How States Can Attract and Sustain Teachers

Teachers are leaving the educator workforce at alarming rates, and the trend has intensified in recent years. Why are teachers leaving and what are some ways state education leaders can help districts retain them and attract new teachers?

In this episode, host Marley Arechiga talks with Caitlin Beatson, Deputy Director of the Region 2 Comprehensive Center at WestEd, and Kate Wright, Director of the Region 15 Comprehensive Center, about the importance of sustaining the educator workforce and how the federally funded Comprehensive Centers partner with states to address challenges and implement evidence-based and actionable solutions. 

Their conversation covers the following topics:

• The state’s role in supporting districts to recruit and sustain teachers
• The 4Cs—a construct that represents four ways that state education agencies, in partnership with WestEd Regional Comprehensive Centers, are conceptualizing how to help their school districts strengthen educator workforces
• Teacher residency programs
• Differentiated staffing in the classroom and distributed leadership

Learn more about WestEd’s Region 2 Comprehensive Center and Region 15 Comprehensive Center.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• K–12 Teachers Are Quitting. What Would Make Them Stay? (McKinsey & Company Article)
• The State of the Teacher Workforce (Learning Policy Institute)
• The Case for Differentiated Staffing in the Classroom
• How States Are Building District Capacity to Overcome Teacher Shortages (Part I)
• How States Are Building District Capacity to Overcome Teacher Shortages (Part II)
• How States Are Building District Capacity to Overcome Teacher Shortages (Part III)
• How States Play a Key Role in Strengthening the Teacher Workforce
• Arizona State University’s Next Education Workforce Website
• Equitable & Inclusive Hiring Practices: A Reference Guide of Strategies to Grow & Diversify the Educator Workforce
• Going Beyond the Data in Diversifying the Teacher Workforc