New research shows that the teaching profession is facing its worst challenges in 50 years, with job satisfaction and other metrics nearing 50-year lows. While there are likely several reasons for burnout and no easy solutions, a recent study on successful professional development strategies offers a promising path forward.
“When teachers get good quality professional learning they tend to stay. They tend to stay more often than teachers that don’t get that,” explains Heather Hill, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
In one math coaching study that Hill worked on a few years ago, she found teachers who received strong professional development were 10% more likely to be teaching math again in the following year than those who did not. It’s a “protective factor,” she explains.
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