Recruiting and Retaining Teachers: What Matters Most and What Can Government Do?
With increased recognition that expert teachers are perhaps the most fundamental resource for improving student learning, there is growing interest in figuring out how to recruit and retain strong teachers, especially in high-need schools. Unfortunately, unlike other industrialized nations, especially those that are the highest-achieving, the United States lacks a systematic approach to recruiting, preparing, and retaining teachers. With few governmental supports for preparation or mentoring, teachers in the U.S. enter:
with dramatically different levels of training -- with those least prepared teaching the most educationally vulnerable children,
at sharply disparate salaries -- with those teaching the neediest students earning the least,
working under radically different teaching conditions – with those in the most affluent communities benefiting from class sizes under 20 and a cornucopia of materials, equipment, specialists, and supports, while those in the poorest communities teach classes of 40 or more without adequate books and supplies,
with little or no mentoring or on-the-job coaching in most communities to help teachers improve their skills.