Focus Areas
Each of the Alliance’s five work streams are staffed by faculty from the George Mason College of Education and Human Development alongside school division partners.
Work Stream 1: Leadership Development
The challenge of having high quality leaders across some districts exists. There is a shallow pool, and little interest in leadership positions, due to concerns of life/work balance. There is difficulty recruiting and retaining high quality leaders.
The root causes include pressures on work/life balance, narrow pools of applicants, principal burnout, low teacher morale/high turnover and failing student achievement. It can also be difficult for midlevel personnel to get the training necessary to grow and advance.
Work Stream 2: Recruitment and Retention
There is significant challenge in the area of recruitment of retention of teachers across our school system partners. The full Alliance recently convened a panel on chronic absenteeism which shared insights and differing perspectives. Our Work Stream has identified a large number of potential root causes contributing to the challenges of recruitment and retention, including, and in no priority order:
- Licensure expiration
- Lack of appreciation by society, parents, families
- Lack of training and professional direction
- Too many demands and impact on work/life balance
- Post-pandemic behaviors/disengagement by students
- Compensation
- Little opportunity to cost for leaving (small investment required)
- Burnout of teachers/mentors and differing general mindsets
- Teacher Isolation
- Barriers to teacher preparation…cost and administrative structural barriers.
Work Stream 3: Science of Reading/Math Teaching and Learning
Our Work stream members have noted that the rollout of the Virginia Literacy Act (VLA) is happening quickly, and getting school personnel up to speed is challenging. Each division is sized differently and has unique challenges, but the goal of successful VLA implementation brings us commonality and shared purpose.
A key problem is the rapid mindset shift requiring strategic adjustments and seeking professional development to make appropriate judgment calls. There is universal concern with VLA implementation across roles—what do teachers need to understand compared with the needs of reading specialists, English language teachers, and special education teachers. Everyone needs to feel like they are part of the overall solution, and schools are seeking collective efficacy.
Work Stream 4: Student, Teacher, and Staff Wellness
A major challenge which has been noted by the team is a declining climate and culture, which has trickled down into wellness, affecting the collective well-being of our students, educators, and staff. This has caused overall disengagement from school at the student and educator level. Our team members have also noted that the conversation tends to focus on when people are not well. There is perhaps, an opportunity to move to organizational wellness as a subject, i.e., what can be done so staff and students feel well and feel healthy.
The team has identified several potential root causes, including fractured systems caused by strained relationships between communities, districts and families, unequal access to mental health resources, competency of teachers, given licensure unpreparedness and unease in addressing student wellness needs, and students feeling disconnected from staff.
Work Stream 5: Creating Narrative Impact
Due primarily to media-fueled negative narratives around teaching and teachers, communities have lost trust in school districts to develop students who thrive in society. Root causes of this include the huge flow of unchallenged information communities receive from outside the education system which shapes the narrative around schools and schooling, including from sources which heavily influence parental views and decisions.
An opportunity exists to counter the use of ‘data’ to tell a story that fits the ‘failure’ narrative. School leaders/staff navigate this by pointing community members to valid, reliable information. Helping change the narrative can also be done through work like the Alliances “One Student at a Time Campaign as well as through advocacy in the community and through 1:1 discussion, school visits, and other forums where the facts can play a key role, not an unfair, or disconnected narrative.