Many school districts are facing chronic teacher shortages and high rates of turnover. Nearly half of all teachers change schools or leave the profession altogether within five years. According to Dr. Richard Ingersoll, who studies teacher retention and turnover at the University of Pennsylvania, teacher turnover costs school districts billions of dollars each year.

The national average expense related to teacher recruitment is $20,000 per candidate. But high costs aren’t the only problem. As school districts struggle to fill open positions, the result is an unequal distribution of highly effective teachers. Most tend to be teaching at well-performing schools and the least in at-risk schools — particularly hard-to-staff rural and urban schools.

The reasons for teacher turnover are complex. However, research indicates that high-quality support can help schools retain high-quality teachers. When teachers are faced with new classrooms and subject assignments, they need subject-specific training materials and instructional support to help them succeed. By providing teachers with sustained professional development, school districts can help maximize student success by ensuring teacher quality.

IPC is helping school districts meet these objectives with its TEACHINGpoint service. Teachers gain access to more than 120 titles of instructional content at a nominal cost of $2 per student per month. It enables school districts large and small to provide just-in-time, targeted professional education to every teacher with new or out-of-field assignments.

The content encompasses 16 subject areas, and includes suggested lesson plans, editable PowerPoint lecture support, student activities and labs, and editable assessments. It is available as needed by day, unit or year, and may be used to align with district curriculum requirements and any adopted textbook. Teacher will be provided a password to use in conjunction with their school email address and have access to the entire TEACHINGPoint catalog from three IP addresses (home, school and other) for the term of the annual subscription.

The service also helps school districts meet local and national requirements, including:

• Sustained Professional Development. The provision of sustained professional development and support necessary to achieve content mastery in new core and elective classroom assignments helps meet the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act mandate that all students be taught by a highly qualified teacher.
• Educator Equity Plan. Satisfaction of the 2015 U.S, Department of Education mandated educator equity plan requires states and districts to address the problem of the unequal distribution of highly qualified and highly effective teachers.
• Student Performance. Teacher quality has the greatest impact on student success, and thus aids in the satisfaction of 2016 U.S. Department of Education regulations that grade teacher preparation programs on the performance of their students.
• Highly Effective Teachers. By better supporting teachers, school districts can work toward their goals of having 100 percent of their teachers not just highly qualified but highly effective, leading to improved student achievement, higher graduation rates, and greater college and workforce readiness.

IPC’s TEACHINGpoint solution also provides a high return on investment: By implementing this support service, school districts can help teachers become more confident in their classrooms, and less inclined to leave for other pursuits. Slowing teacher turnover saves recruitment costs and leads to improved student achievement though better-prepared, more-experienced teachers.

Would you be willing to invest $2 per month per student to save $20,000 per teacher in recruitment expenses while also providing a better learning environment for your students? Contact IPC to learn more about our TEACHINGpoint content offering.