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���Ĵ�ý leaders say they want to keep great teachers. But how often do actions match the promise?

Too often, districts spend far more time doing what it takes to recruit teachers than to retain, equip and empower them. To retain teachers, they need a complete package of preparation, support, career growth and compensation—and now we know how to do just this.

Our profession has operated on a revolving-door mentality—a person leaves and we hire a person to replace them—instead of thinking about how we can build on the expertise we already have and using our best talent to impact more people.

In Midland ISD, we are flipping the teacher retention narrative. Small, empowered teaching teams led by proven educators means daily, hands-on mentoring and coaching—giving every teacher real-time support and a reason to stay.

With these teams, leaders and teachers can earn more by extending their reach to more students, and we make sure the extra pay is sustainable by reallocating regular budgets.

Advanced paraprofessionals and paid, yearlong teacher residents focus on leading small-group tutoring, providing meaningful support to their teams and creating a clear path into teaching—where they feel set up for success from day one.

The good news is that this complete package of educator support leads to powerful results for students. In Midland ISD, we have seen this firsthand since resetting our staffing model; 18 of 22 schools saw learning gains. One school went from a state-assigned “D” letter grade to a B, increasing by 25 points; many others went up by at least 12 points.

Shouting ‘six figures’ from our rooftops

Usually, the best teachers move into administration just because they need to make more, but these teams create a career path for teacher-leaders. A teacher can begin to earn more by taking on more students and coaching one other teacher on the team.

Moving up the path, a proven educator can take on full leadership of a small team in a “partial-release” role. This means the team leader has a class of record for part of the day, with protected time to lead team planning and data analysis meetings and provide co-teaching, modeling, and observation and feedback for the team’s teachers.

That intensive, in-the-moment support from someone who is “in the trenches” with them has proved popular with both new and experienced teachers.

Pay matters with a job of that intensity, and in Midland, we are now shouting “six figures” from our rooftops! That is what team leaders can make when we combine their pay supplements—sustainably funded by reallocating regular school budgets—with state incentive funding that recognizes high-performing teachers.

The distributed leadership of these teams also helps keep principals from burning out from the demands of leading all teachers directly—in fact, it makes the principal’s job more enjoyable. I see this during classroom visits, with principals beaming with pride for their teaching teams. It creates a sense of energy, excitement and belonging—coming together for a common purpose.

Listening to teachers

As superintendent, I must ensure that we provide ongoing training so the teaching teams stay strong and we hold each campus accountable for a sustainable plan that reaches as many students as possible with the teams and their strong instruction.

This is not another here-now, gone-tomorrow program. It is just the way we do business, and it is making a difference.

Those are the crucial components of the complete package, but I will add one more. It is foundational: Just listen.

As leaders, we must create opportunities to sit and listen, opening up feedback loops for staff at all levels. Making time to listen allows leaders to respond faster to get their teams what they need, validate the work being done and encourage all to stay the course.

Finally, we celebrate and share! Everyone wants to be recognized, so we share the stories of success widely with parents, our board and the community.

We recently told the story of one of our graduates, Natalie Bracamontes, who took dual-credit education courses in high school on lesson planning and instruction. When she began college last year, she also became one of 33 registered apprentices in the district serving as a paid, full-time advanced paraprofessional.

She supports a teaching team by leading small groups and teaching some lessons on her own at South Elementary—the school that went from a D to a B—and will join Midland ISD as a certified teacher after graduation.

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