An Important HR Function : Strategies to Reduce Teacher Attrition At Charter Schools

STRATEGIES TO REDUCE TEACHER ATTRITION AT CHARTER SCHOOLS

                                                    INTRODUCTION
The erosion of the teaching force each year indicates that many charter schools are going to have an especially hard time building professional learning communities that can make a difference in the education of children. Therefore, the high attrition rates for teachers in charter schools constitute one of the greatest obstacles that will need to be overcome if the charter school reform is to deliver as promised.

Reducing teacher attrition has become a key focus for school administrations. Hundreds of thousands of dollars can be saved annually by reducing employee turnover. For example, a school system with roughly 10,000 teachers and an estimated attrition rate of 20% would stand to save approximately $500,000.00/year by reducing turnover by just 1 percentage point.

Not only would reduced attrition provide monetary savings, more importantly, it would provide savings in our children's educational future. A motivated and experienced team of teaching professionals directly correlates with an improved educational system.
 
Many ideas have been proposed by various lawmakers, administrators, and other authorities regarding rewards and incentives to improve teacher retention. While the intentions of these officials are good, the ideas are generally based on guesswork or at best, what seems to be working in other locales. Increasing teacher salaries is often regarded as a panacea, yet it is clear that good teachers enter the field for reasons other than money.
           

The surest way to solve the retention issues is to go directly to the source to find out on an ongoing basis why the teachers leave, where they see the problems and where they see the successes. The information needs to be tracked consistently and compared school district by school district, school by school.
                     TEACHER ATTRITION AT CHARTER SCHOOLS

Charter schools maintain flexibility and autonomy in terms of staffing. Such autonomy over staff is one of the most important differences between charter schools and traditional public schools. Teachers in most charter schools are at-will employees, even in states that permit collective bargaining. Teachers are typically not tenured and mostly subject to year- to- year employment contract, and the school administration or governing board can readily hire and fire teachers and staff.

Having such autonomy allows a charter school to build a cohesive and focused learning community around its mission. Teachers who do not “buy in” to the school mission or the teachers who are ineffective in fulfillment of vision of the charter school usually end up leaving or being fired. Representatives of charter schools feel that this is necessary for the development of a cohesive community.

High teacher attrition rates are likely to be one of the most critical obstacles charter schools face. Researchers reveal that teacher attrition rates at charter schools have been persistently around or above 20 percent, which appears higher than might be expected. More alarmingly, for relatively new teachers, the attrition rate has been close to 40 percent annually. High attrition forces schools to regularly provide pre- and in-service training for new hires and makes it harder for them to build a positive and stable school climate. In addition, high attrition rates are likely to undermine the legitimacy of the schools in the eyes of consumers—namely, parents.

Another key point is that charter schools have not been successful in meeting teachers’ expectations in general. Some advocates and even some researchers have conflated teachers’ reasons for choosing a charter school with conditions that actually exist in the school. For example, some assume that if teachers say “academic reputation/high standards” were important reasons for seeking employment in charter schools, then charter schools must have good academic reputations and high standards. Studies have revealed that while teachers report choosing charter schools for such positive reasons (for example, perceived quality and desire to work with like-minded educators), most teachers reported large and statistically significant differences between what they expected and what they were experiencing. The following comment was provided by a teacher as a response to on an article that was published on www.ednews.org. It definitely highlights teacher dissatisfaction with not performing charter schools.

“I am a charter school survivor. I taught two and half years at two different charter schools and survived low pay, bounced paychecks, no pay, no running water when the school didn't pay the water bill, no personal leave time -- even to go to the doctor when sick, and many other things that public school teachers never (usually) have to contend with. Rather than leave the profession, I found a good public school district which I have now been at for 3 years. Charter schools are a training ground -- nothing more. Good teachers who love the profession should move along into the public schools and consider their charter school time a good learning experience in how NOT to do things.”

Teachers also indicate that they feel insecure about their future at their charter schools, a feeling that can be ascribed to a variety of factors. For example, insecurity might be fostered by knowledge that a school is chartered only for a limited number of years. Or, the lack of tenure or year to year contracts might lead teachers to feel insecure. It is possible as well, especially given a school’s autonomy in hiring and firing, that teachers fear they will not live up to the expectations of the school administration and governing board.

                           STRATEGIES TO REDUCE TEACHER ATTRITION

Although charter schools, under the current condition, will not be able to match salary level of traditional public schools, and measure up to their facilities, other funding sources, etc., there is still quite a lot that charter schools can do to cut their teacher attrition down to a percentage less than 5-10 like many highly performing charter schools achieve in the nation.  The following specific strategies stem from my own administrative experience at charter schools and outstanding charter school leaders, advocates, and supporters.

