TDF)