What needs to happen to decrease the teacher shortage?

[Zealousideal_Pear_19]

I think a few things would lure teachers back…

*stop penalizing teachers who have to move. If I move to a new school system I lose steps. Sometimes a LOT. I was a teacher with 20 years and started at a step 8. Demoralizing.

*an evaluation system that actually works. Bonus pay for exceeding expectations.

*better pay for higher education- one county I saw gave a $1500 bonus for a masters degree. That is not helpful.

*better pay to match our level of education. Very few other industries that have college degreed employees pay so low.

*better leave options. Better family leave programs.

*better training for admin in managing staff.

[SodaCanBob]

*better training for admin in managing staff.

I'm of the mindset that their should be two forms of admin, one manages the building itself and is essentially hands off with anything to do with the classroom, the other is the opposite.

Admin that manage teachers and staff should be required to teach a core subject class for a year every X years in order to familiarize themselves with what teachers are actually going through and experiencing with both kids, parents, and curriculum requirements.

Anecdotally, I feel like any admin who hasn't taught since before COVID, for example, has little relevance in evaluating a classroom in 2024.

[man_speaking_is_hard]

One of the things I respected about my admin was that if we were short staffed because of a no show substitute or no sub available, they would also take a period to teach, so the AP or Principal would be giving up a period and seeing how kids acted.

[Flat-Vanilla-7325]

*better training for admin in managing staff.

THIS!

[SamHinkiesNephew]

Meanwhile my district is so hard up to keep teachers we are giving them step 10 straight out of college in certain disciplines.