Strategy 1: Conduct thorough and comprehensive recruitment process

It is important that charter schools utilize a very detailed comprehensive recruitment process when hiring their staff. Many successful businessmen quote “My biggest win occurs at the time of negotiation.”It is absolutely true. In his book “No Excuses: Lessons from 21 High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools” Samuel Casey Carter, highlights common characteristics of outstanding charter schools and their leaders’ effective strategies. In one example, a school leader speaks about his very time consuming but worthwhile interview process. He says “I know the times I had interviewed approximately 150 teachers just to hire one single teacher.” This definitely relates to the fact that one bad apple may spoil the bunch. The suggested and very thorough interview process can be as follows:

1.     Start recruiting no later than March or April as most of the teachers are looking for available jobs in those months. Do not shop for leftovers.

2.     Establish a selection criterion when going through teacher resumes. Form a team to neatly pick out the best possible candidates before you set up a phone interview with them. Yes, it is a good practice to conduct phone interviews with teacher candidates.

3.     After phone interviews, set up face to face interviews with the candidates. It is crucial that a special committee consisting of administrators and experienced teachers interview the candidates. It is critical that the committee specifically ask the questions that should make sure if candidates have acquired the knowledge of how to teach to a wide range of learners, as well as the ability to manage a classroom, design and implement instruction, instructional methods and strategies, curriculum; measurement and evaluation of student learning; human growth and development; multicultural education; the education of special needs students; legal and ethical aspects of teaching; organization of schools; technology; and the teaching of reading and work skillfully with students, parents, and other professionals.

4.     As some effective charter schools do, you may utilize “Dr. Haberman’s The Star Teacher Pre-Screener.” This is a questionnaire which is made up of 50 questions of which teacher candidates will be given three possible answers. This test will evaluate their knowledge and skills when it comes to teaching lower income students. Further details are available at the website at http://www.habermanfoundation.org/StarTeacherPreScreener.aspx.

5.     Teacher references must be called to collect further information on the candidates. Most schools won’t take time to do this. But, it is really valuable and provides inside information. 

Strategy 2: Offer a competitive and performance based teacher salary

Higher salaries appear to attract better-prepared and higher-quality teachers. Student achievement may be associated with increases in teacher salaries as well. Teachers are much motivated once they know, in addition to a single salary schedule; they have opportunities to receive extra compensations based on high performance, significant improvement in the students’ achievement, test scores, tackling extra responsibilities, etc.

Strategy 3. Build a continuous, well thought out, strategic professional development program at the school

Charter schools provide alternative education to traditional public schools and they are granted limited time to achieve certain goals. Since charter schools predominantly serve inner city students, they require unique teaching knowledge and skills that teachers do not typically acquire through training or elsewhere. Lacking these knowledge and skills, teachers would be less likely to produce the desired student achievement results and more likely to leave the school or profession. Charter schools need to provide ongoing professional development program that focuses on much needed areas of emergency such as classroom management, urban education, differentiating instruction, special education, data-driven instruction, integration of technology in the instructions, building positive relationships with the students, discipline, and student engagement to ensure that their staff has the professional capacity to achieve the educational goals.

Strategy 4. Offer a tuition reimbursement program which will both benefit the teachers and the school

It is important that the schools allocate some of their funds for tuition reimbursement program. Schools already receive federal grants for this purpose. Teachers appreciate the fact that the schools pitch in to help cover some of the costs that teachers need to improve their knowledge and skills.

Strategy 5. Conduct Employee Morale Assessment twice a year

Employee morale is part of school culture and it is very important. When teachers are happy, they tend to be more efficient and they enjoy their work. It is important that teachers don't feel overworked and burdened by their job. Employee morale gauges organizational culture and how employers' treatment of their employees impact how the employee thinks about the organization as a whole. Schools should conduct this assessment twice to see how much improvement has been created in terms of meeting teachers expectations.

Strategy 7. Develop ongoing activities to boost employee motivation and morale

Schools should promote activities that will create an atmosphere of positive morale which eventually allows employees to build strong relationships in the school. Teachers create more work at a school where they feel appreciated, valued, and supported. Here are recommended some activities.

