The time that teachers spend at a school or in the education profession is shrinking.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction released a report that shows schools deal with ongoing challenges of keeping and fairly compensating teachers. The 2023 Educator Preparation Program and Workforce Analysis Report tracked first-time teachers and showed that only 55.6% remained in the state or in the profession after seven years, while 26.1% indicated they stayed in the same school for that period.
The numbers were lower when tracking special education teachers. About 46% of those teachers stayed in the state, and only 18.6% were at the same school.
Wittenberg-Birnamwood School District Superintendent Garrett Rogowski said it’s important to create a work environment that respects teachers’ training, experience and expertise. According to Rogowski, recruitment and retention efforts should be a priority to have the most qualified staff to teach the country’s future workforce.
“All it takes is one visit to a classroom to see the responsibility and challenges placed upon classroom teachers,” Rogowski said. “They are faced with the enormous task of positively impacting student achievement, while also supporting our students’ many other needs through their unique individual challenges.”
School districts’ ability to pay teachers has been restricted by revenue limits, according to Nathan Hanson, Gillett School District superintendent, with many schools having to ask voters for operational referenda to compensate teachers. Hanson also recommends flexibility regarding how and what they teach.
“After Common Core first came about, we saw many districts basically handing a script to teachers and telling them exactly how they needed to do their job,” Hanson said. “This limited great teachers from being able to adapt to the kids in their classrooms and created a lot of frustration with many. When we can give that flexibility back, teachers feel valued and important. Obviously there are laws that dictate some of what we have to do, but I think when we can give what we can, teachers are more likely to stay.”
There is no “one size fits all” solution when it comes to retaining teachers, said Glenda Butterfield-Bolding, Bowler School District superintendent. She said she works closely with other superintendents, and they all express the desire not to steal staff from each other.
“What I’ve seen more recently is a desire for staff to feel connected to their districts, communities and co-workers,” Butterfield-Boldig said. “Close personal relationships at work have a high correlation to staff retention, in schools and all workplaces. In Bowler, we adopted district-wide commitments to support students, families and staff in feeling connected to our school.”
Those commitments, according to Butterfield-Boldig, include providing a safe and inclusive environment where expressing creativity and individuality is encouraged while respecting different of unique perspectives; cultivating a sense of belonging in the schools; being culturally inclusive; and building positive relationships.
Teachers are a school district’s heartbeat, said Lena School District Superintendent Ben Pytleski, and one of the secondary effects of Act 10, which ended most public unions’ collective bargaining, was giving teachers free agency. That’s a benefit for teachers in niche departments, he said, but it hinders school districts in times when there are teacher shortages.
“Supply and demand sets the market. It makes it very difficult for school districts, especially smaller ones, to get into any bidding wars as teacher salaries are open to public record,” Pytleski said. “It makes it that much more important for school districts to remain competitive in the area of salaries and benefits, and it makes it that much more important to establish a great culture and working environment where teachers will enjoy working and feel supported by administrators, school boards and the community.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
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