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Senators press department on teacher retention; state launches retention center and apprenticeship pathways, Green-to-Teach still in early planning
Summary
The Department of Education told the Senate Finance subcommittee it is centralizing teacher retention data and programs in a new Alaska Educator Retention and Recruitment Center and expanding apprenticeship pathways, while senators pushed for concrete steps addressing pay, leadership and retirement, the priorities educators consistently report.
Kelly Manning, deputy director for the division of Innovation and Education Excellence, told the subcommittee the department is implementing several strategies to address teacher retention: creation of an Alaska Educator Retention and Recruitment Center (AERRC), an exit-and-stay survey to capture why teachers leave or remain, expansion of teacher registered apprenticeship programs and development of principal apprenticeship pathways.
Manning said the intent of the exit-and-stay work is to aggregate ongoing survey data so the state can identify and replicate conditions where educators are staying. "The intent is to create a survey...that can live at the Alaska Educator Retention and Recruitment Center," she said, and to add a stay component so the state can identify successful retention strategies.
Senator Tobin pressed for results beyond earlier 2019 survey findings, saying Alaska educators consistently list three priorities: competitive pay, strong leadership and retirement security. Tobin told department staff she wanted to see how the new work addresses those top three concerns. Manning said the AERRC is intended to surface successful strategies and that the department is investing in teacher and principal apprenticeship pathways to "grow our own" educators.
Senators also asked about Green to Teach (also referenced by one senator as "troops to teachers"), a proposal to recruit military veterans into teaching. Manning said the department is working with a military adviser to the State Board and is exploring existing military transition programs as a low-cost pathway; the program is still in early planning and the department has not produced an estimate of participant numbers.
Deputy Director Manning and other department staff also described related investments in convenings and virtual recruitment supports, and said some of the work is supported by funds in the department's teacher recruitment and retention (TRR) increment. Senator Tobin and other members asked the department to return with specific survey instruments and more detail on how the new activities will map to the top retention priorities legislators hear from educators.
