Recruitment and Retention

This report analyzes the distribution of teachers in Miami-Dade County and examines whether teacher quality varies with socioeconomic factors across the county. The paper is specific to Miami-Dade County, but the issues examined have been identified by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights as common across the United States. Findings show that Black students are more likely than White students to be taught by first-year teachers or uncertified/unlicensed teachers and those teachers are likely to be paid less.

Examine the link between positive teaching conditions and teacher effectiveness and how to use teaching conditions data for school improvement.

In this report, the Alliance for Excellent Education examines why teacher turnover rates are high among beginning teachers and recommends a comprehensive induction program to increase teacher retention, especially among new teachers. 

This report from the Center for American Progress examines policies and practices that states, districts, and schools can leverage to improve the overall quality of the educator workforce and ensure that all students have access to effective teachers. 

This website, developed by a team from the Pahara-Aspen Teacher-Leader Fellows, offers overviews and links to resources from schools, districts, and support organizations to help teachers and their schools, unions, and districts design high-quality collaborative, job-embedded, teacher-led professional learning that leads to better student learning.

This brief from the Center for American Progress looks at compensations rates for teachers across the states and finds that not only are teachers being paid less than they deserve, they are not being paid enough to support their families. In order to stem attrition rates and encourage good teachers to remain in the profession, some states and districts have implemented innovative compensation schemes. The brief takes a look at some of them and finds that initial results are promising.

This TNTP report on teacher compensation puts forward the case for rewarding teachers according to their performance. Currently, nearly 90 percent of school districts use a “lockstep” approach to compensating teachers—awarding salary increases that are either based on years of experience, advanced qualifications, or some combination of the two. The report looks at issues with the recruitment and retention of teachers under lockstep pay systems and examines several districts that are adopting innovative compensation methods to attract and retain high-performing teachers into their classrooms.

This report examines five urban school districts and the challenges they face in identifying, selecting, and recruiting school leaders. The report suggests that districts need to reimagine the role of a principal, with the dual goals of making the role attractive to talented leaders and equipping leaders to execute their role successfully.

This research brief and accompanying discussion starter tool are based on the insights of 300 National and State Teachers of the Year collected through a first-of-its-kind exploratory survey. The report includes teachers’ reflections on the professional experiences and supports that have made them highly successful teachers, and provides education leaders and policymakers with needed information about the professional experiences that help teachers move from good to great.

In this report, the Center for American Progress looks at the increasing demands placed on principals in today’s schools, which are leading to growing rates of attrition in the field. The report includes an examination of the changing landscape of school leadership and the increasing demands of teacher evaluation and development and instructional improvement, which coexist alongside more traditional administrative duties.