Update, Jan. 16: The DC State Board of Education will vote at its monthly meeting tonight on a set of policy recommendations developed by its staff on how best to improve teacher retention. The proposal, presented at the board’s Jan. 9 working session, is based on an analysis of the stakeholder comments, feedback and suggestions shared at meetings last fall and through an online survey.
The recommendations — which are directed at decision-makers such as the DC Council, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, DC Public Schools and the city’s individual charter schools — fall into four main categories: supporting programs that make teaching more attractive and attainable; promoting staff empowerment and distributed-leadership models; acquiring more data on teachers, principals and school leaders; and reducing the emphasis on high-stakes testing.
If the proposal is adopted, the board will determine the order in which to tackle and present the various recommendations.
Original post, Jan. 9:
As three new members take their seats on the DC State Board of Education, a working session tonight will focus on finding solutions to high rates of teacher and principal turnover in DC — an issue that’s drawn growing scrutiny in recent months.
A report commissioned by the board last year found that teachers in DC leave their schools at a rate higher than the national average. After the study’s release in early October, the State Board of Education (SBOE) — with support from local educational organizations — launched a districtwide discussion on why teachers and principals leave and what can be done to encourage them to stay.
The report’s author, local educational researcher Mary Levy, found that although the rate of principal attrition was comparable to national averages, the annual rate of teacher attrition was much higher — 25 percent — than the national average of 16 percent.
At a follow-up meeting on Oct. 24, the board heard public comment from teachers, principals and educational advocates from around the city. The commentary included personal stories and data-backed analysis of problems that hamper retention and solutions that could reduce turnover at DC public schools as well as charter schools.
“Our teachers need mentors to help them make it through the first years of what we hope is a lifelong experience,” testified Frazier O’Leary, who taught for 47 years in DC schools before retiring in 2017. O’Leary was sworn in last month as the Ward 4 representative on the SBOE after winning a special election to fill the vacant post.
Ben Williams, a high school social studies teacher at Capital City Public Charter School, also pushed for mentorship in his testimony, as well as a “vision-driven leadership model.” Teachers and administrators should be encouraged to work together, rather than having decisions simply handed down from the top, which he sees now.
Other teachers and administrators spoke about a lack of preparation for principals; a hiring process without the appropriate level of care; and adverse effects from the DC Public Schools’ IMPACT system, through which teachers receive feedback and evaluation. A few people also mentioned that principals are shuffled around too frequently to make a difference in schools.
Emily Griswold shared her own story as a teacher at Stanton Elementary School in Southeast. After almost quitting three years ago, when the demands of teaching — and “secondary trauma” — led to a mental breakdown, Griswold launched a “self-care revolution.”
“The demands of teaching aren’t changing anytime soon,” she said. “I had to change my relationship to the work that I do every day.”
With support from other teachers, Stanton launched a program at Seaton that included time for mindfulness and self-care as part of the school day. Although there is no data to show the effects, Griswold said the changes have kept her in the field.
Levy, the researcher who conducted the SBOE-commissioned report, also gave testimony that included the results of a new survey. After her earlier report, many people asked whether or not there was a sizable core group of teachers that remained in the District for many years, offset by a small set of teachers that turned over frequently
The answer is not really, as her new data shows. She examined the rate of turnover by year and found that on average, 55 percent of teachers in DC public and charter schools leave their schools within three years, and 70 percent leave within five years.
For Scott Goldstein, executive director and founder of EmpowerEd, discussions of teacher retention are nothing new.
“This is our primary mission and why we were founded,” he said. After the public meeting, Goldstein teamed up with the SBOE to set up a forum in late November to delve into potential strategies to improve teacher retention.
Goldstein said that the organizers wanted to avoid a setting where it was “mostly about us telling others what we know,” and to instead listen to others’ experience.
On Nov. 28, about 60 people gathered at the Walker-Jones Education Campus for the event. Participants sat at 12 tables, each with a discussion leader. After introductory remarks by Goldstein and SBOE president Karen Williams, the majority of the discussion was spent in small groups. Participants at each table discussed ways to increase teacher and principal retention, as well as the cultural and political changes necessary to make those strategies possible.
At the end, members of each table wrote their ideas on a large piece of paper and hung it on a wall. Participants went on a “gallery walk” around the gymnasium to see everyone’s ideas.
Strategy suggestions were diverse, from honoring teachers’ opinions and developing new mentorship programs to changing the way teachers and schools are evaluated. Cultural and political suggestions for change were even more varied.
In an email exchange after the forum ended, Leah Gimbel — a third-year mathematics teacher at Dunbar High School — shared her experience at the event and with turnover in general. “I have experienced this acutely as Dunbar High School had 44 percent of its teachers leave last year and 54 percent leave the year before that,” she said. “As for principals, in my three years at Dunbar we’ve had as many principals. Such high levels of turnover make it nearly impossible to provide consistency for our students.”
Most of Gimbel’s concerns and suggestions centered around the absence of teacher voices in decision-making processes. She spoke specifically of decisions related to student discipline, curriculum implementation and testing, but also highlighted the challenge of joining school leadership teams — one means of involvement that is available to her as a teacher — while she already struggles with her large workload.
At the forum, Gimbel discussed these concerns and experiences with the members of her table, and together they brainstormed solutions.
“The solutions we came up with mostly revolved around making space for teacher voices both in schools and the district,” wrote Gimbel. “These voices are valuable at all levels of decision-making, from the top of the ladder (curriculum, how we test our students, rules for disciplinary actions, etc.) to the more mundane questions arising daily.”
Some DC teachers say they have been able to participate in decision-making. Liana Ponce, an eight-year DCPS employee. currently works as an instructional coach at Brightwood Education Campus. Through the LEarning together to Advance our Practice (LEAP) program, she meets regularly with a team of eight teachers to build community, experiment with new techniques and address individual concerns. In an interview set up by the school system’s communications staff, Ponce said she believes the support from the LEAP program is a critical part of teacher retention, alongside opportunities for continued professional development — both of which were instrumental in her decision to continue teaching in the District.
However, she hears regularly from teachers in her own school that they need “help thinking through how to manage limited time,” a concern that can create issues that wear on teachers.
After the Nov. 28 forum, organizers put up an online survey to collect more feedback from the community. It closed in mid-December, after which the SBOE published the results as a series of takeaways to become focal points in the new year. These include determining where the pressure felt by teachers and principals is stemming from; pursuing greater work-life balance for school employees; examining the length of principal contracts; exploring mentorship opportunities; and offering teachers more flexibility, especially in terms of the time commitment associated with leadership roles.
The board staff has used the public feedback — from each of the aforementioned channels — to develop recommendations for the SBOE to consider. An evaluation of public input on the topic of teacher and principal retention will be a large focus of the Jan. 9 working session, which is open to the public. It will also be streamed live via Periscope.
Goldstein, who will participate in tonight’s discussion on behalf of EmpowerEd, said the importance of increasing retention cannot be overstated, with a stable environment critical to successful implementation of other changes.
“When schools stabilize, you get the sense that it is really turning a corner,” he said.
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