Attracting, developing, and retaining effective teachers and leaders is at the core of any school system’s success. The importance of racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity among educators and leaders, to match diversity in the student body, is also increasingly recognized by district leaders and supported by research. A coordinated talent strategy can have a big impact on student achievement and school success.

Among the eight cities profiled here, there are varying levels of centralization in hiring and talent processes. Some cities use a centralized hiring and staffing process for both principals and teachers. Some centralize school leadership hiring and then provide those leaders with the ability to choose staff from within a central pool. The most decentralized systems allow school leaders to make independent hiring and talent decisions.

An effective talent strategy designed to recruit and retain a diverse set of high-performing leaders and teachers is especially important for those systems with a significant number of autonomous schools. Choosing the right principal is essential for autonomous schools. The school leader, effectively serving as the school’s chief executive officer, must be prepared to make school-level hiring decisions and design appropriate professional development and staff supports. In some cities a school-leadership program helps to recruit and train strong leaders. In turn, specialized partnerships with local teacher preparation institutions and national teacher pipelines can ensure there are educator candidates that meet leaders’ needs.

In some systems, teacher residency programs serve as a useful enhancement to traditional teacher pipelines, and a means to diversify the teacher corps. Under these models, teacher candidates serve in a hands-on “residency” role within a school, learning and assisting a mentor teacher in the classroom, while simultaneously attaining their teaching credential.

A successful talent strategy is measured not by a specific checklist of mechanisms used to recruit and retain staff, but by the results those team members achieve within their schools. Systems attracting and retaining highly effective, diverse educators and leaders are more likely to have the leadership, classroom capacity, and breadth of expertise to meet the needs of students.

Districts employ myriad approaches to build diverse, high-quality talent pipelines. No singular talent strategy will work in all contexts. A talent strategy has to adapt to unique factors, such as the number and types of schools, student needs, and the supply and demand for certain educator skills or specialties. The collective bargaining landscape and state or local legal requirements for educator and principal hiring, pay, and promotion are also huge factors shaping district talent strategies.

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