With spot shortages pinching classrooms across the state, school boards are studying a new set of “the three Rs:”  retirements, recruitment and retention. Addressing the new realities helps schools successfully staff for the future.

Retirements

A tidal wave of retirements washed through Oregon’s schools in recent years, leaving many teaching and administrative positions vacant. That unusual wave results in part from two specific “booms.”

First, enhanced Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) investments from a booming stock market toward the end of the 1990s encouraged above-average retirements among public employees, including educators.

Second, baby boomers are reaching retirement age. More than 50 percent of all currently employed Oregon teachers are age 44 to 55, and they will continue to swell retirement numbers in the next decade.

To cope with high numbers of retirees, and ensure an adequate supply of qualified teachers in our schools for the future, districts are focusing carefully on the other two Rs - recruitment and retention.

Recruitment

The country’s hardest-hit cities are recruiting teachers with tactics taken from business, including housing subsidies, on-site child care, and sponsorship of work visas for new hires from as far away as India and the Philippines.

While special education teachers have received signing bonuses in at least one Oregon district, most of the state’s school districts rely on competitive salary schedules to attract teachers. Except for California and Alaska, Oregon tops the western region in teacher salaries.

“We are in a favorable position compared with Washington, for example,” Myton explains. “Washington has a statewide salary schedule with little flexibility, but Oregon salary schedules are bargained district by district. That enables districts to be more competitive in hiring.”

The Northwest lifestyle plays a positive role in recruitment efforts, as well. And once established in the Northwest, teachers aren’t likely to trade their jobs for positions in actively recruiting cities like Los Angeles or Las Vegas.

Oregon schools - like schools across the nation - also are developing programs to recruit and prepare more minority teachers. Some four percent of the educators in Oregon’s public schools are minorities, while nearly 20 percent of Oregon’s 546,986 K-12 students are minorities. The Portland Teacher Program, a cooperative effort among Portland Public Schools, Portland Community College and Portland State University, is one of a number of those programs in the state.      

Latest research shows successful recruitment often begins with a “Renaissance” human resources director armed with a strategic plan defining both long-range and short-term recruiting goals. That Renaissance HR director uses state-of-the-art technology to locate applicants and pays greater attention to the “customer satisfaction” of those applicants once they are hired.

Retention

Customer satisfaction is key in the third R: retention. Research shows that new teachers who are mentored are more likely to clear the five-year hurdle and remain in the profession. A bill crafted by OSBA, the Oregon Education Association (OEA), the Governor’s Office and the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators (COSA) during the 2001 Legislative Session would reinstate a successful mentoring program for Oregon teachers and administrators.

The Beginning Teacher and Administrator Support Program, a $1.5 million grant program in the governor’s 2001-03 budget, would provide $3,000 a year for each new teacher and administrator for mentoring programs. The Senate unanimously passed the bill (SB 250) on March 5, 2001.

“This program is the best thing on the slate to help new teachers,” Myton says. “It is viewed by Governor Kitzhaber and state professional associations as the quickest means we have to address retention.”

Studies also show new teachers need extra support from administrators, additional classroom management skills and opportunities to teach in the areas of their strength. Job satisfaction surveys repeatedly emphasize the importance of working conditions and morale over compensation.

Oregon’s standards-based schools pose new challenges to teachers as well as students. Teachers must be well-prepared with strategies that align with the standards in order to help students meet benchmarks. Teachers without the knowledge and skills they need are the most likely to leave, according to research.

The financial benefits of retaining teachers cannot be overlooked. School districts invest up to $5,000 to recruit, hire and orient each new teacher. Over the next decade, Oregon districts will spend millions to recruit and hire teachers who will leave our classrooms - half of them within five years. In tight school budgets, that represents an investment with no return.

The national demand for teachers, accelerated retirements and enrollment increases projected to continue throughout the 21st century will squeeze Oregon’s teacher supply for years to come.

Efforts to recruit and retain the best - along with a renewed statewide commitment to teacher training – will create the environment that keeps a good teacher in every Oregon classroom. 

It starts with the board

Creating this environment starts with the school board.

“School boards play a pivotal role in creating the progressive school community that attracts people,” says Carolyn Ortman, secretary-treasurer of OSBA’s Board. As board chair, Ortman sits at the helm of Hillsboro, one of Oregon’s highest-growth districts.