Teacher Retention: Who's Abandoning Whom?

The podcast by education leaders for education leaders

Teacher Retention: Who's Abandoning Whom?

Guest(s): Michael Fullan and Joanna Rizzotto
Date: 09/19/2022
Run time: 47:54
Season 4, Episode 1

In a follow up to their widely popular Edweek article, the luminary Michael Fullan and seasoned practitioner Joanna Rizzotto discuss the roots of our teacher retention problem—the system of schooling itself. They contend that we need to shift to a humanity-based model where schools and communities can experience greater local autonomy and improve practices from the bottom up. One of the first steps is to have the more centralized figures connect with the people on the ground; the educators, parents, and students who see it all first. Such interactions would truly show teachers and other community member their value and give district leaders the data they need to make the most effective, holistic decisions. As Fullan and Rizzotto see it, teachers—especially those that stick around—have never left their calling, they have just abandoned an outmoded structure that too often isn’t nimble or responsive enough changing times.

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Michael Fullan

Michael Fullan currently serves as co-leader of the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning global initiative. He is the former Dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto. Prior to his work as an educator, Fullan acted as Special Policy Adviser to Premier Dalton McGuinty in Ontario from 2003 to 2013. Fullan received the Order of Canada in December 2012, as well as five honorary doctorates from various universities around the world. Currently, Fullan and his team focus on system transformation in education across multiple countries. For more information, visit www.michaefullan.ca.

Joanna Rizzotto

Joanna Rizzotto is an award-winning, Latina, Alternative Education teacher. She developed and operates the REAL Academy, a specially designed program that focuses on regulation and healthy adolescent development. Joanna is the creator and executive producer of Educator’s Amplified radio program and podcast.

Peter M. DeWitt

Peter M. DeWitt, EdD is a former K–5 teacher (eleven years) and principal (eight years). He is a school leadership coach who runs competency-based workshops and provides keynotes nationally and internationally, focusing on school leadership (collaborative cultures and instructional leadership), as well as fostering inclusive school climates.

Additionally, Peter coaches school-based leaders, directors, instructional coaches, teacher leaders, and school-based leadership teams both in person and remotely. In summer 2021 Peter created a yearlong on-demand asynchronous coaching course through Thinkific where he has fostered a community of learners that includes K–12 educators in leadership positions.

Peter’s work has been adopted at the state and university level, and he works with numerous school districts, school boards, regional networks, and ministries of education around North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the UK.

Peter writes the “Finding Common Ground” column for Education Week, which has been in circulation since 2011. In 2020 Peter co-created Education Week’s “A Seat at the Table” series, where he moderates conversations with experts around the topics of race, gender, sexual orientation, research, trauma, and many other educational topics.

Additionally, Peter is the editor for the Connected Educator series (Corwin) and the Impact series (Corwin), which include books by Viviane Robinson, Andy Hargreaves, Pasi Sahlberg, Yong Zhao, and Michael Fullan. He is the 2013 School Administrators Association of New York State’s (SAANYS) Outstanding Educator of the Year and the 2015 Education Blogger of the Year (Academy of Education Arts & Sciences), and he sits on numerous advisory boards. Peter is the author, co-author, or contributor of numerous books, including the following:

· Dignity for All: Safeguarding LGBT Students (Corwin, 2012)

· School Climate Change (co-authored with Sean Slade; ASCD, 2014)

· Flipping Leadership Doesn’t Mean Reinventing the Wheel (Corwin, 2014)

· Collaborative Leadership: Six Influences That Matter Most (Corwin/Learning Forward, 2016)

· School Climate: Leading With Collective Teacher Efficacy (Corwin/Ontario Principals Council, 2017)

· Coach It Further: Using the Art of Coaching to Improve School Leadership (Corwin, 2018)

· Instructional Leadership: Creating Practice Out of Theory (Corwin, 2020)

· 10 Mindframes for Leaders: The Visible Learning Approach to School Success (edited by John Hattie and Ray Smith; Corwin, 2020)

· Collective Leader Efficacy: Strengthening the Impact of Instructional Leadership Teams (Corwin/Learning Forward, 2021)

Peter’s articles have appeared in educational research journals at the state, national, and international level. His books have been translated into four languages.

Some of the organizations Peter has worked with are the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), Arkansas State University, EDUTAS, University of Oklahoma, Victoria Department of Education (Australia), University of Rotterdam (Netherlands), Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA), Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), the National Education Association (NEA), New Brunswick Teacher’s Association (Canada), the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), Education Scotland (Scotland), Glasgow City Council (Scotland), Kuwait Technical College (Kuwait), the National Association of School Psychologists, ASCD, l’Association des directions et directions adjointes des écoles franco-ontariennes (ADFO), the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario (CPCO), the Ontario Principals’ Council (OPC), National School Climate Center, GLSEN, PBS, NPR, BAM Radio Network, ABC, and NBC’s Education Nation.