How do we break cycles that send promising young educators out of the profession too early? Veteran teacher Henry Seton reflects on the school year that challenged his commitment to the classroom and the support and solutions that renewed his reasons to stay.

When there's a revolving door of staff members in a school or district, leaders have three choices: leave, survive, or thrive. District administrator Elizabeth Dampf says it's possible to thrive despite--or even because of--high rates of turnover. If you want more out of this period in education, take a few cues from Dampf's "playbook of…

Principal preparation programs devote very little time to showing future principals how to recruit, hire, support, and retain solid teachers. Yet school staff are a major part of every school budget and have one of the biggest impacts on student achievement, so hiring and retaining talent is key. The authors give specific actions and approaches…

New research shows where we've made progress and what still needs work, especially to retain educators of color. Richard Ingersoll and his team of researchers analyze the best national data to uncover what trends and changes have occurred in the diversity of the K-12 teaching force over time. Their five findings reveal some interesting facts. [A…

An urban school principal contends that the best way to recruit, support, and retain effective teachers right now is to set up conditions that restore and reinforce interpersonal connections for teachers. She details ways leaders can restore connections between teachers and students, between teachers and colleagues, and even between teachers and…

Susan Moore Johnson, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and leading scholar on school staffing, highlights research from the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers showing the importance of inclusive leadership and team-based structures in improving teacher recruitment and retention. School context is key in determining…

For teachers, emotional intelligence and emotional resilience are foundational qualities to thriving and staying in the profession. The author asserts that to retain more teachers, we must attend to each teacher's emotional resilience in preparation programs, in the hiring process, and in the ways we support teachers, especially novices.

What do you wish your undergraduate professors told you before you ever set foot in a classroom? Jennifer Collins, one such professor who prepares pre-service teachers, has a list of six "truths" she shares with her students. In this article, Collins outlines those pieces of advice, which include understanding your larger purpose,…

Although they may not have to confront the physical dangers fire fighters, and pilots face every day, teachers, principals, and administrators are responsible for many children and to many adults, our authors note (Tomlinson, Danielson, DuFour, Collins, Anderson). What teachers do or don't do affects the well-being of many and they have to make…

The impact of accountability on U.S. schools, for good or ill, is a subject of debate and research. The authors recently studied an aspect of accountability that had previously received little attention. They asked, do accountability reforms affect public schools' ability to retain their teachers? By analyzing data from the Schools and Staffing…

New teacher attrition is a serious problem, with some studies estimating that 50 percent of teachers leave the profession within their first few years. This high attrition rate means that many schools have large number of inexperienced teachers and that districts must spend scarce funds for recruitment and replacement costs. Springfield Public…

When U.S. educators first hear that Japanese teacher preparation programs require only four weeks of formal student teaching at the end of the credential program, they're appalled: How can this be? More surprising still, few new teachers in Japan (1.35 percent) leave the profession during their first year. So where are these beginning teachers…

One of the failings of teacher evaluation systems in the United States has been their reliance on the school principal alone as the person expected to observe teachers, mentor those who struggle, document concerns and processes, and make the final call on whether to recommend dismissal. Given the enormous scope of their duties, it's simply…

For those who believe in the promise of public education, here's an antidote to the many negative messages that educators have been receiving. In doing research for her new book, "Why Teachers Teach Now" (Teachers College Press, 2014), Sonia Nieto contacted teacher educators from across the United States and asked each to nominate a…

For students in U.S. classrooms today, the odds of being assigned to an inexperienced teacher are higher than they have ever been because so many teachers, some in the top 20 percent of effectiveness are leaving the classroom in their first five years. Coggins and Diffenbaugh turn to Daniel Pink's work on drive to determine how to motivate…