Educator Recruitment and Retention

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Every student should have access to outstanding, well-prepared, well-supported educators who reflect the diversity of the students they serve. Unfortunately, due to the COVID pandemic, the teaching profession lost an estimated 730,000 jobs (9% of the public education workforce) between February and May 2020.

Thanks to historic investment in the American Rescue Plan (ARP), states and their school districts have made significant progress in eliminating teacher shortages and promoting strategies to strengthen and diversify the educator pipeline. Thanks to these efforts, October 2023 saw only 1.2 percent fewer local public education employees than October 2019 (beginning of most recent pre-pandemic school year).

To learn how the U.S. Department of Education (ED) works to support educators and eliminate teacher shortages across the country, see this one-pager (en Español).

Strategies

ED has identified the following strategies and resources to address educator recruitment and retention:

Stabilize the Profession

The U.S. Department of Education Progress Towards Returning to Pre-Pandemic Staffing Levels policy brief summarizes progress made nationwide and improvement strategies for eliminating educator shortages by increasing compensation, making available high-quality and affordable educator preparation programs, and creating opportunities for teacher leadership and career advancement.
ED provides additional resources to support teacher recruitment and retention through the Education Innovation and Research program.

Improve Teacher Compensation and Working Conditions

Within the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, after a borrower has made 10 years of qualifying monthly payments while working for a qualifying employer, the remaining balance on a Direct Loan is forgiven. Full-time elementary and secondary school teachers and others working in public or private nonprofit schools are eligible for PSLF.
An income-driven repayment plan sets monthly student loan payments at amounts deemed affordable based on borrower’s income and family size. Depending on income and family size, monthly payments may even be eliminated.
TEACH Grants provide up to $4,000 per year to undergraduate and graduate students completing or planning to complete required education coursework who commit to teaching in a high-needs area.
The Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) program forgives up to $17,500 of Direct or Federal Stafford Loans for those who have taught five complete and consecutive years at a qualifying school. For information regarding TLF in Colorado, including a list of qualifying schools, visit CDE’s Teacher Loan Forgiveness website.
Perkins Loan Cancellation forgives up to 100 percent of Federal Perkins Loans for full-time teachers at schools that serve large student populations from low-income backgrounds.

Promote Career Ladders for Teachers

Resources for district and school leadership teams to incentivize teacher recruitment and retention include:

Pathways Alliance, a unique coalition of leading organizations dedicated to supporting and implementing diverse and inclusive educator preparation pipelines, including residency programs.
More than $170 million in new awards and continuation grants for the Teacher and School Leader Incentive program, to support high-needs schools by providing career advancement opportunities for effective teachers, principals, and other school leaders and improve processes for recruiting, selecting, supporting, and retaining effective teachers and leaders.

Support High-Quality and Affordable Teacher Preparation

The following are partnership efforts between Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs):

To better prepare and support special education teachers, ED provides $115 million in IDEA Part D new and continuation grants for the Personnel Preparation program. ED’s FY 2025 request is $125 million, a $10 million increase.
ED is investing $70 million in high-quality teacher preparation programs, such as residencies and grow-your-own, by awarding up to 20 additional Teacher Quality Partnership program grants. The next application round will prioritize proposals for increasing educator diversity and focus on grow-your-own and Registered Apprenticeship Programs aligned with high-quality design principles. ED’s FY 2025 request is $95 million, a $25 million increase.

Promote Educator Diversity

The CC Network's Increasing Workforce Diversity to Boost Learning Recovery Efforts: This webinar from the Summer Learning & Enrichment Collaborative provides suggestions on how to use ESSER funds to bolster student learning while expanding the pipeline of teachers of color.
The Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence, authorized under Title II, Part B of the Higher Education Act, currently awards $15 million to efforts to increase the number of diverse and talented teachers by funding programs at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), minority-serving Institutions, and tribal colleges and universities. ED’s FY 2025 request will be double this, $30 million.

