6 Teacher Retention Tips for Administrators
Written by:
Wilson College
• Aug 13, 2025
It has been challenging for many school administrators to retain teachers in recent years. When research organization Rand surveyed more than 22,000 teachers in the U.S. in 2024, it found:
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Seventeen percent of teachers said they planned to leave the profession by the end of the school year.
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Sixty percent of teachers reported experiencing burnout.
Teacher retention is critical to achieving positive educational outcomes and creating a productive working environment for educators. Preserving continuity through teacher retention is key to both maximizing students’ learning experiences and reducing stress on the teachers who remain in the profession.
People who are pursuing a Master of Education degree and have ambitions to work in administration can benefit from becoming familiar with strategies that promote teacher retention and help to ensure that teachers can have long and satisfying careers.
What Is Teacher Retention?
The first step in promoting teacher retention is knowing what teacher retention is and understanding what a teacher retention rate reflects.
In its simplest terms, teacher retention refers to having teachers remain in their positions. The teacher retention rate for a school or school district is the percentage of teachers working at the school or school district who choose to remain working there over a specified period of time. A higher percentage means relatively more teachers are staying, while a lower percentage means relatively fewer teachers are staying.
Some teachers resign from their school or school district to secure employment at another school or school district. Others resign because they want to exit the teaching profession and pursue another career. Regardless of the reason for their resignation, the loss of a teacher can have a negative effect on the school the teacher leaves behind.
Why Is Teacher Retention Important?
When schools and school districts experience difficulty keeping teachers in their positions, the effects on the students, the teachers, and even the cost of education can be substantial.
Teacher Retention Is Vital to Students’ Success
Retaining teachers is crucial in helping students achieve success in pursuing their education. For example:
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Preserving continuity within a school’s staff and minimizing disruptions due to teacher resignations can help to ensure that students receive a quality education from experienced and qualified teachers.
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Retaining teachers can help to reduce students’ behavioral issues and their stress levels at school.
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Experienced teachers are well-versed in their school’s and school district’s policies and can be better positioned to help their students obtain the support services they need.
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Students benefit from the opportunity to form long-lasting relationships with teachers and receive instruction from established teachers whom they view as role models.
Educators Benefit From High Teacher Retention Rates
Teachers also benefit from working in a school with a high teacher retention rate. When a teacher leaves a school, this can result in additional work and stress for the teachers who remain. For example, those teachers may be asked to carry out additional responsibilities or teach larger classes. Increasing the teacher retention rate can help to reduce feelings of burnout and stress for teachers who choose to stay at a school.
Improved Teacher Retention Rates Can Reduce the Cost of Education
When teachers resign, school districts incur additional costs. Recruiting and hiring costs, as well as teacher training costs, increase when districts have to replace teachers who have left their positions. The funds that school districts use in replacing teachers who resign are funds that the districts could have used to enhance other aspects of education such as technology or classroom upgrades.
6 Teacher Retention Tips and Strategies for Administrators
Administrators and school principals can implement a variety of teacher retention strategies to boost retention rates. Some examples of those strategies are highlighted below.
1. Consider Ways to Improve Teachers’ Compensation
It is no secret that their compensation can spur some teachers to leave the profession. While administrators often do not have significant control over teachers’ compensation, they can still seek ways to enhance the financial rewards of teaching. For example, administrators can research compensation models that other school districts and states use to pay teachers and identify new ideas for allocating scarce funds devoted to teachers’ compensation.
Administrators can also investigate ways to provide teachers with bonuses when they excel in certain areas. Additionally, they can examine approaches for rewarding teachers who work in specific schools with relatively low teacher retention rates.
2. Ensure Schools Have the Necessary Support Staff
Monitoring schools to learn whether they have the support staff they require can help in making teachers’ jobs less difficult. When schools have an adequate number of school nurses, paraprofessionals, and counselors, for example, this can help teachers focus on teaching and reduce any additional duties they may need to take on without that support.
3. Identify Ways to Reduce Teachers’ Administrative Responsibilities
Looking for approaches to reduce the administrative tasks teachers spend time on can also help teachers concentrate on educating students. For example, perhaps some paper-based administrative tasks can be automated, or the steps in completing the administrative tasks that teachers perform can be streamlined, requiring less time.
4. Facilitate Good Communication With Teachers
Teachers benefit from having open communication with administrators. When administrators regularly have direct conversations with teachers, teachers often feel that administrators are concerned about their well-being. Fostering a sense of collaboration between teachers and administrators can also help teachers feel engaged and build strong relationships of trust with administrators.
5. Support Teachers Through Coaching, Feedback, and Mentorship
Administrators have the ability to improve teachers’ satisfaction with their jobs by actively coaching them and providing them with positive performance feedback. Offering teachers opportunities to work with mentors can also be helpful. For example, it can be useful for teachers who want to advance their expertise by earning a Master of Education degree to receive insight from mentors who have already completed a graduate program in education.
6. Help New Teachers Prepare for Classroom Teaching
Some new teachers may enter the profession without the classroom management skills they need, which can result in low job satisfaction for the teacher and, ultimately, in lower teacher retention rates for the school. It is important for administrators to identify new teachers who can benefit from additional training in classroom management and find resources for them to enhance their skill set.
Increasing Teacher Retention Rates Can Enhance the Educational Experience for Students and Teachers
Boosting teacher retention rates in a school not only benefits the students, it can also improve the overall level of job satisfaction across the teaching workforce. Administrators who implement strategies to retain teachers can help their students and teachers get the most out of each school day.
People who are seeking advanced expertise in education can explore Wilson College Online’s Master of Education degree program to learn how it can help them achieve their career goals. Offering students the opportunity to learn about new educational strategies and technology, the program could set the stage for career advancement in education.
Start working to achieve your career ambitions in education today.
Recommended Readings
What Are the Requirements to Earn a Master of Education?
What Does a School Superintendent Do?
Sources:
Education Week, “Want to Retain Teachers? Here’s What Districts and Schools Can Do”
Fullmind, “Teacher Retention: Why It Matters, Statistics and How to Improve It”
McKinsey & Company, “K–12 Teachers Are Quitting. What Would Make Them Stay?”
Rand, “Teacher Well-Being and Intentions to Leave in 2024”
Teaching Strategies, “The Impact of Teacher Turnover on Child Development and Learning”
