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New research shows where we've made progress and what still needs work, especially to retain educators of color. Richard Ingersoll and his team of researchers analyze the best national data to uncover what trends and changes have occurred in the diversity of the K-12 teaching force over time. Their five findings reveal some interesting facts. [A longer version of this article appears in the October 2022 online edition of "Educational Leadership" with the title "How Diverse Is the Teaching Force?"]

An urban school principal contends that the best way to recruit, support, and retain effective teachers right now is to set up conditions that restore and reinforce interpersonal connections for teachers. She details ways leaders can restore connections between teachers and students, between teachers and colleagues, and even between teachers and the profession of teaching.

In the face of yet another crisis in teaching, it's time for a bold and comprehensive plan to revitalize and better support the profession. Education expert Linda Darling-Hammond explains how the current shortage of teachers is not entirely new, but the result of decades of cutting programs, lack of respect for the profession and poor working conditions for teachers. She recommends that, drawing on models from other countries and some U.S. states, the United States should establish the equivalent of a Marshall Plan for education, taking steps ranging from strengthening teacher recruitment to a better Elementary and Secondary Act focused on gauging school progress around equity indicators and authentic measures of school quality.

Principal preparation programs devote very little time to showing future principals how to recruit, hire, support, and retain solid teachers. Yet school staff are a major part of every school budget and have one of the biggest impacts on student achievement, so hiring and retaining talent is key. The authors give specific actions and approaches for how to strategically manage teacher talent to reach your school goals.

For teachers, emotional intelligence and emotional resilience are foundational qualities to thriving and staying in the profession. The author asserts that to retain more teachers, we must attend to each teacher's emotional resilience in preparation programs, in the hiring process, and in the ways we support teachers, especially novices.

Schools need to think more like other industries to seek top talent and reframe the teaching profession. Herrmann argues that if schools can more actively and aggressively recruit teachers to their schools, the reputation of the teaching profession will be enhanced and more high-quality teachers will be attracted to the job.

In this wide-ranging interview with Educational Leadership, Stanford University Professor of Education Linda Darling-Hammond discusses the kind of preparation and support new teachers need to survive their critical first years in the classroom. Among her central recommendations are more intensive mentoring that lasts through the first year of teaching; solid preparation that meshes field work with course work; and attracting the right kind of candidates by investing in development programs and paying costs for candidates to get preparation. She also weighs the pros and cons of alternative models of preparation against the reason they exist. In conclusion, she comments on the current teacher-bashing and test reliance that are creating an "anti-profession" and undermining the enterprise of teaching. (Contains 5 endnotes.)

Contrary to what many people assume, writes Stewart, a high-quality teacher workforce is not the simple result of some traditional cultural respect for teachers that exists in some countries. Rather, it requires deliberate policy choices. In a tour of seven countries that traditionally score high on international tests of student performance (Singapore, China, Japan, U.K., Finland, Canada, and Australia), Stewart describes many ways in which policymakers support effective teaching. Examples include recruiting the most able candidate into the teaching profession; providing time and structure for meaningful professional development; modernizing teacher preparation programs; and improving teacher evaluation and compensation.

Alternative routes into teaching, particularly in urban school districts, are becoming increasingly prevalent. Four features capture the range of variation in these programs: the nature of the provider, specific labor market needs, the timing and focus of coursework and fieldwork, and the focus of recruitment and selection. The issue of student outcomes is crucial for urban districts, where the majority of teachers from alternative routes are placed. The evidence on how teachers from alternative routes perform in classrooms, however, is mixed. Mirroring the diversity of alternative routes, the retention of alternative route teachers also varies across programs. We can most likely learn more by shifting away from differences in pathways and looking instead for program features that make a difference in outcomes for teachers and students.

Young teacher applicants to the Teach Plus Policy Fellows Program indicate that contrary to the opinions of those who believe they are in teaching only for the short term, they actually want to find a way to continue teaching. Their description of the profession they seek--one that makes a difference, challenges them, engages them as leaders, and promotes social justice--provides clear indications about how school leaders can engage this generation of teachers more intentionally and keep them in the field. However, administrators need to look at some damaging assumptions--about why people teach, where they will teach, and how long they will teach--because they exacerbate high attrition and undermine our potential to improve the retention and distribution of strong teachers in urban areas.

Teachers in the second stages of their careers--those with 4-10 years of experience--are often eager to vary their responsibilities, work collaboratively with peers, and influence teaching beyond their own classrooms. With many veteran teachers retiring, principals are apt to recruit these second-stage teachers to fill teacher leadership positions. In interviews with some second-stage teachers, the authors found that they had often struggled because their schools did not provide a professional framework or established a formal set of responsibilities to provide legitimacy to their leadership roles. The authors recommend that schools create stronger supports to help teacher leaders overcome the obstacles caused by the norms of school culture-teacher autonomy, egalitarianism, and deference to seniority.

The United States no longer has the best educated workforce in the world. To maintain its current standard of living and successfully compete in the global economy, the country needs to overhaul an antiquated education system that is not geared to produce the graduates it needs. In a new report, Tough Choices or Tough Times, the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce proposes a more effective education system. Seven steps can take us there. We must (1) chart a new course of student progression through the system; (2) reinvest available resources where it counts; (3) invest in universal preschool education; (4) recruit teachers from the top third of those entering college; (5) adopt high-performance management models to improve schools and districts; (6) provide strong support to disadvantaged students; and (7) rebuild standards, assessment, and curriculum to reflect today's needs and tomorrow's requirements. (Contains 1 endnote.)

