According to a March 15 from Brown鈥檚 , the Providence Public School District continues to face growing teacher attrition 鈥� a challenge since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report, part of the Annenberg Institute鈥檚 ongoing partnership with PPSD and the Rhode Island Department of Education, also detailed the district鈥檚 struggles to attract new applicants and increase diversity among educators.
鈥淚t鈥檚 way more nuanced than I think we were expecting鈥� when research began last fall, said Kate Donohue, senior project manager at the Annenberg Institute and an author of the report. Donohue added that it is difficult to distinguish which challenges covered by the report can be attributed to the pandemic and which are due to the 2019 state takeover of the district.聽
鈥淚n our brief, we report on the three-year (teacher) retention rates,鈥� Donohue said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 lower than the rest of the state, but when you look at other urban districts, there's more and more data coming out 鈥� which are on par (with) or higher than PPSD.鈥澛�
But 鈥渢hat doesn't mean it's an issue that they shouldn't care about,鈥� she added.聽
鈥淣othing in the Annenberg report was remarkable,鈥� wrote Maribeth Calabro, president of the Providence Teachers Union, in an email to The Herald. 鈥淚 think we would be remiss if we failed to discuss the impact (that) the teachers leaving (and) vacancies are having on teaching and learning.鈥澛�
According to Donohue, around 150 teachers left the district last year.聽
鈥淚f we use an example of 150 classroom teachers leaving, and each teacher has 22 students,鈥� Calabro wrote, 鈥渢hat means at some point, 3,300 students may be without a certified teacher in front of them.鈥澛�
Calabro emphasized the effect of low teacher retention on educators, writing that teachers who have to cover these vacancies during planning periods must plan their instruction at home instead.聽
Additionally, 鈥渁t the elementary level, the classrooms are 鈥榮plit鈥�鈥� due to the shortages, 鈥渨ith small groups of children being placed in other classrooms for the day, which can also disrupt the flow and consistency of the receiving classroom,鈥� Calabro wrote. Some students who are moved may even be from a different grade, she added.聽
Calabro recognized that a concerted effort has occurred over the last two years to attract teachers to PPSD. But this effort must be coupled with incentivizing teachers with 鈥渒nowledge, experience and a wealth of professional development鈥� to stay in Providence, she added.聽
鈥淏ased on the reasons we have been given by teachers who have left for other districts, low morale, disrespect, the takeover and having to get a (multilingual learners) certification to keep positions are all factors that have contributed,鈥� Calabro wrote.
Responding to claims that difficulties stemming from the RIDE takeover are fueling high turnover, Victor Morente, communications director at RIDE, wrote in an email to The Herald that there is a teacher workforce challenge nationwide. Morente cited a 2022 from the American Federation of Teachers that noted struggles with teacher retention before the pandemic. 鈥淭he pandemic only made things worse,鈥� the report read.
On May 7 and 8, RIDE will hold a , Morente added. 鈥淎t this point, over 25 districts have signed up to participate because they too are facing workforce challenges like Providence.鈥�
The Annenberg report also found that PPSD has not made the gains it hoped to in diversifying its teacher workforce: Currently, the district is diversifying at a rate of 鈥渓ess than 0.5 percentage points a year鈥� 鈥斅�21.8% of the district鈥檚 educators are teachers of color.聽
鈥淭here is such a gap between what the student body looks like and what the teacher workforce looks like,鈥� Donohue said. According to statistics from , over 90% of the district鈥檚 students are students of color.
She also noted that it is difficult to increase teacher diversity, although PPSD has made some improvements. Pre-pandemic, around 15% of new teacher hires were people of color, according to Donohue. Now, that number is around 30%.聽
鈥�40 to 50% of all new teachers have to be teachers of color鈥� for PPSD to hit its targets of a two percentage point increase in educators of color annually, Donohue added. 鈥淭heir applicant pool just doesn鈥檛 look like that.鈥�
鈥淭o alleviate workforce challenges, PPSD has already begun its hiring process earlier than in years past, launched a robust recruitment campaign and is offering a wide array of incentives to attract and retain top talent with particular focus on high-need areas,鈥� wrote Suzanne Ouellette, deputy director of external affairs at PPSD, in an email to The Herald.聽
According to Ouellette, PPSD has implemented hiring and retention incentives for teachers and non-teaching staff alike by expanding its referral program to engage district staff in the recruitment process and establishing the program, which helps teachers of color pay back student loans. 鈥淭hrough these efforts, PPSD has greatly increased the number of new hires compared to prior to the intervention, including more new educators of color,鈥� Ouellette wrote.聽
鈥淭he more we dig into (staffing), the more questions we have,鈥� Donohue said. 鈥淭hat really just speaks to how difficult and complex it is to staff a district with effective teachers.鈥�
