Teacher vacancies are a big challenge in Tennessee. Clarksville-Montgomery County may have found a solution.

Recent data from the Tennessee Department of Education showed school districts across the state began the previous school year with 1,000 teaching vacancies. While many of those districts have clearly struggled to retain talent in recent years, the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) has found a way to buck the trend by focusing on the needs of its teachers.

District spokesperson Anthony Johnson says one of the main strategies CMCSS has been implementing to improve retention and recruitment is a partnership with Upbeat, a retention organization led by former teachers and school leaders. He told Tennessee Firefly that Upbeat administers anonymous surveys to all permanent employees twice a year to measure growth in research-based categories that impact retention, including work climate, hiring and onboarding, professional development and appreciation.

“Since implementing Upbeat in fall 2022, CMCSS has used the data and feedback to make improvements. In our latest administration of the survey in March 2024, CMCSS has seen significant improvement since fall 2022, including 13-point increases in agreement in both categories of 'compensation and career path' and 'work/life balance,' 10-point increase in ‘autonomy,’ and 7-point increases in both ‘appreciation’ and ‘belonging and wellbeing,’” he told Tennessee Firefly. “Overall, CMCSS has improved its Average Teacher Engagement score, a weight-based score determined by categories with a stronger correlation to teacher turnover in research, by 6 points in 18 months.”

Johnson noted that the district developed a “Grow Your Own” approach to address the teacher workforce shortage and improve the diversity of the teacher workforce. He said that in January 2022, CMCSS and Austin Peay State University’s Teacher Residency Program became the first registered apprenticeship program for teaching in the country that provides a pathway to teaching careers, adding that residents incur no expenses for tuition or textbooks.

The residency program in particular has played a key role in training and retaining teachers in the district, according to a recent report from the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) examining staffing trends in Tennessee school districts.

“CMCSS has partnered with colleges and universities in the surrounding area, including Austin Peay State University, Nashville State Community College, and Lipscomb University. Teacher Residents are educational assistants who contribute to excellence by providing instructional and non-instructional support to students while learning best practices for a career in education from an outstanding CMCSS educator," he said, adding that district leadership have also focused heavily on improving compensation to retain teachers and residents after their residencies.

According to the recent SCORE report, Tennessee currently loses one in five teachers in the first three years. One of the main challenges is retaining existing teachers by providing them with the necessary support and professional development, which CMCSS officials say the district has tackled with the help of teacher mentors.

LeVetta Radford, the district's director and a CMCSS educator pipeline facilitator, says research conducted in CMCSS found that in overall preparedness and self-efficacy, teacher residency prepared teachers to have more realistic experiences and a greater understanding of district expectations, policies, and procedures in comparison to traditionally prepared peers.

"The positive investment in our community to grow our own teachers is evidenced by the number of classified staff that have completed, or are currently working to complete, a teacher residency pathway," Radford said in a statement to Tennessee Firefly.

Educator Pipeline Facilitator Traci Koon noted in a report from Clarksville Now that the district has been asked by school systems across the country to explain the program's success so they can explore implementing similar plans to deal with teacher retention and recruitment. Koon told Tennessee Firefly that a key part of the program's success has been making sure that residents "feel supported by the district in all aspects," adding that many teacher residents choose to stay in the district following their residency due to that support.

"They are given the resources needed to learn the craft of teaching and become successful in the classroom, whether it pertains to assistance with university coursework or working effectively with their mentor teachers. The teacher residents are being prepared in a way that is essential to their understanding of a day in the life of a teacher. The residents have the overall conceptual awareness of the intricate details of the school day because they are embedded in the classroom for 1-3 years," Koon said.

The SCORE report also credits Hamilton County Schools for taking innovative strategic school staffing steps to address teacher retention.District administrators have created their own similar teacher leader roles that allow veteran educators to continue working with students while offering supports to other educators.

According to the SCORE report, the district's underlying philosophy for the strategy is: “Everyone deserves a coach.”

“Defining exactly how a new teacher-leader role would fit into their teacher development framework and the associated roles along that pathway was at the heart of HCS’ work. This was complex work that involved incubation in the human resources department but crossed quickly in talent acquisition and teaching and learning teams,” the report noted of Hamilton County’s efforts. “After a collaborative design process, HCS arrived at a vision for the role they believed would be attractive to veteran teachers, would support their most effective educators, and would integrate into the teacher development framework overall.”

According to Steve Doremus, Hamilton County Schools' communications officer, over 50 "multi-classroom leaders" are now serving in the district for the 2024-2025 school year since the plan was implemented."

Given the turbulence in the educator labor marker, retaining top talent is one of our highest priorities.  We have invested heavily in expanding Multi-Classroom Leadership opportunities across the district, giving veteran educators leadership experience and giving novice teachers a model to follow," Doremus said in an emailed statement.