Coached teachers were significantly more likely to stay.

The question: does coaching keep teachers?

Schools across the country face teacher shortages and high turnover, and support that makes teachers feel valued, respected and confident is one of the few levers a district controls. Arlington ISD and engage2learn wanted to know whether coaching was moving retention, not just practice.

Coaching for every role, and an independent evaluator

engage2learn coached Arlington ISD’s teachers, instructional lead teachers, assistant principals, instructional coaches and office staff, directly and through district coaches it trained. Teachers worked with their coach on a path to mastery of the district’s chosen competencies, earning competency badges as they showed evidence of practice.

Learning Experience Design (LXD) Research, a third-party evaluator, then analyzed coaching and retention data from 2017 to 2021: 3,852 teachers in 68 schools, 638 of them coached. A teacher counted as retained if they returned to their position at the start of the next school year.

Higher retention every year of the study

Teachers who were coached with engage2learn’s methodology and earned competency badges were significantly more likely to continue in their roles than teachers who were not coached, in each year from 2018 to 2021.

The well-designed correlational study meets the standard for ESSA Level 2 moderate evidence.

3,852

teachers across 68 schools in the study, 638 of them coached

ESSA Level 2

moderate evidence for engage2learn coaching on teacher retention