Rethinking Teacher Recruitment and Retention in Alabama: A New Focus on the Current and Future Millennial Workforce

A 2017 report estimates that by 2025, Millennials will dominate the workforce. This shift is affecting the teaching profession, and for Alabama to continually compete on a global scale, the teaching workforce will need to be sustained. Alabama, along with the rest of the nation, is suffering the consequences of a teacher shortage in critical areas: STEM, foreign language, special education, and rural areas. Researchers note more than half of teachers voluntarily leave the profession, leading to a major loss of tax payer dollars- amounting to about $20,000 per teacher (in large urban districts), with a national price tag of about $8.5 billion dollars per year. Additionally, in attempts to recruit and retain Millennials, a 2015 study found that 53 percent of hiring managers find it difficult to recruit and retain Millennials, and one-third of companies lost their Millennial employees in 2015. This brief addresses how Alabama school districts and the State Department of Education can recruit and retain the best, brightest, and highly qualified Millennial teaching force that will make up the next generation of teachers--the teachers that will sustain the teaching force for the next 30 to 50 years. This report focuses on the Millennial generation and efforts to recruit and retain them, while also acknowledging the current veteran workforce that is vital to successful implementation. Recommendations for Alabama policymakers and school leaders to improve teacher recruitment and retention are provided.