Setting teachers up for success

Atlanta Public Schools recently raised teacher salaries by 11 percent, boosted support staff salaries by 10 percent, and set a goal to have the average salary reach $100,000 by 2030.

As it relates to teacher retention, these steps are very welcome — and also insufficient if we want to keep our most impactful teachers in the classroom.  

Like most jobs, compensation is one of many factors that determine whether teachers decide to stay in the classroom. Other reasons that teachers leave include a lack of feedback, a scarcity of leadership opportunities, and an absence of encouragement to keep teaching. According to data from metro Atlanta educators across 20 schools who participated in a national survey about instructional culture, we score significantly below educators elsewhere on each of these measures, which contributes to our ongoing teacher retention challenges. 

We can change this and — for the sake of the workforce that will power Atlanta’s future — we must. 

There are plenty of non-financial ways to increase teacher retention, and these strategies can be less expensive and more impactful than raises and bonuses. Implementing these practices means more instructional continuity and improved results for students, which means better prepared graduates, resulting in a deeper pool of prospects for local employers. High-impact public schools also attract, and keep, families in their neighborhood schools while bringing more business and work opportunities to the community. 

We can tackle this teacher retention challenge, but our schools need help.

I know firsthand. I’m a former teacher, school founder and leader, and director of talent recruitment. I know what it looks like to successfully — and unsuccessfully — retain the highest impact teachers. 

At their core, most teachers choose this profession because they want to make a real impact on students’ learning and lived experiences. And when they feel successful in doing that, they are exponentially more likely to stay in the classroom. 

The strategies that make the biggest difference for teacher retention and impact are not complicated — they’re basic, human, and powerful. Giving teachers regular, meaningful feedback. Letting them know when they are doing a good job. Offering them the chance to take on more responsibility and leadership. This is not rocket science — it’s about seeing, valuing, and investing in the people who pour themselves into our children every day.

The challenge — and again, I speak from experience — is capacity. Implementing these strategies effectively requires intentionality, and operating intentionally requires time. If there’s one thing school leaders are strapped for, it’s time (and funding, but that’s two things).

One practical way schools can engage in these types of practices — without putting yet another task on school leaders — is to build a bench of talented and trained instructional coaches. These roles involve spending lots of time in classrooms but not actually teaching. Like other coaches, instructional coaches help with preparation, observe performance, and offer feedback afterward to improve teacher practice and accelerate student learning.

The key is that these positions have a more defined — that is to say, narrower — set of responsibilities than school leaders, who oversee everything from curriculum to student safety to budgets to family engagement. For school leaders juggling myriad tasks, giving specific and actionable feedback to a teacher about their instruction is impractical. For instructional coaches, it’s the core of their job.

After serving as a teacher, I became one of these instructional coaches, and I saw for myself the impact that these positions can have on both students and teachers when supported by enabling conditions: content focus, manageable teacher cohorts (in the best cases, one coach for every eight teachers), and a clear, shared vision for learning across the school. When instructional coaches work in these types of “greenhouse schools” with carefully fostered cultures, teachers feel more known and supported. They receive more individualized support. They tend to grow — and stay — in their jobs while accelerating learning for students. With this backing and the benefit of time, their belief in their students increases. 

The survey data suggests these are not the conditions we have in many metro Atlanta schools. Local teachers’ perceptions fell below the national average in five domains: Peer Culture, School Operations, Observation and Feedback, Academic Opportunity, and, most notably to me, Instructional Planning for Student Growth. In fact, some of the lowest teacher perceptions were on instructional leadership. 

So that’s the rub — we need more instructional coaches in order to create these conditions for teachers and, in turn, students. If we really want to give teachers a fighting chance of being successful with their students, we need to set them up with appropriate support. 

Just as sports teams have specialized coaches — in football, for instance, not just a head coach or an offensive coordinator but also a quarterbacks coach, a running backs coach, a wide receivers coach, etc. — so must schools. Philanthropy can help pave the way by funding instructional coaches in schools long enough for the strategy to impact student growth. These proof points can then inspire districts and the state to make these positions an expectation and fund them accordingly. 

Positioning professionals to be effective doesn’t just involve money. It also requires support. For metro Atlanta  schools to make the most of students’ ample potential — and for employers to have a chance to hire graduates with the skills to positively impact their workplaces — we must start with instructional coaches.