July 2007 — News
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Can IT Turn Around Teacher Turnover?
In a related matter, the report also recommended an tweaking of data systems to provide more comprehensive information on teacher effectiveness as a sort of means of forcing administrators at the school and district level to focus efforts on retaining high-quality teachers. "Robust data systems that provide sufficient information about teacher effectiveness in specific schools will also enable district human resource departments to be increasingly accountable for the retention of high quality teachers," the report stated.
The report also makes recommendations in areas tangentially related to IT: induction and professional development. Of course, IT holds the keys to some aspects of these two related areas in its ability to enable technology-based learning through Web-based tools and other types of collaboration technologies.
But all of these recommendations are costly in their own right. Upgrading data systems and providing comprehensive induction and targeted retention/professional development programs can be prohibitively expensive. But:
"The costs of such programs will at least be partially offset by increases in teacher retention and subsequent decreases in the costs of turnover. It is very possible that a district could save money by investing in an effective induction program," according to the report.
There's obviously more to it than this. But the report does provide documentation and analyses of problems facing schools in retaining new teachers that point toward a critical role IT (among other departments) can play in addressing these problems. I recommend you take a look at this 97-page report and also use NCTAF's teacher turnover calculator to get an idea of what your schools might be losing as new teachers come and go. Both can be found at the links below.
Read More:
- National Commission on Teaching and America's Future
- Report: The Cost of Teacher Turnover in Five School Districts: A Pilot Study (PDF)
READ MORE OPINIONS and VIEWPOINTS
About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.
Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.
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