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An examination of teacher engagement in Next Education Workforce models
The Next Education Workforce™ model represents an innovative reimagining of the traditional classroom and seeks to support increased student learning and teacher capacity. This study leverages longitudinal administrative data on teacher leave within a single district. We use a two-way fixed effect design to examine the relationship between Next Education Workforce model participation and teacher engagement. We find that while teachers on Next Education Workforce teams are no more likely to stay within their school district the following year, teachers on a team take significantly fewer days off, even after controlling for within-teacher attendance trends over time. In addition, we find that teachers on teams request significantly fewer substitute teachers than their non-team peers, thus providing a more stable learning environment for their students and likely saving their district money. These findings are important given recent concerns about teacher retention, job satisfaction, and substitute teacher shortages and the impact of these factors on student learning.