Recruitment & Retention

Staff shortages. Grow-your-own programs. Turnover. Learn more about recruiting and retaining teachers and other school and district staff

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Special Report STEM Teachers: How to Find the Good Ones and Keep Them
See how schools are making progress, and where they are falling short, in addressing chronic teacher shortages in STEM fields.
September 9, 2024
STEM
Collage by Laura Baker/Education Week with Getty and Canva
Special Report Strategies for Building a Diverse Staff
Delve into the link between diverse staff and students’ academic performance and explore strategies to recruit and retain diverse staff.
December 4, 2023
Educators listen to Rose Chu's presentation at the Edifying, Elevating, and Uplifting Teachers of Color conference in Minneapolis, Minn., on Oct. 20, 2023.
Educators listen to Rose Chu's presentation at the Edifying, Elevating, and Uplifting Teachers of Color conference in Minneapolis, Minn., on Oct. 20, 2023.
Andrea Ellen Reed for Education Week
Staffing Our Schools Special Report Tackling the School Staffing Crisis
Modifying schedules, expanding the use of contractors and emergency certified teachers, and other tactics schools are trying.
June 29, 2022
Image of innovative solutions around staffing.
Laura Baker/Education Week and Andrii Yalanskyi/iStock/Getty
Recruitment & Retention: Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best ways to recruit good teachers?
The ways that teachers find school jobs has changed in recent years. But recruitment hasn’t gone all virtual. According to a 2022 EdWeek Research Center survey of job seekers, only 5 percent said they find out about K-12 jobs through virtual job fairs. Many more job seekers find jobs by looking at district websites (54 percent), word of mouth (47 percent), and education-focused job websites (42 percent).


Some districts are turning to decidedly non-digital recruitment methods, like highway billboards, flyers in grocery stores, and reaching out to parents to ask them to become substitute teachers.
What qualities do principals look for when hiring teachers?
Many principals place the most weight on how a teacher will fit in with their school’s culture. That attribute was more valued by principals than whether the teacher’s certification aligned with their school’s needs, according to a 2022 survey by RAND.


The number of years of teaching experience a teacher had ranked relatively low in principal’s desired teacher qualifications, with less than a quarter of principals saying it was in their top three.
How can schools retain teachers?
Here is some advice on retaining teachers from Principal David Arencibia of Colleyville Middle School in Texas:
· Be clear with teachers about job expectations.

· Create a positive school culture.

· Celebrate your staff.

· Listen to your staff.