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There is a lot of energy attracting new people into teaching, but how often do we stop to ask what actually keeps them in the profession?
Keeping the Teachers We Have: Catalyzing Philadelphia's Elementary Educator Workforce Through Culturally Relevant Leadership addresses exactly that.
Created by the Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium and supported by the William Penn Foundation, this innovative two-year initiative is designed to strengthen the conditions that help educators stay, grow, and thrive. Eight participating Philadelphia elementary schools will work in collaborative partnership with PEDC to build on their existing strengths, deepen their understanding of the factors shaping educator retention, and co-design meaningful, school-specific strategies that foster belonging, well-being, and professional growth.
Karen Parker Thompson, Executive Director & Co-Founder of Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium (PEDC), shared what inspired the program, what it asks of schools, and what she hopes it teaches the rest of Pennsylvania.
We spend a lot of time asking how we get more people into teaching—and we absolutely should—but we also have to ask what happens once they arrive. Keeping the Teachers We Have grew from a simple question: What would it take to create schools where talented educators, especially educators of color, feel supported to stay, grow, and thrive?
When great educators stay, students keep important relationships, schools build stability and collective capacity, and communities become stronger.
Educators of color don't simply wake up one morning and decide to leave; often, their experiences with belonging, trust, leadership, workload, wellness, professional growth, and whether their voices are valued shape that decision.
When schools become curious about those experiences—and are willing to listen and act—they can begin creating conditions where educators feel seen, known, valued, supported, and able to lead. That's good for educators of color, and ultimately, it's good for every educator and every child.
We don't arrive with a retention plan and tell schools what to do—the journey begins with listening and learning.
In Year One, teams investigate their own school environments through Participatory Action Research, deepen their leadership and culturally relevant and sustaining education practices, and use what they learn to create their own educator retention plan; in Year Two, they put that plan into action, learn from what happens, refine it, and build practices they can sustain long after the initiative ends.
We're looking for Philadelphia elementary schools that are curious, committed, and willing to learn. If that’s you, I encourage you to join us!
You don't have to have all the answers, and your school doesn't have to have everything figured out. In fact, that's the point: this isn't about fixing—it's about discovering. Discovering what's possible. And you won't be doing it alone—we'll be learning, investigating, creating, and growing alongside you throughout the two years.
I hope we learn that there isn't one magic retention strategy—because schools, educators, and communities are different. But I also hope these eight schools help us understand something bigger: when we listen deeply to educators and intentionally create conditions of belonging, trust, wellness, growth, and shared leadership, people may decide differently about whether to stay.
My hope is that what we learn in Philadelphia sparks new possibilities for how schools across Pennsylvania—and beyond—think about keeping the extraordinary educators we already have.
To find out more about Keeping the Teachers We Have https://keepingtheteacherswehave.org/
Whether you’re looking to learn more about our initiatives, need assistance, or just want to connect—let's talk. Your questions and feedback are important to us, and we’re eager to hear from you!
