Team Torace had the pleasure of attending the 2023 National Educator Shortage Summit, which brought together PK-12 school districts, universities, regional service centers, state departments of education, non-profit organizations, consultants, and education companies to spend two days discussing, learning, and collaborating to develop strategic responses to the national educator shortage. The founding document, 5 Shifts to Address the National Educator Shortage, which was created out of the first summit in 2022, was used to guide our thinking and responses. We left hopeful and inspired by the collective solutions and budding partnerships that resulted from the summit.

For our part, we identified ways Torace can support the 5 Shifts:

Shift 1: From creating pathways to careers in education to reducing barriers to careers in education while preserving standards of excellence.

• Torace can help make more effective and more equitable student teacher matches by collecting valuable information on student teacher needs and professional goals to better align their mentor matches. The better the match, the better the learning experience is. Torace supports efficiency while also promoting excellence.

Shift 2: From providing educators with more resources to designing comprehensive human capital management systems.

• Torace can be a component of a comprehensive human capital system. It can facilitate the match process across all points in the pipeline from student teachers to novice teachers, to teacher leaders, to aspiring principals. In addition to matching data, data collected in Torace around career aspirations can be used to inform talent pipeline strategies and decision-making.

Shift 3: From increasing educator pay to establishing transparent and equitable total rewards systems.

• Torace can help provide personalized professional learning through mentorship and help recognize mentor teachers and leaders so they can be awarded accordingly.

Shift 4: From supporting employee wellness to strengthening educators' sense of purpose, belonging, and connection.

• Torace connects educators to each other based on professional, social, or wellness needs. Participating in a mentorship program allows mentors to develop a stronger sense of purpose and mentees a better sense of belonging.

Shift 5: From promoting the profession to delivering exceptional employment experiences.

• Torace supports exceptional employment experiences by gathering the right information on employee career needs, wants, and goals to inform professional learning, career pathways, and job satisfaction.

If you would like more information on how Torace can support your work, please schedule a demo today!