ASD) ccssn, rescn, sero Volume 55 www.ased.org Focus on Retention: How to Keep Your Best Teachers In the United States, teacher turnover for most districts is close to 20 percent, with higher rates in urban districts and for new teachers. Instability poses challenges to student achievement and district budgets. Experts offer strategies to help schools retain their most effective teachers. The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future estimates that the national cost of public school teacher turnover could be over $7.3 billion a year. A high rate of teacher turnover hampers student achievement, hurts staff morale, and impedes a school’s ability to move forward. It’s natural to want to throw everything at a problem so pervasive, but a growing num- ber of experts argue that usingakitchen sink” approach actually deepens attrition. It's time for a smarter, differentiated approach to teacher retention. In July 2012, The New Teacher Project (NTP), a national nonprofit focused on effective teaching, released The Irre- placeables: Understanding the Real Retention Crisis in America’s Urban Schools. The report says that the retention crisis does not just reflect national teacher shortage but also afail- ture to retain the most effective teachers. The study looked at 90,000 teach- cers across four large, geographi- cally diverse, urban school districts Number 3. March 2013 De ‘ “My and used value-added test data from 20,000 teachers to establish the criteria for an “irreplaceable” teacher. TNTP characterizes an irreplaceable teacher as one whois so successful at advancing student learning that he is nearly impossible to replace. “So who are the Irreplaceables? They are, by any mea- sure, our very best teachers, the report states, “Across the districts we studied, about 20 percent of teachers fell into the category. On average, each year they help students learn two to three additional months’ worth of math and reading compared with the average teacher, and five to six months more compared to low-performing teachers. Better test scores are just the beginning: Students whose teachers help them make these kinds of gains are more likely to go to cominued on page 2 > Simple Ways to Recognize and Reward Your Staff. Service-Learning Projects in the Elementary Classroom. SCD Professional Interest Communitie INSIDE UPDATE:Education Update ‘Nigar bos ant pate ‘Chyaph Grune nm Saree me ‘dng pit pane cont Rab hems apemincguclor Benn a air a Bm, eg Damn Se Qt ag Dp Sve {ner ech Gu sane Fe Schon Prec Seal Baty: Dag ate oer Mar Cee NC eer, ‘eps Deeper Dr Ma ge Spel Soren er nC Focus on Retention > cominued from page 1 college and earn higher salaries as adults, and they are less likely to become teenage parents” TNTP approximates that 10,000 irre- placeable teachers leave the 50 largest school districts every year, while nearly 10 times that amount of low-performing teachers stay “It’s been a mistake to measure retention in the aggregate” says Tim Daly, president of TNTP. “When you measure retention in the aggregate, you assume that it’ equally beneficial to retain each teacher, and it's not. ‘The real teacher crisis isa failure to retain the right teachers. The TNTP report chastises current school retention efforts for failing to distin guish between low- and high-performing teachers, and proposes that schools employ smart retention strategies, which include raising overall teaching conditions and expectations and firing consistently low- performing teachers. aa ene Re ag The real teacher crisis is a failure to retain the right teachers. 99 —lim Daly, president of INTP Invest in Induction and Prot Support Experts say that effective induction programs can increase teacher retention rates. Cindy Brunswick, director of induction programs at the New Teacher Center (NTC), says that induction programs are often limited to two days of general onboarding (e.g, standard curriculum, human resources, dos and don'ts) and then succeeded by a series of infrequent follow-ups throughout the year. Instead, NTC advocates for intensive, ongoing mentoring. ‘At the root of our work is having a really well-trained mentor or coach focused on pro- viding the data for reflective practice and the resources for growth, says Brunswick. NTC induction programs have yielded double-digit growth in retention rates for new teachers. “It can be challenging for districts to understand the level of investment needed to make change happen’ says Brunswick, whose organization advocates for fully releasing mentors from classroom duties for three years so that they can grow their caseload of 45-60new teachers, “We argue that induction is @ good investment to make. Ifyou can make that investment and get new teach- crs started on a path of inquiry and continuous development, ‘we have a much better chance keeping them in the profession and positively impacting student achievement” Brunswick also says that veteran teachers gain profes sional development when they are trained as mentors and return to the district as leaders with more options for career mobility Helen Ryley, an education consultant at Benchmark ‘One, agrees that induction programs are important. She says that strong induction serves a fundamental need in rural districts, which face challenges of location and limited, resources for attracting and retaining teachers. “It's nice to talk about highly effective recruits, but rural districts often cend up taking what they can get and then developing [those teachers)” says Ryley. Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) in Maryland is cone of many districts that combines teacher effectiveness with retention efforts. “Our concern is, how do we retain Recommended Retention Strategies ‘Accatng tothe TMP report The Ieplacables, "Top each- weogvenr nar nonsitenrantm eee | dan to keep teaching at thee scoos or nearly tice as long (2-6 more years).” recone ee | 11, Provided me with regular, ‘ADVANCEMENT posite feedback 6. Identified opportunities | 2 honda oth west water Lote ea ‘3. Gave me critical feedback 7. Put me in charge of about my performance ‘Something important foray RESOURCES ecocamon Poni mein cs | +4. Recognized my ‘10 additional resources scompiomenspoiey ate ms 5 nomen eon ih ead Sauce Fm Te repacabs: Uns fe RelReteion | (isin America's Uta Sool p18), TNTP, 2012, New York. NY: TTP. Copyright 2012 by THT. Reprinted wth permission. | MAR 14201 Pete nd ‘of Northern Lowa the best teachers over time, and how do we develop teach- cers to become those best teachers in their first three years?” says Jartod Bolte, director in BCPSs office of teacher sup- port and development. In Baltimore, these questions have led the district to make changes in how they do compensa- tion and induction. BCPS has implemented site-based mentoring and an end-of-year institute for first-year teachers. Bolte says that the end-of-year institute providesa time to reflect on the first year and make plans for the second: “Teachers get time to really think about the impact the decisions they made had on learning and climate in their classroom, identify changes they want to make, and create an action plan to move forward” In terms of compensation, Bolte says that the district worked with the Baltimore Teachers Union to eliminate yearly steps and lanes. Now teachers can move up in pay every time they earn 12 achievement units, which can come from evaluation scores as well as professional devel- ‘opment. “Its alittle bit different from places where pay raises are tied solely to evaluation” notes Bolte. “We felt that it was really important to reward development as well” Right now in educati lot of focus ‘on teacher effectiveness—but we have to square that with systems effectiveness” says Bolte. In the past, Baltimore struggled with aligning the players in new teacher develop- ment. Site-based mentors, Teach for America mentors, principals, and other professional development leaders were just bombarding new teachers with different priorities. "We ‘were just layering supports on top of supports, thinking that more is better” says Bolte. “It just ended up confusing the new teacher” ‘To counter this, Baltimore is enlisting the help of Build- ing a Teacher Effectiveness Network (BTEN), a program developed in partnership with the American Federation of ‘Teachers; the Institute for Healthcare Improvement; the Carnegie Foundation; and three partnering school orga- nizations: Austin Independent School District, Baltimore City Public Schools, and New Visions for Public Schools in New York City. BTEN adapts the improvement science that the likes of Atul Gawande has pioneered to improve health care and applies it to benefit teacher effectiveness. In his presentation at ASCD’s 2012 Annual Conference and Exhibit Show, Gawande noted, “Genius doesn't make you great; how you work in a system does. BTEN allows Bolte and Baltimore City to be more diag- nostic about assessing and meeting the needs of new teach- ers, and smarter about overall development and retention, of new teachers in urban districts. Carat and protecting local watersheds. We went on. field trip to the nearby ‘wetlands to propagate native plants and learn about local wildlife. Besides their oral presentations on a myriad of watershed-related topics, such as native marsh plants, the water cycle, and shoreline birds, stu- dents also made "I heart my watershed’ valentine cards. Their colorful cards made with recycled paper included watershed facts and tips for ‘water conservation and pollution prevention, Students made dozens of these cards, which we later passed out to commuters on Valentine's Day at out local train station with help from parent chaperones. ‘Two years ago, when I was teaching my students how to write “good guy/bad guy” narratives, I partnered with the Berkeley Reper- tory Theatre to enrich students’ writing by giving them the opportu- nity to improve their storytelling craft and write their own play. The 12-act play that they wrote and performed centered on the theme of friendship and inclusion stemming from recent events of bullying and exclusion that were becoming prevalent among students in our class- room and school community. My students performed this play for ‘many of the classes at our school as a service-learning project aimed at building community. While improving their writing and literacy analysis skills, students also learned about tolerance, courage, forgive: ness, and friendship. Their listening and speaking skiis in Spanish also improved greatly (I teach ina Spanish dual-language immersion class) and their self-confidence blossomed. Service-Learning projects make learning meaningful and purpose- ful They enrich teaching and give students the opportunity to make a real difference in their community Start small, collaborate with a fellow teacher, ask for help, and seek online resources. In the words of Dolores Huerta and César Chaver, “Si, se puede!” ("Yes, it can be done!”). 6u Liliana Aguas is a 2nd grade dual-language immersion teacher at Leconte Elementary School in Berkeley, Calif. She received ASCD's Out- standing Young Educator Award in 2012. 'Do you want to doa service-learning project with your students? (Check out these resources to help you get started. | | © National Service-Learning Ciearing-_ @ Also, lear how to connect sr- house: www senicelearing og vie learning to the Common ‘Core State Standards at ww © enoration On's step-by-step guide to ——_asod.orglcommon-coreicore- 3: MU ‘connecton/080512-common- ] eter Focus on Retention > cominuedjrom page 3 Learn What Teachers Need “There isa deep misunderstanding about what teachers believe makes a good school,’ says TNTP's Daly. The irreplaceables report found that principals believe that focusing on retaining top teachers and addressing low performance would negatively impact school culture, but Daly says that teachers said the exact opposite. Teachers reported having a lower opinion of working conditions in schools where they didn’t see the principal addressing low performance, and they were more likely to leave those schools. “There isa culture of nondifferen- tiation in schools’ says Daly. “It’s not that principals are deliberately going to low performers and telling them they're high performers, it’ that they're using such blunt techniques that all teachers receive the same message” “We either must get better at improving low performers, or we must not retain them in such high numbers. One of the two must hap- pen. Currently, neither is happening” Daly laments. “This isan issue we can no longer brush under the carpet. Not only does it have consequences for kids in terms of learning, it makes schools less attractive places for great teachers to work” Bu Laura VaRAS.