Holding onto Millennial Teachers: The Need for High-Quality Support and Development
This is the third piece in a series called Holding onto Millennial Teachers: Learning About Why They Stay. The series explores what motivates them to stay and how those meeting their motivational needs can generate talent pipeline and retention strategies in even the hardest to staff schools
Teachers’ effectiveness is strongly related to the quality of their preparation. Many enter teaching through a variety of pathways, often outside the traditional four-year education degree programs. These alternative pathways tend to place teachers in the position of learning on their feet, through trial and error, picking up theory and pedagogical knowledge concurrently via a patchwork of online courses, night courses, or intensive courses facilitated during school vacations. Teach for America (TFA) is one such well-known alternative pathway. Extensive research into TFA recruits found that teachers who become certified while teaching do about as well as other certified teachers in supporting student achievement gains; however, nearly all of them leave within three years.
In most schools, once these people are hired, they are largely on their own to figure out how to teach. Students who are struggling, both emotionally and academically present an additional challenge. Teachers, like many professionals, crave professional development and leadership development opportunities that will increase their effectiveness. Curriculum development and lesson study, teacher research, teacher-led professional development (i.e., professional development that is more self-directed by teachers and more actively informed and overseen by them), and appraisal and feedback are key components of solid systems of professional support.
A lack of such professional support, however, leaves teachers struggling to adjust by themselves, hurting their ability to use their time wisely and effectively, and precluding opportunities for novice teachers to learn from one another. Overwhelmingly, teachers in high-poverty schools suffer from inadequate support for teacher learning, including inadequate peer support, challenging emotional experiences, and lack of job-embedded development programs. A series of reports published by Emma Garcia and Elaine Weiss at the Economic Policy Institute suggests that enhancing support mechanisms for teachers may increase retention and improve the quality of instruction. Furthermore, as purported by the New Teacher Center, if districts nationwide invested in new teacher induction, students who have been structurally denied resources through the inequitable distribution of teachers would be more successful academically and social-emotionally.
Consider a multi-tiered system of support. According to the Massachusetts Department of Education, “MTSS is a framework designed to meet the needs of all students by ensuring that schools optimize data-driven decision making, progress monitoring, and evidence-based supports and strategies with increasing intensity to sustain student growth.”
What if something similar existed for teachers? What if an investment was made in a differentiated system of support geared at growing and developing teachers?
I provided Powerful Practice #1 and #2 in my first post. Those are focused on leveraging adult learning through reflection as a retention strategy. Powerful Practice #3, in my second post is about engaging in common texts about equity. The next one to add to your toolbox is about differentiating professional learning pathways. Read on!
Powerful Practice #4: Individualizing Professional Learning
We know that one size does not fit all. The MTSS model for students is centered on three tiers: 1) universal support, 2) targeted support, and 3) intensive support. This model can be applied to adult learners as well.
School leaders: As you begin to think about your professional learning plan for next school year, purposefully group your returning teachers based on final evaluation conversations. Then make some determinations based on the following guiding questions:
What supports will you provide for all staff? This might look like a summer institute centered on starting the year strong with consistent routines, systems, and structures that will allow you to jump right into rigorous instruction.
Who needs targeted support in specific areas? This might look like professional learning modules for specific roles, such as SpEd teacher support, or for specific skills such as classroom management.
Who needs intensive support? This might look like intensive six-week coaching cycles to support struggling teachers or formal mentors for new teachers.
Tailoring support to meet the varied needs of your teachers will send the message that you really see them and you really want them to grow their practice. By meeting them in their zones of proximal development, they will feel acknowledged, feel valued, and thus they will stick around to get better faster.
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