2025 Teacher Recruiting and Retention Strategies
MOST RECENT Teach901 Educator Survey Highlights Key Trends in Teacher Recruitment, Retention, and School Leadership in Memphis
Since 2014, Teach901 has surveyed tens of thousands of Memphis educators to better understand teacher retention trends and gain insight into the well-being and experiences of those shaping our classrooms. This year, 1,357 educators from 56 Memphis schools—including charter, public, and private institutions—participated in our annual survey.
With Shelby County ranking fifth-lowest in teacher retention across Tennessee at just 73.7%, the need to strengthen educator recruitment and retention efforts has never been more urgent. Research continues to affirm that teachers are the most important school-based factor in student success, making it critical to understand the key drivers influencing teachers’ decisions to stay or leave.
The 2024 Teach901 Educator Survey focuses on four major areas of insight:
📊 Demographic Data – Who is in our classrooms?
📢 Recruitment Trends – How do teachers find and choose their schools?
🏫 Leadership Dynamics – How do teachers perceive school leadership?
🎓 Teacher Preparation – How prepared do educators feel for the classroom?
These areas informed six key findings that can help shape future strategies to support and retain high-quality educators in Memphis.
6 Key Findings:
- Teachers are staying in the profession longer. The average number of years teachers remain in their roles has increased from 8 years in 2018 to 10 years in 2024. Similarly, teachers are staying at their current schools longer, with the average tenure rising from 2.39 years to 4.28 years over the same period.
- School mission and education philosophy are the top drivers of teacher recruitment. For the first time, school mission and philosophy (55%) surpassed school leadership (48%) as the most influential factor in teachers’ decisions to accept their positions.
- Teacher recruitment is shifting. More teachers are now recruited through friends or colleagues (50%) than by school principals (11%), marking a major shift from 2019 when principals were a primary source of recruitment.
- School leadership ratings have slightly declined. While leadership remains a crucial factor in teacher retention, overall ratings dropped by 0.17 points from 2023, with the lowest-rated area being leadership’s ability to solve school or department problems.
- Memphis as a place to live is facing declining approval among educators. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) for Memphis as a desirable location has fallen from -27.6 in 2020 to -54.4 in 2024, reflecting growing dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, the NPS for teachers’ individual schools has remained stable, showing some improvements since 2022.
- There is a strong correlation between leadership presence in classrooms and teacher satisfaction. Teachers who reported seeing school leadership in classrooms daily or weekly gave significantly higher leadership ratings than those who saw leadership only once a year or never.
Opportunities for Improvement:
- Strengthening teacher referral programs to align with the growing trend of peer recruitment.
- Enhancing leadership development as school leadership continues to be a top factor in teacher satisfaction.
- Addressing retention gaps by understanding why some teachers leave the profession despite overall increases in tenure.
“The data makes it clear: teachers are committed to their work, but recruitment and retention strategies must evolve to meet their needs,” said Bree Wilson, Teach901 Director. “By leveraging these insights, we can work alongside schools to create environments that attract, support, and retain top teaching talent.”
“Teachers are heroes,” says John Carroll, City Leadership Executive Director & Founder of Teach901. “As a community we need to celebrate and support all educators with the same energy we care for those that serve as policemen, firefighters, and nurses. These four frontline fields are the core of a thriving community.”
Teach901 remains committed to recruiting and retaining high-quality educators in Memphis through initiatives such as the Teach901 Job Board, job fairs, and direct recruitment support. As the education landscape continues to shift, Teach901 is dedicated to equipping schools with actionable data to inform hiring strategies and strengthen teacher support systems.
MOST RECENT Teach901 Educator Survey Results:
Teach901 is a campaign created by and managed under Memphis nonprofit City Leadership. It is one of City Leadership’s five campaigns, the others being: Choose901, Serve901, Give901, and Choose901 Alumni.
For teacher recruiting Strategies
We offer free consulting and assessment services to help schools identify and attract top teaching talent. The Teach901 team will help guide you through a comprehensive evaluation of your current recruitment strategies and provide actionable recommendations for improvement.
Press Inquiries For Bree Wilson
For interviews or questions:
Bree Wilson
Teach901 Director
bree@teach901.com
Press Inquiries For Kendall McNeil
For data collection or methodology questions:
Kendall McNeil
Data Scientist
kendall@cityleadership.org
Press Inquiries For John Carroll
For interviews or questions: