Combating the Post-Pandemic Teacher’s Well-Being and Retention Crisis

By Courtney Kirchman, Principal, Roosevelt Learning Community

“Our staff and teachers self-identified as improving how they manage stress by 33%. There was a 19% increase in their work-life balance and a 30% increase in how they reported their overall well-being on a day-to-day basis. We also experienced 100% staff retention last year, which had a direct impact on our learners’ academic achievement.”

Coming out of the pandemic, we faced several different challenges at Roosevelt Learning Community. The biggest issues were frequent and lengthy staff absences due to illness, viral exposure, and a feeling of overall burnout. On average, we experienced 120 absences a month. It became evident that I needed to prioritize staff well-being, or we would never recover the learning loss or close the achievement gap that we experienced during COVID. I needed my staff to be present, and to bring their best selves to school each day. **Spoiler alert** The solution to these issues did not reside inside my office!

As we faced these challenges, I realized the only way to solve them was my presence in the classrooms and my well-being! I needed to be side-by-side with my staff in the learning environments. When I looked at myself, what I saw was I was a mirror image of the problem – I spent most of the week in my office dealing with problems and the net effects of my staff’s struggles. I had to get out. I needed to be with my people.

I began this vital shift in my leadership style and daily practices by empowering my office manager to take over most administrative tasks that I didn’t really need to handle. She would manage my calendar, set appointments, and manage everything coming in through the front office. By doing this one simple thing, it freed up about 15 hours of my time each week and allowed me to spend essential time in the learning environments instead of my office.

I was able to have real conversations with teachers and staff, and I learned how to better support them. After a year of consistently being in classrooms with a focus on solving employee well-being issues, we were able to reduce our average number of staff absences per month by 29%. We also do regular staff wellness surveys and have experienced a huge improvement in our staff’s overall health and well-being.

Our staff and teachers self-identified as improving how they manage stress by 33%. There was a 19% increase in their work-life balance and a 30% increase in how they reported their overall well-being on a day-to-day basis. We also experienced 100% staff retention last year, which had a direct impact on our learners’ academic achievement.

Our ELA scores saw 11% growth, and math experienced 7% growth compared to the previous year. Living out the Breakthrough Coach Practices has really brought out the best in me, and how I’ve learned to serve as a leader at this school. I find I’m truly present when I’m collaborating or conversing with colleagues or other staff members. I’m calm in stressful situations – probably because I don’t feel pulled in a variety of different directions – and I’m not trying to do everything for everyone. I go home each day satisfied by what I’ve accomplished, and my family benefits from having my full attention because I’m not bringing work home with me.

Watch the Courtney Kirchman interview on The Breakthrough Coach YouTube Channel.