Understanding the nature of science is even more important than mastering its details, says Alan Leshner, Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in an interview with Educational Leadership. In this article, Leshner discusses the controversy about teaching evolution, and he asserts that demands to include "intelligent design" in high school science classrooms are based on flawed understanding of "what is and isn't science." Tensions between science and society, he suggests, may be increasing because scientific advances in many fields are beginning to encroach on issues of core human values. Leshner also emphasizes the importance of showing students the excitement and fun of science by getting them involved in scientific problem-solving as early as possible. His most important piece of advice for K-12 educators: "Make sure that whatever science content you're teaching, you are also teaching about the scientific enterprise--its methods, limits, benefits, perils, and pitfalls."

The National Education Association has strongly supported the Elementary and Secondary Education Act since its inception in 1965. But the law's most recent reauthorization, the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, is fundamentally flawed, writes NEA President Reg Weaver. Weaver offers NEA's recommendations for revising the law and addressing these flaws. For example, school accountability should be based on multiple measures instead of a single annual test in two subjects, reading and math. States should be allowed to design accountability systems based on growth models and other, more meaningful, measures of student progress. The law should address teacher quality by providing funds to attract high-quality educators to high-need schools. It should eliminate requirements that create unnecessary obstacles for talented and skilled teachers. Perhaps most important, Congress should ensure full funding of the law's many mandates and goals.

The recruitment and retainment of new and veteran teachers in schools that experience high poverty and low performance is a constant challenge in US school districts. How a new set of initiatives launched by the School District of Philadelphia resulted in a significant drop in its new teacher attrition rate is examined.

The importance of recruiting and retaining highly qualified educators as school administrators is underscored as the shortage of qualified personnel to fill current and future school principal vacancies continues unabated. The strategy employed by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in its leadership preparation and development program is examined and discussed.

Three urban school principals from the US have described their efforts to turn around their performing schools and create sustainable leadership. They describe about the challenges they had faced while reorganizing the school, recruiting new teachers, spending extra time on teacher evaluations and remaining the instructional leader.

Describes efforts of Montgomery Township (New Jersey) school district to attract and retain good teachers. District actively seeks high-quality candidates, provides support for beginning teachers' emotional and professional needs, establishes positive mentor relationships, and offers sustained professional development opportunities. (PKP)

Describes several strategies used by one Arizona school district to recruit and retain more ethnically diverse teachers. (PKP)

Describes Teacher Recruitment and Induction Project, a partnership between Southwest Texas State University College of Education and seven school districts, designed to prepare midcareer adults for teaching. Summarizes characteristics of strong midcareer teacher-preparation programs. (Contains 17 references.) (PKP)

Describes operation and benefits of Cincinnati Public Schools' Career-in-Teaching Program. Program consists of seven career steps: Intern, apprentice, novice, career, advanced, and accomplished. Program supports continuous professional development and provides performance-based compensation. Contends that districtwide program successfully attracts and retains high-quality teachers. (PKP)

Describes several models for fast-track alternative training programs for new and second-career teachers and principals, especially for teaching positions in disadvantaged urban schools. Teach for American program is highlighted. (PKP)

Describes disparity in teacher supply (shortages versus surpluses) among states, school districts, and teaching fields. Discusses reasons for these disparities and describes some successful and unsuccessful strategies and policy reforms to recruit more qualified teachers. (Contains 21 references.) (PKP)

In a question-and-answer session, David C. Berliner discusses wide range of topics related to current state of the teaching profession, including qualities of the expert teacher, attracting higher quality teachers, teacher career-stage programs, merit pay, and promising reforms for teacher education in last decade. (PKP)

As student populations become more diverse, the teacher population is becoming less so. Minorities are not pursuing teaching careers due to inadequate academic preparation and high college costs. Needed are career incentives, improved recruitment strategies, restructured preparation programs, identification and mentoring programs, and enhanced salary and working conditions. (MLH)

The Jefferson County (Kentucky) Public Schools have a long-term plan for "inventing" schools that will offer excellent programs for students, induct new faculty members, and serve as "exemplars of practice." (Author/TE)

Although they may not have to confront the physical dangers fire fighters, and pilots face every day, teachers, principals, and administrators are responsible for many children and to many adults, our authors note (Tomlinson, Danielson, DuFour, Collins, Anderson). What teachers do or don't do affects the well-being of many and they have to make dozens, maybe hundreds of unscripted decisions every day. According to those who view teaching and school leadership up close, they enjoy their profession, complain about it, study it, and live it.

Reviews research on the role mentoring plays in recruiting and retaining minority teachers. (PKP)

Describes how National Board for Professional Teaching Standards can help recruit and retain qualified beginning teachers and to provide career advancement opportunities for experienced teachers. (PKP)

South Carolina Center for Teacher Recruitment created the Teacher-in-Residence fellowship in 1986, when a classroom teacher and counselor became the first representative to the South Carolina Teacher Cadet Program--a project encouraging bright high school students to consider education careers. The representative helped plan curriculum training for new Teacher Cadet teachers and provided collegial support at 27 high school sites. (MLH)

To rectify the problem of a mostly White teaching and administrative staff in a Delaware school district with a 17 percent Black student enrollment, administrators set up conferences with Black community members to discuss teacher recruitment, expectations for Black students, and the districts' effectiveness in meeting minority student needs. (MLH)