Educator Hiring and Retention

To better manage their workload and the needs of the students in their classrooms, teachers consistently emphasize the need for additional staff or instructional assistants to balance student-to-teacher ratios.

Teachers recommend placing caps on teacher caseloads, especially special education teachers, and making efforts to reduce class sizes. They believe maintaining balanced ratios will create greater bandwidth for teachers to support students individually and manage the preparation time needed to create effective lessons (often done outside of contract hours), which can improve work-life balance and retention in the profession.

To remain competitive in hiring, districts should consider the extra effort teachers need to help close academic, social, and emotional gaps among students. Teachers appreciate districts that consider work-life balance and provide fair compensation and overtime pay when necessary. In some cases, especially in areas with a higher cost of living, teachers appreciate efforts districts make to provide housing and transportation supports.

Teacher burnout impacts faculty retention. In schools where teacher shortages persist, covering for those shortages has contributed to burnout, which in turn speeds up faculty turnover. Educator mental health and well-being is key for morale. Many teachers, especially those dealing with student trauma, express a need for more mental health supports and additional paid days for self-care. District policies that support the well-being of educators contribute to their engagement levels and dedication to their schools.

Educators appreciate when district and school leaders make efforts to ensure that workloads respect their responsibilities outside of school and consider their overall well-being. District leaders can provide technology tools to assist teachers in personalizing learning for their students, supporting teachers in using their time more efficiently and effectively. Teachers value district investments in emerging technologies that can automate administrative tasks, such as scoring student assessments, providing students with feedback on their assignments, or populating individual lesson plans for specific students.

Faculty appreciate being recognized for the time and resources they invest in their classrooms and for the funds, materials, and resources to ease their load. Teachers seek consistent and sustained communication channels where teachers can share concerns with each other and with school and district leaders, to receive assistance and offer suggestions to help improve their schools and classrooms.