Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the long-standing problem of teacher attrition. Some teachers have reported that they have considered leaving the profession because of a lack of advancement opportunities. Jennifer Wu-Pope explains how research-practice partnerships can play a role in retaining these teachers while leveraging their expertise in educational improvement efforts. Participation in research-practice partnerships could be offered as a professional advancement track option for teachers. Providing that option as a hybrid position in which teachers remain in the classroom for part of their day while using the rest of their time for research can be one way to address dissatisfaction among high-performing teachers.
Teachers who are seeking more opportunities for advancement and professional growth can benefit from working alongside researchers to solve problems at their schools.
The question of how to attract and retain effective teachers in K-12 classrooms has become increasingly salient as the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated a persistent problem of teacher attrition. A January 2021 RAND study showed that 23% of teachers indicated a desire to leave teaching at the end of the 2020-21 school year (Steiner & Woo, 2021). This is in comparison to the prepandemic rate of 8% leaving annually between the 2007-09 and 2011-13 school years (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). A recent survey of members of the National Education Association (NEA) found that 55% of its members were considering leaving or retiring from the profession earlier than planned because of the pandemic (GBAO, 2022).
Both the RAND and NEA surveys show that the top reasons for leaving included burnout and stress (GBAO, 2022; Steiner & Woo, 2021), and responses to the NEA survey also included lack of respect from parents and the public and a lack of planning or unstructured time as contributors to the decision (GBAO, 2022). Pre-pandemic research indicated that teachers were dissatisfied with the lack of career advancement pathways, lack of autonomy, low pay, challenging work conditions, accountability measures, and lack of support from school leadership (Carver-Thomas & Darling Hammond, 2017).Research on the attrition of high-performing teachers in the District of Columbia Public Schools showed that opportunities to take on leadership roles, switch to a new career, or improve their work-life balance all contributed to their decision to leave (Pennington & Brand, 2018).
The loss of our most qualified teachers should be a concern because these teachers are an important influence on student achievement (Hanushek, 1992; Sanders & Horn, 1998). It is also a matter of equity; studies have demonstrated that students of color from urban and economically disadvantaged backgrounds tend to be taught by teachers with fewer qualifications (Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2002).
While mid-career teachers tend to leave at a lower rate than new and late-career teachers, resulting in a U-shaped attrition pattern (Ingersoll, 2001), their departures also demand attention. Oft-cited recommendations for teacher retention include the expansion of teacher residency and teacher mentoring and induction programs; however, both recommendations depend on experienced teachers who can serve as master teachers or as mentors (Carver-Thomas & Darling Hammond, 2017; Koch, 2018). For these programs to succeed, education systems need to retain effective and experienced teachers.
Why research-practice partnerships?
Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are one potential solution for retaining highly qualified teachers who are dissatisfied with the lack of advancement within the teaching profession. RPPs have evolved as an approach to address some long-standing gaps between education research and practice. Instead of relying on outside expertise to address educational challenges, RPPs recognize the knowledge that practitioners offer and allow them to cocreate and execute studies alongside researchers (Coburn, Penuel, & Farrell, 2021). RPPs offer practical solutions to on-the-ground educational challenges, such as the creation of instructional materials that improve learning outcomes (Booth et al. 2015), improvement in teaching practices (DeBarger et al., 2017), and better-informed changes in district policies and decisions (Farrell, Coburn, & Chong, 2018).
Moreover, participation in an RPP can contribute to improvements in teachers’ sense of agency. A recent study of teachers’ participation in one approach to RPPs — critical participatory action research (CPAR) — showed that participants felt empowered by gaining research skills and being part of a supportive team. Shared decision making and feelings of being heard by others at school or on the CPAR team bolstered teachers’ feelings of agency, purpose, and connection (Xin & Brion-Meisels, 2022).
A 2012 TNTP report recommended that leaders looking to retain their highest-performing teachers should be attentive to teacher workloads and provide career advancement opportunities. RPPs can provide a pathway for teachers to advance in the profession without leaving the classroom. But, to avoid increasing teacher workload, RPP work should not be an addition to a full-time teaching schedule. Instead, teachers could accept a hybrid role of part-time classroom teacher and part-time teacher-researcher.