Sustaining Investments Post ARP ESSER III

ED released a Dear Colleague Letter and factsheet encouraging states and districts to use ARP funds to address labor shortages, highlighting evidence-based strategies. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued a joint letter calling on states to address educator shortages by strengthening pathways into the profession, including high-quality paid Registered Apprenticeship programs for teaching, and ensuring teachers are paid livable and competitive wages. CDE used ARP, ESSER III, ESSER I and II, and State Reserve funds to support the educator workforce through the following grants and other opportunities:

Educator Workforce Grant Program to increase educator and staff compensation, build and maintain a cadre of high-quality substitute teachers, support teacher well-being, increase the availability of qualified adults to support teachers, and invest in grow-your-own programs and the educator pipeline.
Mentor Teacher Grant Program to deepen mentoring programs at the local level, specifically targeting pre-service mentoring programs for student teachers and new to the profession teachers in their first three years of teaching and to broaden the skills of mentor teachers to maximize mentor/mentee relationships and build instructional capacity.
Contract with iLearn Collaborative to develop a Mentor Teacher Academy course focused on mentoring skills.
Interagency agreements with:
- The Bueno Center at CU-Boulder to provide professional development for paraprofessionals regarding high quality instructional practices and financial assistance available to become a licensed teacher in Colorado.
- The Colorado Center for Rural Education at UNC for a substitute teacher bootcamp and substitute licensure costs.
- Serve Colorado to enroll AmeriCorps members to provide substitute teaching, paraprofessional support, and general school needs.
- Serve Colorado to enroll AmeriCorps members in two-year residency-based Colorado approved alternative teacher preparation programs.
Many resources support states and districts in developing and expanding Registered Apprenticeship Programs, including the U.S. Department of Labor’s Apprenticeship Program Partner Finder Tool, A Funding Guide For Supporting a Registered Teacher Apprenticeship Program With Federal and State Funds from the CEEDAR Center, and the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders at the American Institutes for Research.
ED's factsheet, Sustaining Investments in Teachers Beyond the American Rescue Plan, highlights additional federal resources available to sustain ARP investments in key strategies that attract, prepare, support, and retain a diverse teacher workforce and address teacher shortages for the long-term.
ED issued a FAQ resource on using ESSER and GEER funds for student transportation that also addresses bus driver shortages.

Potential Funding Sources

While ESSER III funds are ending, the LEAs continue to support students as they regain pre-pandemic levels and grow beyond them. Many LEAs want to continue their successful high-impact investments and various funding streams can be blended and/or braided together to support these efforts. As LEAs decide which activities they will fund through various title funds, it is important to note that all title-funded activities must be connected to their comprehensive needs assessment (CNA) and must be supplemental in nature. Professional development (PD) implemented with ESEA funds must be job-embedded, data-driven, and ongoing (not stand-alone, one-day, or short-term workshops).

Title I, Part A: Potentially funded activities include, but are not limited to, coaching, mentoring, relevant PD, and other supports for educators in Title I schools. Title I can fund activities at the school level, or LEAs can reserve some for district-managed activities and can include incentives for teaching in high-needs schools.
Title II, Part A: Supported activities include, but are not limited to, evidence-based PD, providing time for teachers to review student data, programs that meet the needs of early-grade students (including the transition from preschool to elementary school), recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce, and reducing class sizes. Title II funded activities must be supplemental and cannot supplant activities that (1) are required under other federal, state, or local laws, (2) were funded with state or local funds in prior years, or (3) would be implemented absent ESEA funds.
Title III, Part A: Allowable activities include, but are not limited to, evidence-based PD for general education teachers of multilingual/English learners and principals, other school leaders, administrators, and instructional staff working with MLs/Els, including linguistic instruction.
Title IV, Part A: Activities include, but are not limited to, improving instructional practices around relationship building, suicide prevention, culturally responsive teaching, drug and violence prevention, school-based health and mental health services, and mentoring.
IDEA, Part B, Section 611: Programs include, but are not limited to, paying for evidence-based PD for educators, providing special education and related services, and recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce with credentials to meet the needs of students with disabilities.

For help working through the process of determining how to allocate funds to support any investments that fall under Educator Recruitment and Engagement utilize this companion document.