Holding onto Millennial Teachers: Retention in Historically Marginalized Communities
This is the 9th installment in a series called Holding onto Millennial Teachers: Learning About Why They Stay. The series explores what motivates teachers to stay and how those meeting their motivational needs can generate talent pipeline and retention strategies in even the hardest to staff schools
Here’s the thing: there was a teacher shortage pre-pandemic. Given the multi-faceted challenges teachers have contended with since March of 2020, experts anticipate that the teacher shortage is about to become a full-blown crisis. The current literature on teacher retention illustrates that it is critical to solve this crisis for two reasons: (1) American children are increasingly underprepared to become competitive members of a 21st-century democratic society. And, at the same time, (2) American educators are increasingly underprepared to teach our children the skills and knowledge necessary to become competitive members of a 21st-century democratic society. Where we are struggling most to retain our high-performing pre-K through grade 12 educators across the country is in schools serving historically marginalized communities. This turnover is a major contributor to the inequity in the system.
Urban teacher retention in public schools serving predominantly Black & brown students.
The teacher turnover rate in high-poverty schools is nearly 50% greater than that in other schools, according to Linda Darling Hammond. This rate contributes both to the cycle of poverty in America’s urban centers and the current school-to-prison pipeline phenomenon Furthermore, research shows the turnover in these schools is on the rise year after year.
This churn of teachers in these historically marginalized communities is motivated largely by dysfunctional and unsupportive work environments, including such challenges as lack of materials, poor facilities, overcrowding, and high teacher attrition, which further inflame the exodus of teachers in these schools. According to the last of a series of annual surveys administered by MetLife to over 1,500 educators across the country, less satisfied teachers are more likely to be located in schools that had declines in professional development (21% vs. 14%) and in time allotted for collaboration with colleagues (29% vs. 16%) over the last year. This has been named mort recently in the Economic Policy Institute’s six-part series entitled The Perfect Storm in the Teacher Labor Market in 2019. The opportunity gap cannot be closed if students’ learning is consistently facilitated by a rotating door of novice educators who are unsupported and left to their own devices.
A teacher’s decision to stay in these “hard to staff” schools may in part be dependent upon the embodiment of such qualities as a sense of mission and a disposition for hard work and persistence. Studies have found that the stayers exhibited typically Millennial attributes, such as being mission-aligned and willing to work hard for social change.
In summary, the literature on teacher retention in high-poverty public schools paints a dismal picture: poor working conditions and limited opportunities for teachers to develop their practice, coupled with over-crowded classrooms and high-needs students, demand that teachers lean upon personal character traits, such as passion for the mission, desire to be the change, and sheer grit, to manage the increasingly complex nature of the work in schools.
Be solutions-oriented.
Previously, I’ve shared retention strategies that focus on reflective practice, positive adult culture, and developing teachers as leaders. Here, I will provide a practice geared toward empathy. Often teachers working in challenging conditions feel like they are being piled on. Acknowledging the pile and then shrinking it makes teachers feel seen, appreciated and supported.
Powerful Practice #11: Lighten the Load
This year has been totally and completely exhausting. At this point, there are no more than 20 instructional days left at most schools. Some may have as few as 5 left. Teachers are feeling overwhelmed as they wrap up grades for the year and navigate the end-of-year events that interrupt the normal daily routines.
- Use meeting time to get things done. If there is already time to meet on the calendar, repurpose that time to be task-oriented. Give the space for teachers to catch up on grading, planning, or cleaning. Recognize all that needs to be done and help your teachers prioritize!
- Offer to help. Ask your teachers what they are feeling overwhelmed by and determine what you can take off their plates. And then actually take the things off their plates.
- Lighten the mood. Part of what contributes to the sense of overwhelmedness is how heavy the end-of-year pile on feels. Lighten the load by lightening the mood. Make jokes. Send out giphs. Create opportunities to laugh. Empathize.
These practices are obviously not specific to Millennials. They are designed to address how all teachers are feeling right now as we close this unique and difficult school year. For more Powerful Practices and ideas, see my previous installments in this series!
Subscribe to Insights from Educate for a midweek dose of professional learning and inspiration from authentic voices in education.
