Teacher Talent Toolbox

Addressing Teacher Shortages: Practical Ideas for the Pandemic and Beyond

Use this guide to understand and address immediate staffing challenges and plan for long-term changes that will create a strong, diverse, sustainable teacher workforce.

Schools across the country are facing their toughest staffing challenges in recent memory—at a time when students need diverse, effective teachers more than ever.

This guide is designed to help system leaders understand and respond to the specific teacher staffing gaps they’re facing, focusing on time-tested strategies that will make an immediate impact: how to cover absences, fill existing vacancies, and address chronic shortages in key subject areas and in schools serving historically marginalized communities.

The guide also offers advice on how systems can plan—in partnership with stakeholders inside and outside education—for lasting changes to teacher pipelines, the employee value proposition for teachers, and the teacher role itself. Building meaningful avenues for growth that lead to teacher retention can help support students in the critical years ahead.

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Imali Ariyarathne, seventh-grade teacher at Langston Hughes Academy, stands in front of her students while introducing them to the captivating world of science

Imali Ariyarathne, seventh-grade teacher at Langston Hughes Academy, introduces her students to the captivating world of science.

About TNTP

TNTP is the nation’s leading research, policy, and consulting organization dedicated to transforming America’s public education system, so that every generation thrives.

Today, we work side-by-side with educators, system leaders, and communities across 39 states and over 6,000 districts nationwide to reach ambitious goals for student success.

Yet the possibilities we imagine push far beyond the walls of school and the education field alone. We are catalyzing a movement across sectors to create multiple pathways for young people to achieve academic, economic, and social mobility.

Learn More About TNTP