1. Employee of the month program
2. Tickets to movies, sport games, etc.
3. Staff Thanksgiving dinner, new year dinner, and other celebrations
4. Staff Bowling Day or Staff Movie Day
5. Staff Birthday Celebration
6. Early Release for Some Staff or for All Staff
7. Extra Personal Day
8. Celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week
9. Staff International and National Trips
10. Staff Home Visit Program
11. Letters to Staff’s Families (to show how important they are to the school.)
12. Thanks You Notes or Letters by The Administration

Strategy 8. Allocate funds from the budget to be used at teachers’ own discretion

 It is important to allocate a certain amount of money for teachers use only. A team of just teachers will be formed to accomplish this goal, and the team will decide how they would like to spend that money for teachers. They may decide to use it for extra resources, support materials,  staff gatherings, bonuses, etc. The allocated amount may vary from $5,000 to $10,000.

Strategy 8. Establish an effective and timely communication among staff

Clear, effective communication is essential to creating strong and productive teams. To assist with communication, the school should make use of regular staff meetings, leadership team meetings, retreats, and weekly memos.  Students, faculty, advisors, parents, and administration will communicate regularly by e-mail, allowing assignments, appointments, and documents to flow quickly and efficiently and providing more time for instructional work.  Shared tasks and calendars will allow the school to function with the efficiency of a modern corporation. Every minute will be maximized for teaching and learning.

Strategy 9. Improve working conditions identified by new teachers as factors in their decision to leave teaching

National survey data show that teachers’ plans to remain in teaching are highly sensitive to their perceptions of their working conditions. It’s been found that that teachers in high-minority, low-income schools report significantly worse working conditions – including poorer facilities, less availability of textbooks and supplies, fewer administrative supports, and larger class sizes, and that teachers are significantly more likely to say they plan to leave a school soon because of these poor working conditions.

Strategy 10. Offer beginning teacher mentoring program

Beginning teachers who have access to intensive mentoring by expert colleagues are much less likely to leave teaching in the early years. Effective teacher mentoring programs provides beginning teachers with support and assistance to help navigate the difficult early years of teaching as they perfect their teaching skills.

Strategy 11. Put “Teacher Incentive and Recognition Programs” in place

Teachers would like to be appreciated and recognized for their extra ordinary efforts. The examples are as follows:

1. Successful operation of extracurricular activities that may produce outstanding results such as winning 1st, 2nd ,3rd place in contests, tournaments, sport competitions, etc.
2. Promoting school’s events or success stories through media and press. Provide teachers with monetary incentives up to $500 if they get a media or press coverage through their own efforts.
3. If any teacher writes any non federal grant for school, and the school gets awarded for that grant, teacher should be promised to get a 5 percent of that grant award.
4. If, any time, a teacher is successful for any school related matter, that teacher should be recognized publicly and receive a monetary award.

Strategy 12. Provide continuous administrative supervision and monitoring

It is inevitable that school administrators and supervisors be visible and provide frequent feedback about teachers performances through classroom walk through, classroom observations, attending school events and activities, meeting with teachers when necessary.

Strategy 13. Involve teachers in decision making process and delegate some administrative responsibilities among teachers

Teachers need to feel like they are listened to, appreciated, supported, and understood by the administration. Administration may invite some teachers to sit in their administration meetings from time to time to get teachers side feedback on some certain issues. Also, grade level meetings should be chaired by one of the teachers. Administration members should frequently visit grade level and department meetings to support teachers. Teachers need to be asked for their feedback in regards to issues like discipline, curriculum, professional development, school policies, award and incentive programs, etc.

Strategy 14. Improve safety and security conditions in school

It is vital that safety and security measures at charter schools be efficient and provide a sense of trust. Teachers are not expected to perform at the their highest capacity where they feel insecure. Installation of security cameras, effective and constant student monitoring, training for emergency situations, administrative support and assistance with hard-to-deal with parents, having security personnel when necessary, implementation of school discipline policies to the core are some good examples of those measures.

REFERENCES:

Gary Miron, Ph.D., Brooks Applegate, Ph.D.  Teacher Attrition in Charter Schools

Nobscott Corporation. Teacher Retention Strategies. Retrieved from http://www.nobscot.com/about/teacher_retention_strategies.cfm

Gary Miron, Ph.D., Brooks Applegate, Ph.D.  Teacher Attrition in Charter Schools

EducationNews.org. Teacher Attrition Rate Higher at Charter Schools Than Traditional Public Schools. Comment was retrieved from http://www.ednews.org/articles/teacher-attrition-rate-higher-at-charter-schools-than-traditional-public-schools.html