Teacher quality is the number one factor in student success. So for principals, ensuring teacher quality through proper recruitment, retention, and support is critical to improving learning. This issue of Principal magazine addresses preparation, induction, and support for new teachers, as well as working conditions that contribute to high levels of teaching success and retention.

Click here to read the digital edition.

This issue of Prinicipal is also accompanied by a Leading Lessons guide, “Managing People, Data, and Processes.” Use this guide with your staff to maximize your leadership.

FEATURES

The Primary Problem
Why there’s a growing teacher shortage, and what principals can do about it
Tim Hodges

The Big Short
Addressing looming teacher shortages is more than a matter of fair pay
Kelly Coash-Johnson

What It Takes to Be a Top Teacher
Four teachers and two principals discuss the environments that helped produce award-winning educators

Diversifying for the Duration
Administrators can recruit and support teachers of color to reduce turnover
Desirée Carver-Thomas and Ryan Saunders

Bringing Bias Into View
For educators, ignoring one’s own unconscious biases won’t make them go away
Ali Michael with Marguerite W. Penick-Parks and Eddie Moore Jr.

Wanted: Teachers Who Know Trauma
Recruiting and hiring appropriate teacher candidates to serve in a trauma-impacted school
John F. Eller and Sheila A. Eller

Ramped-Up Recruitment
Georgia school streamlines hiring strategies as enrollment surges by more than 100 students per year
Cleave “Bivins” Miller III

Research Roundup: Select and Support
Recent reports highlight the importance of induction programs on early career teachers
Linda Fitch

IN EVERY ISSUE

From the Editor
What’s Care Got to Do With It?
Kaylen Tucker, Ph.D.

Snapshots
Nuggets of research, policy, and practice to keep you informed

5 Things
What you need to know about the Association that has your back

In the Spotlight
Passion Is the Priority
Massachusetts principal brings resilience and enthusiasm to his work

Practitioner’s Corner
Read From the Menu
Give teachers choices when asking them to read a book over
summer break

Wellness
Saying No to Stress
Building teachers’ coping skills has a direct effect on student outcomes

Raising the Bar
Engineering Success
How a high-poverty school’s focus on STEM helped it go from a C rating to an A

The Reflective Principal
Turning the Tables
The “hip-hop principalship” grounds itself in authenticity to remix the role

Principal’s Bookshelf
The Reader’s Reader
Lead With Literacy is an excellent resource for promoting reading

It’s the Law
Transgender Students Prevail
Case law is shifting in the direction of guaranteeing access to restrooms and locker rooms

Parents & Schools
Break Down the Barriers
How urban schools can increase parental involvement

In the Middle
Command Performance
Colorado school makes music a gateway to academic improvement

Postscript
Reverse the Trend
National education groups are collaborating with states to address teacher shortages
L. Earl Franks, Ed.D., CAE