This book is intended to help teacher preparation educators, building level leaders, staff developers, and teacher mentors address school-work patterns in five critical areas that may impact teacher attrition and retention. It supports a view of professional development that fosters the active involvement of teachers in customizing their own professional development action plans based on four explicit career stages (teacher inductee, teacher specialist, teacher leader, and teacher steward). The book explains how to apply the Professional Educator Career Framework and how to engage teachers in the retention process. Ten chapters focus on: (1) "Teacher Shortages: A Profession at Risk"; (2) "Career Staging: A Professional Framework"; (3) "Teacher Retention Profile"; (4) "Career Induction"; (5) "Reducing the Risk Factors"; (6) "Mentoring: Doing the Right Thing"; (7) "Implications for Continuous Professional Learning"; (8) "Fostering and Valuing Expertise"; (9) "Teachers Leading Teachers"; and (10) "Professional Continuity and Commitment." The book provides checklists and action plans, sample meeting programs and agendas, and benchmarks and standards. (Chapters contain references.) (SM)