By Kristen A. Graham, The Philadelphia Inquirer The Tribune Content Agency
PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia's pool of effective teachers is shrinking every year, and teachers of color are leaving city schools faster than they can be replaced - a significant issue for a city attempting to diversify its educator workforce and improve student outcomes.
The city's numbers are stark: While 86% of students are children of color, the teaching corps is just 35% people of color. And 22% of new teachers, those with two or fewer years, left Philadelphia schools during the 2022-23 term - of those, 16% of teachers of color left, and 12% of white teachers. (Research shows that all students, but particularly kids of color, benefit from a diverse workforce.)
Fixes should include paying teachers more, offering bonuses, and providing them with free help managing student loans, according to an analysis released Wednesday by a citywide group convened to tackle issues of diversity and effectiveness in the Philadelphia School District and charter schools.
Here are five things to know about the new report from the Philadelphia Citywide Talent Coalition.
1. Who commissioned the analysis? Who worked on it?
The Mayor's Office of Education, backed by the William Penn Foundation, in 2022 tapped Elevate 215, a nonprofit formerly known as the Philadelphia School Partnership, to convene a group to develop plans to boost teacher recruitment, diversity, and retention in schools across the city. The group comprises representatives from the Philadelphia School District, the charter sector, education researchers, and others.
2. What did they find?
For Philadelphia teachers - district and charter - hired in 2017, 55% remained teaching in the city five years later. Less than half of those in charters were still on the job. But attrition rates are climbing; of Philadelphia teachers hired in 2021, more than one in four left teaching in a single year.
"Losing this number of teachers puts an incredible capacity and financial strain on schools and school systems to recruit, onboard and support such a large number of new teachers each year, especially in schools with high turnover rates that are more likely to serve higher populations of students of color and who grew up in poverty," the report said. "Research further suggests that gains in teacher effectiveness are most accelerated in teachers' initial years of experience; therefore, we are losing hundreds of teachers at the point of their careers where they can have an accelerated impact on student outcomes."
Research for Action, a Philadelphia-based educational research nonprofit, found that teachers of color are less likely to stay in city classrooms than are their white peers. People of color are a higher percentage of the teaching force among newer teachers, 45%, vs. those with six or more years of experience, at 32%. So retaining new teachers would mean a boost for teacher diversity overall.
3. Here's how to fix it
The report's authors suggest four main actions to help stem the tide. The first is increased salaries and financial incentives - easy to say, but expensive to implement, particularly in the historically underfunded district.
The report calls for increased new-teacher pay. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers contract expires in August; members got a 5% raise last month. But city teachers' salaries generally lag suburban school systems', and working conditions are often tougher. Mastery recently upped its starting teaching salary to $60,000. Bonuses were also stressed; the district paid $1,200 retention bonuses and $2,500 bonuses for teachers in hard-to-staff schools over the next two years.
Authors also suggested schools provide student loan advising and reimburse educators for the cost of their certifications and tuition. Mastery now provides student loan advising, and district teachers have access to a service through their health benefits; the district also offers $600 in tuition reimbursement annually.
Other strategies include modernizing the profession, in part by formalizing leadership roles among teachers and paying them for their leadership; enhancing professional supports, through mentorship and other tools; and creating an inclusive school culture.
Retention strategies could be targeted based on the teacher. Newer teachers are more likely to be people of color, live in Philadelphia, and owe more than $50,000 in student debt, for instance. They are also more likely to be teaching with emergency certification - so more likely to incur tuition and certification costs.
4. Drilling down into the data
Citywide, 35.3% of teachers in Philadelphia district and charter schools were people of color; that rate has grown slowly over the last five years after dropping over the previous 10 years, then holding essentially steady. The percentage of teachers of color was higher 20 years ago than it was last year, though.
Charter schools now have a higher percentage of teachers of color than district schools do.
The district employed about 8,500 teachers in 2022-23, and the entire charter sector employed about 4,400.
The district also retains teachers at a higher rate than charter schools; the district retained 81.9% of its teachers between 2022-23 and 2023-24, and charters kept teachers at a 74.8% rate.
White teachers were also retained at higher rates; 87.8% of white teachers remained on the job in those years, vs. 83.9% of teachers of color.
Most teachers who left Philadelphia teaching jobs left education altogether, according to the data; a small percentage moved to nonteaching jobs in city schools, and an even smaller share moved to teaching jobs outside Philadelphia.
5. What do leaders say about the new report?
Michael Farrell, the district's chief learning officer, said the report was an important resource for its "practical tools and data-based strategies."
"With these resources in hand, we're better positioned to support our teachers, especially those just starting their careers and those who bring invaluable perspectives to our classrooms," Farrell said in a statement.
Mercedes Mason de Gomez, director of talent management at the Pan American Academy Charter School, said having such resources is a "game changer" for a small organization like hers.
Scott Gaiber, deputy chief of talent initiatives of Elevate 215, noted that some strategies are already happening in places around the city.
But "while progress has been made," Gaiber said in a statement, "we must continue to amplify our collective efforts to ensure schools better retain new teachers and teachers of color who are making a difference for students."