Such pathways to career advancement that allow teachers to remain in the classroom at least some of the time already exist in some districts. A compilation of case studies by the National Network of State Teachers of the Year showed that districts offering avenues for career advancement and modified work schedules to accommodate leadership responsibilities saw an increase in teacher candidate applications (Natale et al, 2016). High-performing education systems, such as those found in Singapore; Finland; and Ontario, Canada, have low attrition rates of 3-4% (Carver-Thomas & Darling Hammond, 2017). These same systems offer multiple career advancement pathways as well as opportunities for teachers to be active participants in the production of research (Jensen, 2012). They not only attract teacher candidates in the top of their graduating classes, but also retain highly effective teachers (Tucker, 2019).
Infrastructure of an RPP advancement pathway
Although RPPs in education are found throughout the United States, establishing them as a career advancement pathway would require some shifts in K-12 and higher education. Fortunately, examples exist that we can learn from. One successful large-scale network of research-practice collaborations is the Education Endowment Foundation’s Research Schools Network in the United Kingdom (Edovald & Nevill, 2021). U.S. states could establish similar networks among schools and universities.
Using a cohort-based approach, RPP networks could bring together high-performing teachers and universities to collaborate on educational improvement efforts. Incoming teacher cohorts could be provided with research skills training and become teacher-researchers. These teacher-researchers would then be able to help align research at the university level with practice in K-12 schools because they are able to speak the language of both sectors. This brokering role is necessary to strengthen and maintain RPPs (Wentworth et al., 2021).
The teacher-researchers can also help facilitate RPP projects that serve as professional learning for interested teacher colleagues. Studies have suggested that involvement in participatory action research helps improve teachers’ professional practices (Miedijensky & Sasson, 2022; Wright, Carvalho, & Fejzo, 2022). Teachers want professional learning that (1) is teacher-led, (2) offers interaction and is pertinent to their students, (3) is practical for classroom needs, and (4) has continuity (Matherson & Windle, 2017). Well-constructed RPP-based learning facilitated by teacher-researchers can meet these criteria.
Any large-scale addition to the teacher career path infrastructure, such as this one, raises questions about funding and human capital. Regarding financing, in the United States, foundations and public and private funders — such as the U.S. Department of Education and the William T. Grant Foundation — currently support RPPs. This type of funding often requires that the direction and topic of research be aligned with the funders’ objectives (Farrell, Penuel, & Coburn, 2021). On the other hand, if RPPs are offered as professional learning, some local education agencies may use professional learning funding already available in their budgets.
Another potential source of funding was introduced in Congress this past year. The Teachers LEAD Act (2022) would provide grant funding for teacher leadership programs for “eligible entities,” which include “a partnership between a local educational agency or educational service agency and…a State educational agency in the same State as the local educational agency or educational service agency [or] an institution of higher education” (H.R. 7122, 2022; S.3881, 2022). If it passes, it will allow teachers to remain in the classroom while engaging in leadership activities that include: [f]acilitating collaborative, evidence-, research-, and practice-based, and sustained professional learning with peers, including mentorship and instruction leadership, that lead to improvements in teaching efficacy, professional outcomes, and taking actions to improve student outcomes, teacher outcomes, or professional learning, informed by such data. (H.R. 7122, 2022; S.3881, 2022)
Districts also will need to consider how the creation of hybrid positions for teachers will affect their overall workforce, because additional teachers may be needed to take over some of the hybrid teachers’ workloads. While this may be a challenge in the initial stages, the creation of advancement pathways has helped districts attract teacher applicants (Natale et al., 2016), so these new positions might be filled more easily than they otherwise would.
Worth the challenge
Teacher retention is a complex issue that has only been made more difficult because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As difficult as it might be to make some of the big shifts that are needed to keep teachers satisfied, allowing current trends of attrition to continue would be a costly mistake. On average, every new teacher hired in urban districts costs more than $20,000 when recruitment, hiring, and training are considered (Learning Policy Institute, 2017).
Using RPPs to improve job satisfaction is just one possibility for boosting teacher retention. Additional action would be needed to address other factors, such as working conditions, accountability measures, and support by school leaders (Carver-Thomas & Darling Hammond, 2017). It is imperative that the voices of teachers are heard in this current scramble to uphold what remains and to strengthen what has been weakened. The voices of teachers included in this article show how RPPs can be a powerful way for teachers to use their expertise and experience to make the improvements they and their students need.
Footnotes