Teaching is the lifeblood of schooling. Right now, though, teachers are exhausted, stretched and stressed — too many are looking for the exit.
With the right strategy we can not only re-energize current teachers, but remake the profession into one that isn’t just a stepping stone to a “better” position in education. Instead, we can make teaching the best job in the district. Until we do, we will not make any meaningful progress toward improving learning for children at scale.
More than 800,000 educators quit last year. A recent poll shows more than half of remaining teachers are planning an early exit from the role.
Reasons for quitting include pay, but they’re also about respect, opportunity and support. In response to this mass exodus, districts are resorting to piecemeal responses that may ease the immediate pain but will certainly not address the underlying causes of what’s harming our educators.
