Public Policy Associates, Inc. (PPA) is pleased to be working together with the Michigan Education Association, AFT Michigan, and the Middle Cities Education Association on a series of Educator Workforce Solution Summits. The sessions will give frontline educators a chance to share their opinions about the range of policy solutions to recruit and retain people into the professions.

Educators are encouraged to participate. More information is below.

The problems of teacher retention and recruitment have been talked about at length: the teacher shortage; the prevalence of long-term subs in classrooms; record low enrollment in teacher preparation programs; and high turnover among educators during the first few years.

The sessions will focus on solutions and what will work to address the issues educators are voicing on multiple statewide and national surveys. The summits, planned across the state over the next month, will provide a chance to flesh out these ideas with frontline educators—and potentially identify champions who can speak from personal experience about how to move these solutions forward.

The targeted feedback approach will be focused on hearing from educators and on problem-solving with educators regarding the looming crisis. PPA is seeking up to 40 educators for each of five on-site summits and one online session, designed to encourage participation from elsewhere in the state.

A range of educators are encouraged to participate: teachers, support staff, administrators, higher educational professionals, and other stakeholders. The sessions will be solutions-focused—rather than talking exclusively about problems, we will concentrate on identifying practical solutions that will help recruit and retain quality individuals to the profession.

The five in-person evening sessions are listed below:

  • Wednesday, October 30, 2019 in Southfield
  • Monday, November 4, 2019 in Detroit (Downtown)
  • Thursday, November 7, 2019 in Mt. Pleasant
  • Monday, November 11, 2019 in Lansing
  • Tuesday, November 19, 2019 in Grand Rapids

If you are interested in taking part in one of the in-person evening events—or the online session, which will take place at your convenience over several days—please register your information using the link below. Depending on considerations such as space available and the number and diversity of participants, not everyone who registers is guaranteed a spot in one of the sessions.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SolutionSummit19

To ensure we use these summits to their fullest potential, we hope you will take a few moments to share some potential solutions you would like us to get responses to.

If you have particular solutions you’d like us to work into the discussions at these summits, please e-mail them to PPA’s Dan Quinn at dquinn@publicpolicy.com.

Your support is invaluable for the success of this initiative. Thank you!