Mary Rivers launches Teacher Retention Academy to help schools keep teachers

Dr. Mary Rivers has launched Teacher Retention Academy in Victorville, California, to help schools and districts improve teacher retention through leadership support, workplace culture and practical retention strategies. The effort targets a growing problem for schools that hire teachers but struggle to keep them.

Why it matters: - Teacher turnover drains school knowledge, relationships, continuity and time. - When experienced teachers leave, students and remaining staff absorb the disruption. - Teacher Retention Academy aims to help schools make retention a leadership priority, not just a hiring problem.

What happened: - Dr. Mary Rivers launched Teacher Retention Academy in Victorville, California. - Rivers founded the academy after a career in education and years of seeing how support and leadership shape teacher experience. - The academy is designed for school leaders, district leaders and other educational organizations.

The details: - Teacher Retention Academy offers professional learning, resources, consultation and practical retention strategies. - The academy focuses on factors that influence whether teachers stay, including leadership practices, workplace culture, communication, recognition, workload, professional support and belonging. - Rivers said teachers can enter the profession excited and later become overwhelmed, discouraged or disconnected. - Rivers said schools should spend as much time thinking about keeping good teachers as they do recruiting them. - The academy’s stated goal is to help schools become places where good teachers want to stay. - Rivers said schools that keep hiring without addressing why teachers leave stay trapped in a cycle of replacing people instead of retaining them.

Between the lines: - The launch reflects a broader shift from one-time recruitment efforts to longer-term staff stability strategies. - The message is aimed at school leaders who may need low-cost, day-to-day changes rather than large new initiatives. - Rivers argues that better questions, stronger relationships and more listening can improve teacher experience without waiting for a major overhaul.

What's next: - Teacher Retention Academy is inviting educational leaders, school districts, charter schools and educational organizations to learn more. - Rivers also plans to use the academy for speaking engagements, professional learning and interviews. - More information is available through Teacher Retention Academy and the academy's social channels on LinkedIn and YouTube.

The bottom line: - Rivers is betting schools can reduce teacher turnover by improving the conditions teachers experience after they are hired.