Use attrition findings to inform staff retention efforts aligned with Pennsylvania's educator workforce strategy¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The brief positions its descriptive attrition findings as an input for retention policy: "The findings can inform staff retention efforts, consistent with the Pennsylvania Department of Education's (PDE's) Pennsylvania Educator Workforce Strategy to strengthen the workforce by 2025." The strategy is to target retention efforts using the identified high-attrition groups and contexts, such as staff of color, early-career staff, and charter schools, to help students recover from the pandemic.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Statewide attrition data by job category, career stage, sector, and LEA size to identify where retention efforts should focus

Constraints¶

• The brief is descriptive; it does not evaluate any retention intervention

Target Learners¶

• Public school students in Pennsylvania LEAs

Target Learning Goals¶

• Maintaining a stable educator workforce to support student pandemic recovery

Claims¶

• Pandemic-era attrition gaps widened for early-career teachers and health and counseling staff, charter school staff, and LEA administrators in large LEAs [+W]
• Attrition gaps between staff of color and non-Hispanic White staff grew during the pandemic except for school administrators, where they narrowed [+W]
• Statewide public school staff attrition in Pennsylvania rose from 4 percent in preceding years to 5 percent between fall 2020 and fall 2021 during the pandemic [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Six state strategies for increasing the racial diversity of the educator workforce, from data visibility through COVID-relief investment

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Stephen Lipscomb, Ijun Lai, Duncan Chaplin, Alma Vigil, Hena Matthias. (2023). Staff Attrition from Pennsylvania Public Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Mathematica. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED