Chapter 1 – The Staffing Journey

By the Numbers

Source: 2025 K–12 Lens Report 

What Districts Are Up Against 

What happens when two out of three leaders walk into school knowing they’re understaffed? When more than half scramble for substitutes before the first bell? When nearly four in ten admit: keeping teachers isn’t just hard — it’s getting harder? 

Hallways get louder. Principals add even more to their plates. Teachers shoulder extra tasks, and the ones you most want to keep may start looking elsewhere. 

Too few applicants. Approvals and offers moving too slow. New hires who leave before their fifth year. 

It’s not new. But here’s what changes everything: districts that tie hiring to growth — and build an employee experience worth staying for — cover more classrooms, move faster on great candidates, and keep their best people. 

And while software won’t teach a class for you, it can take the friction out: applications that flow into onboarding, mentors who connect with new teachers early, substitutes who accept jobs before coffee is poured, payroll that’s accurate and on time. 

Keep reading to see how it all connects, explore the metrics that matter, and understand which features deserve a ‘yes’ on your shortlist. Use this guide to brief your school board, set targets, and maybe even make mornings feel a little lighter. 

The Challenge 

Declining teacher retention. People stay in their jobs when growth feels real, when they receive specific feedback, learn from a mentor who knows their craft, and see a career path that leads somewhere. Yet nearly half of new teachers leave within five years. That disrupts continuity in the classroom and means more money spent on hiring instead of classrooms. But there is good news: districts that prioritize professional learning tend to have higher retention rates, and programs with trained mentors make a dramatic difference: new teachers with quality induction are about twice as likely to stick around.  

Teacher absences interrupt learning. Each vacancy or sick day strains principals and teams. Without clear fill‑rate visibility by school and absence type, it’s harder to spot patterns and plan coverage. Unfilled classes cut into instructional time. You feel it in the hallways: less focus, more scrambling. 

Manual work that drags. Stacks of paper, lost credentials, hand-keyed timesheets. Errors creep in, payroll has issues. Slow, cumbersome hiring leads to smaller applicant pools and weaker matches, impacting student performance. Meanwhile, the hours teachers spend on professional learning are buried in spreadsheets, making it hard to prove impact or track licensure. 

Superintendents know that the budget, student outcomes, and public accountability are on the line. HR Directors carry the weight of fairness, morale, and compliance. Curriculum & Instruction leaders want to see evidence‑based growth tied to pedagogy, standards, and assessments. These are just three vantage points to understand the same problem. 

The Opportunity: Software that Supports the Talent Journey 

Thankfully, school districts have an opportunity to address these gaps. With a connected platform, data travels with the person — from first click, to first day, to first observation, to first stipend. Automation takes the boring, repeatable work off your plate. People get time back.  

Hire and onboard faster. Getting people in the door quickly matters. It’s hard to inspire or retain someone who’s still stuck waiting for paperwork. Here’s how districts make the front end of the talent journey smoother: 

• Run proactive recruiting to reach out to candidates who meet your criteria. Search talent pools, message candidates, and schedule interviews automatically. 
• Send digital onboarding packets with e‑signatures, and track credentials and compliance with automatic reminders. 
• Keep candidates engaged with automated updates and timely nudges, so they don’t drift off to the district down the road. 
• Add structured screening like role‑specific assessments and interviews to surface best‑fit candidates early. 

The payoff shows up fast: earlier outreach, larger applicant pools, better fits, and stronger first‑year retention.  

Grow to retain. Keeping talented teachers means showing them a future in your district, with real growth and support they can see and feel. Here’s how districts make that part of the talent journey matter: 

• Build personalized PD plans tied to individual goals and district priorities. 
• Pair new teachers with trained mentors and a clear induction arc: observations, feedback cycles, and targeted resources. 
• Link evaluation results to specific learning opportunities, not just a generic catalog. 
• Keep portfolios and transcripts so teachers can see progress toward advancement or licensure. 

Strong induction and feedback loops reduce early‑career attrition and sharpen practice across the board.  

Cover every classroom and pay correctly. Making sure people feel supported doesn’t end after onboarding. Staff want to know their work is recognized, their schedules are respected, and their paychecks are accurate. Here’s how districts keep that trust strong:  

• Push real‑time mobile alerts to substitutes and prioritize your preferred list so the best-matched subs step into the right classrooms. 
• Watch fill‑rate trends — by school, day of the week, and absence type — and fix what the data reveals. 
• Connect your absence management system to your time-tracking system so time worked and leave balances reconcile automatically under a K–12‑specific rules engine. Keeping paychecks accurate and on schedule builds trust every single pay cycle. 

Why one platform wins. Applicant data flows straight into onboarding without the need to retype it. Professional learning events that need classroom coverage can trigger sub requests automatically. Substitutes clock in with the correct job codes, so pay is accurate (and from the right account). Data connects every stage of the employee journey — from recruiting to retention, from absence management to professional growth — giving leaders the insight to make smarter, faster decisions that strengthen their workforce and improve student outcomes. You move from hunches to signals you can act on. 

Value for Each Role 

Metrics to Watch 

Look at the whole talent journey, not just the pieces. Here are the numbers to measure your progress. 

Hiring 

• Pipeline speed: time‑to‑hire, offer‑to‑start, days in stage. 
• Quality and fit: licensure match, assessment signals, interview‑to‑offer. 
• Source and reach: volume by channel, diversity, peer benchmarks. 
• Early retention: first‑year and three‑year trends. 

Classroom Coverage 

• Overall fill rate. 
• Qualified coverage: do you have the right credentials in the right class? 
• Instructional hours reclaimed when your fill rate rises. 

Time Tracking and Payroll 

• Payroll accuracy and timeliness: exception rate, off-cycle checks. 
• Fair and transparent pay: overtime, stipends, consistent pay rules for extra duty. 
• Workforce coverage confidence: do you have the right staff in the right places, with no gaps? 

Growth 

• PD alignment to evaluation feedback. 
• Mentorship and induction participation. 
• Career‑pathway readiness (credits toward advancement or relicensure). 
• Year‑over‑year improvement in evaluation ratings. 

Handy Formulas

A Quick Checklist When You’re Choosing HR Software 

Think of this like a pre‑flight checklist: simple, practical, and built to keep you focused when choices start to pile up. It’s not a deep dive into every feature, just a reminder of the essentials that matter most when you’re picking software: 

• Recruiting and onboarding: Tools that widen your reach, keep campaigns humming, allow self‑scheduled interviews, and replace paper packets with digital, compliance‑tracking ones. 
• Retention and growth: A platform that connects evaluations to PD goals, clarifies workflows, and shows participation and impact. 
• Time tracking and payroll: Multiple ways to capture time, a payroll rules engine built for K–12, and seamless connection to leave balances. 
• Absences and classroom coverage: Substitutes need visibility into open jobs and schedules, plus easy mobile acceptance. Leaders need dashboards that show if fill rates are improving. 

If a vendor can’t deliver on these essentials, they’re not the right partner. 

Where to Go Next 

Staffing gets better when hiring, growth, coverage, and pay run as one system. A holistic view of the talent journey helps districts keep their people, build loyalty, and ensure a premium employee experience — quiet wins that add up to stronger schools.