1. Retention
Summary

2. How do you retain the “best” talent?
Content in Context
How do you retain the “best” talent? 
Retention Summary

3. What is Retention?
Keeping the Best Talent
Retention – the rate that all employees stay or remain in the district or school
Strategic Retention – keeping top performers while simultaneously removing the weakest performers
Additional terms used to discuss retention*:
Attrition or “Leavers”: Rate at which employees leave (resignations, retirements, terminations, etc.) the district or teaching altogether (“Leavers”)
Migration or “Movers”: Rate at which employees move to jobs in other schools/offices within the district (“Movers”).
Turnover: Includes both attrition and migration
*Ingersoll, 2001;Luekens, et al., 2004.

4. Why is it Important? Be Proactive & Practice Strategic Retention
Top educators produce stronger gains for students
Top teachers produce 5 to 6 more months of learning per year
Top principals generate 2 to 7 more months of student learning gains
Low performers don’t always opt out
Most ineffective teachers had 9+ years of experience and planned to stay for another decade
More effective teachers are available to hire
75% chance of replacing an ineffective teacher with a more effective one
Turnover is expensive
$1-2 billion/ year nationally in attrition costs
Data from TNTP’s The Irreplaceables

5. Co-Ownership of Teacher Retention
The School & the District Share Accountability
District HR
Principal
Teacher

6. Retention is Individual
No one-size-fits-all solution
Teacher and principal voice is important
Different people need different strategies
Younger, less experienced teacher or principal
Teacher or principal with a young family
Experienced teacher

7. Primary Driver: Performance
Performance Drives WHO to Retain
Understand teacher performance at the district, network, school, and individual levels
Focus on keeping high performers – “Irreplaceables”
Only about 20% of teachers are “Irreplaceables”
Generate 5-6 more months of learning
Takes 11 hires to find one of comparable quality
Teacher Performance
Low
Average
High
TNTP. (2012). The Irreplaceables: Understanding the real retention crisis in America’s urban schools. New York City, NY.
Source: TNTP, 2012.

8. Lenses for Understanding Teachers
Insight into HOW to Retain Teachers
Turnover Type
Diversity
Gender
Experience
Generation
School Type
On-ramp
Movers
Leavers
Alt Cert
Trad Cert
Teachers of Color
Retention Lenses
High Needs
Low Needs
Male
Female Al
Millennial
Gen X
Boomer
New
Mid
Veteran
Subject
Shortage
Nonshortage

9. Keep in Mind Things to Remember
Overall retention can be good or bad – use strategic retention as a key indicator
Retention is individual – there is no one-size-fits-all solution
Ask your highest-performers what will keep them happy
Principals should be encouraged, not penalized, for taking action to promote, dismiss, or non-renew a teacher
Reasons for attrition (resignation, retirement, non-renewal, dismissal, etc.) must be captured intentionally
Teacher movement between schools (transfers and excessing/ surplussing) is not a zero sum game and must be captured intentionally at the school level
Retention Summary

10. Making Connections Related Content Guide to Calculating Retention
Provides recommended methods and tips for measuring staff retention, particularly for teachers
Diagnosing Retention Challenges
Assists districts in diagnosing their key challenges related to retention
Educator Exit Survey & Educator Stay Survey
Complementary documents that provide a way to gauge why educators leave or stay
Targeted Retention Strategies
Offers district and school strategies to address specific retention challenges and concerns
School-level Retention Mapping
Provides a principal with a visual map of teachers to retain and offers a place to record retention strategies
Case Study – Retention
Offers a school-level hook into the content of retention
The Many Layers of Retention – The Role of the District Office
Offers a district level hook into the content of retention
Research on Retention Lenses
Provides key research summaries on retention lenses
Top 10 Retention Strategies for HR to Support Schools
Offers a list of top 10 actions for HR to take related to retention