The following is a list of recent resources for those focused on the professional improvement of teachers, principals, and other educational leaders.

Indiana: Teachers kept quitting this Indianapolis school. Here’s how the principal got them to stay 

Staff says the change is heavily driven by a new teacher leadership program Indianapolis Public Schools has rolled out at 15 schools. Known as opportunity culture, some teachers are paid as much as $18,300 extra per year to oversee and support several classrooms. (Chalkbeat)

Hire expectations: Big-district superintendents stay in their jobs longer than we think  

This report presents an analysis of 15 years of data from the 100 largest school districts. The authors found that the average superintendent spends about six years in the job before transitioning out of the role. When examining current superintendents, the average time a typical district leader has been in the role is between three and four years. Women are deeply underrepresented in these chief executive roles, despite their overrepresentation at all other levels of the K-12 education workforce. And once in the superintendent role, their completed tenures are about 15 months shorter than those of their male peers. In districts educating the highest percentages of low-income students, completed superintendent tenures are about three and a half years shorter than those in districts educating the lowest proportions of low-income students. Completed superintendent tenures are less than half as long in districts educating the highest percentages of students of color as in districts educating the lowest proportions of students of color. (Broad Center)

UCEA webinar – New standards for educational leadership 

As the job of an educational leader evolves and expands, clear and consistent leadership standards become even more important.  The National Educational Leadership Preparation (NELP) Program Recognition Standards for building level leadership preparation address the most critical knowledge and skills areas for beginning building level educational leaders. View the recent UCEA webinar for an in-depth look at the new standards including: (a) How were the NELP standards developed? (b) How are the NELP standards different from PSEL? (c) How do the PSEL and NELP standards complement each other? and (d) What is new in the NELP standards?

Teacher satisfaction with salary and current job

The data in this report is based on a nationally representative sample survey of public K–12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Overall, 45 percent of teachers agreed that they were satisfied with their salary, and 55 percent disagreed. Similar percentages of teachers at traditional public (45 percent) and charter schools (46 percent) agreed they were satisfied with their salary. A lower percentage of teachers of elementary grades (43 percent) agreed they were satisfied with their salary than teachers of secondary grades (48 percent). A higher percentage of teachers who were satisfied with their salaries agreed, “The teachers at this school like being here; I would describe us as a satisfied group,” than teachers who were dissatisfied with their salaries (82 percent compared to 70 percent). Similarly, a higher percentage of teachers who were satisfied with their salaries agreed, “I like the way things are run at this school” (80 percent compared to 67 percent). (National Center for Education Statistics)

Teacher salary bill passes House, moves to the governor 

A bill to increase salaries for Illinois teachers is now headed to Governor Bruce Rauner’s desk. (WAND)