How to Increase Teacher Retention in 2024
Teacher retention is vital for a school’s success. Educators are the lifeblood of schools, but they’re underappreciated, burned out, and quitting by the thousands. We explain what schools can do to retain teachers in 2024 using effective retention strategies.
Retaining Teachers in Today's Climate
Schools That Lead helps leaders thrive by building educational leadership skills, creating compelling and achievable school improvement plans, and delivering resources that increase teacher retention. However, no school can survive if it can't retain its most valuable asset: its teachers, often lost through high teacher turnover.
The number of working teachers is declining across the country. A recent report shows that 74,000 US teachers quit in October 2023 alone. School leaders need to take active steps to improve teacher retention by addressing their concerns and implementing sustainable change under sound educational policy.
How Schools Can Boost Teacher Retention
Teachers are fed up with stagnant careers and working in schools that don’t have a meaningful school improvement plan in which teachers see their work reflected through enriching the classroom experience for students. Many school improvement plans are essentially about the adoption and implementation of purchased programs.Many educators feel underappreciated, while others experience burnout from a lack of work-life balance and low pay. Schools that partner with Schools That Lead and our improvement science approach can reverse that trend. Encouraging teachers, advancing their careers, and retaining them for years is possible. Here are five ways to improve teacher retention:
1. Build an Inclusive School Community
Educators arrive each day, teach the material from their pre-approved lesson plan, assign homework, mark tests, and then do it all again the next day. The repetitiveness of their jobs can make some feel like they’re simply a cog in a machine. And that feeling is only exacerbated when teachers don’t have a meaningful place in improvement practices and processes. Teachers are experts and their expertise often goes untapped diminishing their sense of self worth and teacher job satisfaction.
However, building a strong sense of community makes a school feel like a more rewarding workplace, instead of solely feeling the pressure to hit test score targets.
The school must also be inclusive. An inclusive school community means embracing teachers, families, and students from all backgrounds and creating rewarding and fun educational events.
2. Create Channels for Two-Way Communication
Educators want to be respected and feel as though they’re making a difference. If not, they might not stick around if they don't get that sort of validation from working with students, peers, and the school’s administration.
That’s why two-way communication and collaboration are essential. Educational leaders, which includes teachers, must thoroughly explain expectations, have a school improvement plan, and provide and receive actionable feedback. New teachers may feel disconnected from their jobs without feedback, and that initial sense of community can quickly fade.
At the same time, administrators must listen to both new and experienced teachers. Educators have the greatest insight and best ideas on how to make improvements and help students learn effectively in the classroom. No one is better equipped to know what students need than are the teachers working directly with the students! School administrators that ignore the concerns and suggestions of their teachers do so at the risk of losing talented staff.
3. Reward Teachers for their Effort
There is a cliché that “work is its own reward” in education, that teachers are satisfied by seeing kids get their grades and reach their potential. While student success is indeed rewarding, educators are still humans who want validation while earning a livable wage. Teachers who feel underappreciated may not get the satisfaction they crave and may give up on teaching entirely to follow a different passion.
Rewarding teachers with validation doesn't have to be elaborate or formal, like receiving a certificate in front of everyone in the assembly at the end of the semester. Still, a “Teacher of the Month” program for those who go above and beyond is a small gesture that teachers will appreciate. Administrators can also give a small gift, treat, or spa certificate instead of a piece of paper. Ultimately, rewards are about boosting morale.
4. Help Teachers Improve Their Work-Life Balance
Improving teacher retention requires more than boosting teacher morale; another common reason why teachers leave the profession is burnout. They work excessively long hours—teaching kids by day and marking papers by night and on weekends—with very little time to themselves. It’s no wonder teachers quit when this scenario happens in a school with no sense of community and poor communication from leadership.
Schools fail when they push their teachers too far and don't focus on the principles of improvement science. Instead, leaders need to promote work-life balance so teachers get enough rest, have time to enjoy hobbies, and spend time with loved ones. Leaders must commit to encouraging teachers to avoid staying up late to create lesson plans and to stop taking lunch breaks at their desks.
For example, school administrators can use extracurricular activities to encourage teachers to enjoy their passions and teach them to students. It’s a win-win situation, as teachers get to do something they love, such as photography, sports, or music, while students learn from mentors they already know and trust.
5. Provide Opportunities for Professional Growth
Landing a teaching job at a charter or traditional public school isn't the end of an educator’s career progression. New teachers appreciate the opportunity to teach a class of their own, but they inevitably begin to dream of higher-paying positions or chances to build on their own education. Schools that resist and hold teachers back from professional growth are bound to lose them.
School leaders can start by providing time for teachers to collaborate – not just another PLC with a predetermined outcome. There’s also the option to help cover tuition for higher education degrees. Teachers can then complete advanced diploma or degree programs, making them an even greater asset to the school.
The Bottom Line
There’s no need for schools to lose their staff if they take the time to learn and embed improvement science methods in their regular practices. Schools That Lead can help you retain your best teachers.
Establishing a robust sense of community built on transparent communication and collaboration makes every school a better workplace.
Reward, encourage, and support your teachers’ needs to boost morale. Take steps to improve your educators’ work-life balance and offer professional growth opportunities to help teachers thrive. Make an effort and invest in your staff, and teacher retention will undoubtedly improve.
Learn how Schools That Lead helped North Carolina educators create their own strategies for managing the students in their care and improving student outcomes, such as a greater decline in chronic student absences than the state average.
FAQs:
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Teacher turnover is driven by teacher burnout, low pay, and feeling undervalued. Lack of career growth and a dysfunctional school workplace environment further push educators to seek more fulfilling careers with better work-life balance and recognition.
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Enhancing pay and benefits can significantly boost teacher retention by making the teaching profession more financially rewarding and competitive with other careers. Better compensation not only validates teachers' hard work but also improves their overall job satisfaction and financial security, reducing the incentive to leave the profession.
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Positive school climates that value collaboration and open communication retain teachers. When educators feel respected and involved, they're more committed. Inclusive environments with clear communication channels foster a sense of community, reducing turnover.
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Teacher mentorship programs provide new teachers with guidance and experienced teachers with opportunities to share expertise. This fosters a supportive community, improves job satisfaction for both parties, and reduces teacher isolation.
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School leaders can retain teachers by building a supportive school culture, fostering open communication, offering work-life balance solutions, and providing professional development opportunities. Recognizing and rewarding teachers' efforts further strengthens retention.
