Doing the Same Things to Achieve Different Results: Insane, Right?

Every year, many districts and schools face the challenge of being fully staffed with capable, talented educators. And every year, we talk and talk about it, but are we really doing anything different to bring different results?

Somehow each year we find ourselves in the same situation, and I sit here today and wonder why. Do we think it’s not important? Do we feel we cannot improve the results? Do we focus on other things that we think are going to be more impactful?

Everyone says that they value teachers and how important it is to have an excellent workforce. Statistic after statistic validates this premise. So if having great teachers is so important, should we not work harder to make sure we hire as many great teachers as possible? We even hear people say that we must improve our recruitment and hiring practices. Yet little is done, and each year we find ourselves at square one. Again.

If we truly want to provide a great education, then we must provide a great workforce to care, teach and support the learning of the students. We must make it a priority and shift how we do things to make sure it all aligns with our goal of having a great workforce. You can’t just roll out the “We Are Hiring” flag every summer and expect things to change for the better. You must look at your entire operation and ask how you can make sure you have the best talent to support your students.

And remember, simply buying a fancier “We Are Hiring” flag won’t do the trick.