Collaborative Approaches to the Educator Workforce Crisis

From left to right: Jenny (REL Mid-Atlantic) with Maryland attendees Geraldine Duval, Alex Reese, Cheryl Borst, Kelly Meadows, and Geoff Sanderson

The United States is facing a nationwide crisis in the educator workforce, with states and districts struggling to attract and retain qualified educators (U.S. Department of Education, 2023). Students bear the brunt of this crisis. Their classrooms are more crowded, the teaching staff is overburdened, and many of their teachers do not come from backgrounds like their own. Vacancies disproportionately impact schools in high-poverty neighborhoods and schools serving students of color (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022).

RELs are actively collaborating with state and local education agencies to build capacity and implement evidence-based strategies to address these challenges. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development (OPEPD) is leading the charge and recently held three Regional Convenings to Support State Action to Advance the Education Professions. The convenings focused on three of the most pressing issues in the educator workforce: diversity, compensation, and pathways into the profession. Attendees included staff from state education agencies, universities, teacher unions, legislatures, governor's offices, school districts, and other agencies. The diverse attendance underscores the need for cross-sector collaboration to confront the educator workforce crisis. Schools can't fix these issues by themselves.

I had the opportunity to represent REL Mid-Atlantic at one of these convenings and learn directly from states about their collaborative approaches to tackling these challenges--including two model strategies from our Mid-Atlantic partners. Below are some highlights.

Incentivizing excellence in classroom teaching.
The Maryland State Department of Education described its career ladder system, implemented under the Blueprint for Maryland's Future. The system provides additional compensation for earning advanced degrees or National Board Certification, and establishes a Teacher Leadership Track that provides educators with opportunities to serve as instructional leaders without moving them to an administrative role. These activities include improving instruction, identifying and working with students who need extra support, and leading or participating in professional learning.

Giving aspiring educators experiential learning opportunities.
The Delaware Department of Education highlighted its pilot apprenticeship program, which places aspiring educators in residencies as substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, and tutors or as release-time support for existing teachers--or pairs them with a mentor teacher. This gives the resident hands-on experience while providing students with more one-on-one support and relieving the burden on classroom teachers.

Leveraging Grow Your Own (GYO) programs.
The Michigan Department of Education implemented a no-cost GYO initiative as a pathway for school support staff to earn a teaching certification while working at their job. Partnerships between PK-12 schools and educator preparation programs provide wraparound support to candidates and emerging teachers. Similarly, Michigan's GYO EXPLORE program gives districts funding for teacher mentors and future educators, encouraging students in grades 6-12 to learn about the profession through courses and clubs.

Fostering community for educators of color.
The Illinois State Board of Education, in partnership with the Sangamon-Menard Regional Office of Education and Teach Plus Illinois, launched affinity groups for educators of color to meet regionally (with teachers of color as facilitators) to discuss local issues hurting retention.

Providing support for full licensure.
Massachusetts is opening Regional Assistance Centers to help teachers with emergency licenses (25 percent of whom are teachers of color) receive their full professional licenses. The five regional centers include institutes of higher education and an education services provider. They work with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the schools and districts employing emergency license holders to guide educators through the process of gaining full licensure.

RELs are tackling the educator workforce crisis with their partners.

From identifying and sharing strategies to help rural areas retain their educators to strengthening initiatives that support early career educators, RELs are helping partners make informed, evidence-based decisions. The Colorado Department of Education, for example, is partnering with REL Central to build its data capacity and conduct a study of teacher pathways. Colorado expanded its statewide Teacher Recruitment and Retention survey to add categories related to recruiting and retaining teachers of color. Colorado will use the survey results to help schools and districts hire educators with diverse backgrounds and characteristics, assess their current workforce programs, and create more equitable teacher pipelines.

In the Mid-Atlantic, we are working with the New Jersey Department of Education and a dozen local districts to increase the number of teachers of color hired. We built the capacity of New Jersey school district staff to use data and practices designed to hire more teachers of color. We also created a user-friendly tool for districts that want to generate reports on the racial and ethnic makeup of student and teacher populations and teacher retention rates by race and ethnicity.

If you're wondering how your agency can start addressing the teacher workforce challenge, ED's Raise the Bar initiative outlines grants and financial aid resources that states can draw on to attract and retain educators. Other resources to strengthen your educator workforce are:

• Funding Guide for Supporting Registered Teacher Apprenticeship Programs with Federal and State Funds.
• Sustaining Investments in Teachers Beyond the American Rescue Plan.
• Partner Finder, a tool from the U.S. Department of Labor's apprenticeship program.
• Creating a District Plan to Increase the Racial, Ethnic, and Linguistic Diversity of Your Educator Workforce. 
• Expanding and Diversifying the Educator Workforce resource library.

Has your organization found an inventive way to tackle the educator workforce shortage? Are you struggling to recruit or retain educators and wondering where to go from here?

We want to hear from you!
Reach out to REL Mid-Atlantic to see how we can connect you with evidence-based support to improve student outcomes.