Dive Brief:

• To encourage teacher retention and improve student achievement, the San Juan School District in Utah began a pilot program three years ago that offers up to $80,000 a year in salaries for lead teachers to serve at the Montezuma Creek Elementary School.

• These highly qualified mid-career teachers not only teach under the higher standards of the district’s Quality Teaching Incentive Program (Q-TIP), but also analyze data, refine assessments and help less-experienced teachers devise strategies to encourage academic performance.

• Since the implementation of program, teacher retention rates have improved at the school, and it went from an "F" to a "C" rating on state assessments after the first year.

Dive Insight:

Teachers naturally are drawn to schools with better academic track records in more affluent communities, which makes staffing and retaining quality teachers in high-poverty, low-achievement districts a challenge for administrators. The lack of quality educators, in turn, spirals down student achievement, creating even greater challenges.

School districts nationwide are looking for creative solutions to this problem. Some are use Title I money, grants and other flexible funding options to offer signing bonuses, housing options or other incentives to attract quality teachers to high-poverty schools. Others are creating teacher leadership positions that allow for increased salaries and career expansion in addition to higher salaries. Organizations such as Public Impact are springing up across the nation to help school districts craft such solutions, while states like North Carolina are also considering legislation that would allow school districts to explore often-overlooked talent pools to staff these positions.