Let’s Get Real About Teacher Retention

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How has teacher retention changed post-COVID shutdown, and how has the strategy to increase teacher retention been approached differently?

Before COVID, teacher retention was an issue. In 2017, the Learning Policy Institute, led by Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, identified that teacher attrition is at 8% nationally, and each open position can cost a district on average $20,000 to replace. After the COVID pandemic, Fortune Magazine indicated that 44% of teachers feel burned out most of the time or all of the time, meaning that attrition rate has increased.

This panel, with a keynote by Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond as well as experts in research, district leadership, and the teaching profession will discuss how teacher retention has changed and specific strategies that schools and districts are using to decrease attrition rates and feelings of burnout.

  • Keynote – Linda Darling-Hammond (Learning Policy Institute)
  • Panelist 1 – Melanie Leung-Gagné (Learning Policy Institute)
  • Panelist 2 – Superintendent – José Manzo (Superintendent of Oak Grove School District)
  • Panelist 3 – Sarah Williams (ToSA at Union School District and MERIT Alumni)
  • Panelist 4 – Dr. Nellie Meyer (Superintendent of Mountain View Los Altos School District)

Our Instructors

Additional Resources

Let's Get Real: Teacher Retention - Zoom
California Teachers and COVID-19
Mar 2021 report: How the Pandemic Is Impacting the Teacher Workforce
Teacher Shortages During the Pandemic
Jan 2022 update: How California Districts Are Responding
Sustainable Strategies for Funding Teacher Residencies
2020 report: Lessons From California
Sustainable Strategies for Funding Teacher Residencies
2020 brief: Lessons From California
Preparing Transitional Kindergarten to 3rd Grade Educators
Through Teacher Residencies - 2022 brief on ECE residencies
Teacher Residencies in California
2016 brief

What Our Students Say

Teacher turnover has been a persistent challenge; while the national rate has hovered at 16% in recent decades, more teachers are leaving the profession, contributing to teacher shortages in hard-to-staff subjects and schools. Higher attrition rates coupled with disproportionate teacher movement away from schools in economically disadvantaged communities has resulted in inequitable distributions of high-quality teachers across schools. — Donley, J., Detrich, R, Keyworth, R., & States, J. (2019), Teacher Retention. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. https://www.winginstitute.org/quality-teachers-retention