What Kind of Deal is your School Offering?

Hiring season is in full swing, and schools are competing for the best applicants.  When I think of recruiting and retaining the best, I think of the one of the best clothing stores, Old Navy.  Old Navy is probably one of the best retailers at bringing people in the door, enticing them to buy good nice attire, and bringing them back for more.  Their advertising, marketing and communication strategies convey one thing. 

We are you doing to make people think this about your school?

Source - Old Navy

Let's face it. A great deal will convince the biggest skeptic to bite the bullet and spend money. 

So If You're a Big Deal, Then What Kind of Deals are You Offering?

When it comes to teacher recruitment and retention, it comes down to one thing. 

What Kind of Deal are They Getting

If you want to increase your retention rate and entice the best to work in your school, you have to be able to answer a few important questions. 

• How competitive are you with salaries, stipends, incentives, etc.?
• How well does your school do at reducing the teacher load or amount of preps?
• How much work is being taken off of your staff's proverbial plate next year?
• What reductions are people getting on redundant work?
• How much time are employees getting to do work that matters?
• How well are you slashing bureaucratic nonsense? 
• How successful are you at making teacher professional development less standardized and more personalized?

In other words, what is your school's 

Source - Old Navy

And What are You doing to make Teachers Say

Source - Old Navy

If you want to make the best deal with your staff, it starts with knowing your clientele, what they need and giving it to them in the best way possible. But it also means doing it WITHOUT lowering your standards, dropping your expectations, and sacrificing your bottom line, student success. 

Student success can only exist when teacher success is the constant not the variable. The key to teacher success is creating schools that teachers believe in, run to and commit to. That only happens when leaders know have to make deals that keep teachers coming back for more.