Teresa Lundgren is a Senior Policy Analyst at ExcelinEd.
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!
Teachers are the backbone of our schools. We can all remember that one teacher who left a lasting impact on our lives. For me, it was Mrs. King, my high school English teacher, who taught me how to write well, appreciate the editing process and think critically about arguments from multiple angles. It was Mrs. King who made me want to become a teacher myself and foster intellectual curiosity in young adults. And she continues to inspire me now to work on education policy, to make teaching better for teachers.
While gift cards and mugs for our favorite teachers are nice, we at ExcelinEd want to demonstrate our appreciation for teachers by creating policies that support them, make the profession more sustainable and reward their excellent work. Let’s take a moment to highlight some of our model policies and how they support current and future teachers, leading to more Mrs. Kings from coast to coast.
One of the most significant challenges facing the education sector of today’s workforce is the imbalance between teacher supply and demand. To properly staff schools, education leaders and other stakeholders need clear data on where shortages exist and whether the teacher pipeline can adequately address projected shortages in the coming years. ExcelinEd’s Supply and Demand Dashboard policy addresses this issue by providing policymakers with immediate and long-term solutions for gathering and presenting this data. The dashboard also empowers teachers with information to make strategic decisions about their career.
The two components of our model policy offer complementary information. Longitudinal data help stakeholders, such as policymakers, see which programs and investments are most successful over time. And educators can use this information to make informed decisions about which programs will best prepare them for the classroom.
For example, Colorado has a publicly available and easy to navigate dashboard, where prospective teachers can see which educator preparation programs (EPPs) are enrolling, graduating and placing teachers in districts. Teachers can also see district-level data related to student enrollment, average salaries, teacher tenure and data on where teachers are needed most.
The second component of our model policy is a job-posting database, which offers real-time insights into schools experiencing shortages, how quickly positions get filled and the types of educators actively seeking work. Jobs boards can provide data that help policymakers identify hiring inequities, but the benefit for teachers is more straightforward.
Statewide jobs posting boards, like in Indiana, allow teachers to search for positions and post their interest in a new job. Currently, teachers often go through long and cumbersome search processes, checking each school or district websites individually and applying directly to each one. A statewide jobs board can simplify the process required to find a position and ensure more classrooms are led by excellent teachers.
States can support and attract prospective teachers by providing Supply and Demand Dashboards so they can feel confident in pursuing a career in teaching, knowing there will be a job at the end of the journey and information readily available to find and enter new teaching roles faster.
We know that quality educators are important and have an enormous impact on students, leading to their lifelong success. Unfortunately, many states are grappling with difficult hiring decisions that impact teachers. Layoffs have been announced and are predicted to grow. States can support teachers during this time by providing clear and reliable information up front about how these decisions will be made and ensuring decisions at the school and district levels value teacher quality.
Reduction in force, or RIF, refers to economically driven layoffs of licensed staff, including teaching and administrative positions, due to conditions such as decreased funding, decreased student enrollment or the closure or reorganization of schools. Due to drops in funding and reductions in enrollment, many districts across the country have announced RIFs this year, and teachers are afraid of what this means for them personally.
States can publish clear reduction in force policies that provide information to address teacher concerns. ExcelinEd published a model RIF policy that identifies several things states can do to demonstrate they value teachers and to mitigate the effects of layoffs on students.
First, states can require school divisions to review and cut non-educator central office positions before eliminating educator roles. A recent Reason Foundation report highlighted that between 2002 and 2020, non-teaching staff grew 20%, compared to a 6.6% increase in teachers. Keeping excellent teachers in classrooms is critical. To the extent possible, it is important states minimize the impact to classroom teachers and student support staff.
Second, states can require educator performance to be the primary factor that RIF decisions are based on. Unfortunately, over half of states either require or allow RIF to use a seniority- or tenure-based system, meaning those who have been teaching in their school or district longest have the best job protection. Studies predict that use of seniority-based RIF policies during the Great Recession led to a drop in interest in teaching as a profession and a reduction in enrollment in educator training programs that continues to drive shortages today. Additionally, because many efforts to diversify the educator workforce have happened recently, states and districts using seniority-based systems are more likely to let go teachers from minority backgrounds regardless of their impact in the classroom.
States can develop RIF polices that value teachers and limit the impact on students. Performance-based RIF policies demonstrate the value of high-performing teachers and the care and deliberation that should be put into these decisions, rather than using what seem to be a single metric—and sometimes arbitrary cut-off—of years of service. By prioritizing factors such as teacher effectiveness, this policy ensures that the best interests of both educators and students are upheld.
The road to becoming a teacher is often long and complicated, no matter which way you get there. Because teachers come from a wide array of backgrounds and experiences, we need to make sure that educator licensure is not a one-size-fits-all process. Every person who is interested in teaching should have a clear pathway that meets their needs to enter and stay in the profession. ExcelinEd is working on ways to invite more candidates into teaching roles and support them to grow and flourish as teachers.
This year we looked at how Arizona and Colorado have enabled charter schools to broaden their search for teachers, including those from nontraditional professional backgrounds. States also can leverage ExcelinEd’s model policies on adjunct teaching certifications and registered teacher apprenticeship programs, which provide less traditional ways to enter the classroom.
Even after they are in the classroom, many teachers are looking for innovative ways to work toward meaningful leadership positions. States can keep qualified teachers in service through our Advanced Teaching Incentive Program, which creates a tiered system of licensure. This strategy increases both pay and leadership responsibilities without taking effective teachers out of the classroom.
We also know many teachers seek and thrive in different settings. The chartered teachers policy allows licensed teachers to contract directly with families or groups of families to teach their children. Instead of contracting with a district or school, chartered teachers receive their pay and benefits from the state.
This week—and every day—it is important to celebrate teachers. States can consider multiple policy options that celebrate their work and keep our best teachers on the job and helping students thrive. While no single solution will solve all of our challenges, ExcelinEd is committed to innovation, choice and flexibility for teachers while maintaining quality and professionalism of their work. During this Teacher Appreciation Week, let’s give teachers what they really want: meaningful and effective workplace policies.
