Texas’s Performance
Ungraded
Explore the key policy levers below to learn more about how Texas is implementing policies to support Strategic Staffing (NCTQ does not assign rankings to states for this policy area.)
See how Texas performs across policy levers to improve Strategic Staffing
Strong
Moderate
Weak
Unacceptable
Ungraded
Why focus on Strategic Staffing?
Students need a well-prepared, diverse teacher workforce, yet shortages persist in some schools and subjects.1 Coupled with shorter teaching careers2 and overall job dissatisfaction,3 reimagining teaching through innovative strategies like team teaching, formalized teacher-leader roles, and flexible class sizes has the potential to improve student outcomes and create a more sustainable profession.
Recommendations for Texas for Strategic Staffing
Removing Barriers
- Allow districts to apply for a waiver on the use of teacher collaboration time so districts can implement more creative, flexible scheduling, provided that they have a strategic staffing plan approved by their board
- Permit team outcomes to be considered in teacher evaluations under state policy or allow districts to seek a waiver that would allow team outcomes in teacher evaluations if implementing a strategic staffing model
Seeding Innovation
- Require and fund research and evaluations to study the outcomes of strategic staffing models
- Leverage district networks to support implementation
- Connect the dots among multiple initiatives statewide so districts can see how strategies such as strategic staffing, academic initiatives, and pipeline programs could all be working together to improve working conditions for teachers and student outcomes
References
- Institute of Education Sciences. (n.d.). School pulse panel. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved August 12, 2024, from https://ies.ed.gov/schoolsurvey/spp/
- Ingersoll, R. M., Merrill, E., Stuckey, D., & Collins, G. (2018). Seven trends: The transformation of the teaching force – Updated October 2018. CPRE Research Reports.
- Carver-Thomas, D., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2017). Teacher turnover: Why it matters and what we can do about it. Learning Policy Institute. https://reimagineteaching.nctq.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/08/NCTQ_RT_NL_Teacher-Turnover-Why-it-Matters.pdf