Addressing the
National Educator Shortage
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Background
We know the educator shortage is a national crisis. As a national educational organization, the American Association of School Personnel Administrators (AASPA) convened representatives from stakeholder organizations, including government, associations, nonprofits, preparation programs and PK-12 education organizations through its National Educator Shortage Summits to address shortages.​
These collaborations have produced three key reports:
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2022 – 5 Shifts to Address the National Educator Shortage: Identifies five major shifts and actionable recommendations to tackle systemic issues driving the shortage.
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2024 – Mapping a Journey to Address the National Educator Shortage: Uses personas and journey maps to reimagine pathways into education and improve candidate experiences.
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2025 – Rewriting the Retention Playbook: Focuses on strategies and practices to strengthen educator retention and build sustainable workforce solutions.
Together, these reports highlight innovative practices from PK–12 organizations, higher education, and state agencies to help chart a pathway forward for recruiting and retaining strong, supported educators nationwide
On this website you’ll find all of these: the original 5 Shifts to Address the National Educator Shortage report, the Mapping A Journey report, and the Rewriting the Retention Playbook. You’ll also find promising practices of how higher-education institutions, PK-12 districts, educator preparation programs and state education agencies are implementing these ideas. These resources are designed to help you chart a pathway forward—from recruitment and pipeline design, through induction and retention, toward redesigning talent systems so that every student is served by a strong, supported educator.
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As a national educational organization, the American Association of School Personnel Administrators (AASPA) convened representatives from stakeholder organizations, including government, associations, nonprofits, preparation programs and PK-12 education organizations to address shortages. The results of these collaborations produced the white paper, 5 Shifts to Address the National Educator Shortage.
​Each shift contains high-level recommendations, along with examples of actions that different stakeholder groups can take to address the Educator Shortage.
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As a follow-up to the 5 Shifts to Address the Educator Shortage, the American Association of School Personnel Administrators (AASPA), in collaboration with Experience Management Institute (EXMI), are excited to share the 2024 National Educator Shortage Summit results.
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This document contains ten personas, accompanied by a sample journey map illustrating the potential experience of the aspiring educator. Developed with the help of over 300 professionals at the 2024 National Educator Shortage Summit, our hope is that you use this document to have conversations across organizations to better understand and address the educator shortage from your perspective.
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At the 4th Annual National Educator Shortage Summit (NESS) in 2025, the work continued with a new focus on educator retention as a key component to address the educator shortage. Discussions move beyond identifying challenges to creating sustainable, systemwide solutions that are both locally grounded and nationally relevant.
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The Retention Playbook emerged from the 2025 convening. This paper captures the key themes, bold ideas, and promising practices shared during the summit. It is intended to be a living resource—one that grows and evolves as more organizations innovate and learn how to retain and support the educators who shape our future.