Veteran Educator Dr. Mary Rivers Launches Teacher Retention Academy to Help Schools Keep the Teachers They Hire

From Hiring Teachers to Keeping Teachers

VICTORVILLE, CA, UNITED STATES, September 30, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — After a career in education, Dr. Mary Rivers knows that recruiting teachers is only part of the challenge facing schools today. The bigger question is: What happens after teachers are hired?

That question is at the heart of Teacher Retention Academy, founded by Rivers to help school and district leaders create environments where teachers are supported, valued, and more likely to remain in the profession.

For Rivers, teacher retention is more than a professional interest. It comes from years of working in education and seeing firsthand the difference that leadership, support, workplace culture, and meaningful relationships can make in a teacher’s experience.

“I have seen dedicated teachers enter the profession excited about making a difference, only to become overwhelmed, discouraged, or disconnected,” Rivers said. “I believe we need to spend as much time thinking about how we keep good teachers as we do figuring out how to recruit them.”

Teacher turnover affects more than staffing. When experienced teachers leave, schools lose knowledge, relationships, continuity, and valuable members of their educational communities. Students and remaining staff feel the effects as schools repeatedly devote time and resources to replacing teachers who leave.
Teacher Retention Academy approaches the issue by encouraging educational leaders to look beyond hiring and examine the conditions teachers experience once they enter their schools.

Through professional learning, resources, consultation, and practical retention strategies, Teacher Retention Academy helps leaders identify areas that can influence a teacher’s decision to stay—including leadership practices, workplace culture, communication, recognition, workload, professional support, and a sense of belonging.

The goal is not simply to convince teachers to remain. It is to help schools become places where good teachers want to stay.

“We cannot solve teacher shortages through recruitment alone,” Rivers said. “If we continue hiring teachers without addressing why they leave, we remain in a cycle of replacing people instead of retaining them. Teacher Retention Academy is about helping leaders interrupt that cycle.”

Rivers believes meaningful improvement does not always require another large initiative. Sometimes it begins with leaders asking better questions, listening to teachers, strengthening relationships, and making intentional changes to the everyday experience of teaching.

Through Teacher Retention Academy, Rivers hopes to help shift the conversation in education from hiring teachers to keeping teachers—and to make teacher retention an ongoing leadership priority rather than a response to vacancies.

Educational leaders, school districts, charter schools, educational organizations, and others interested in strengthening teacher retention are invited to learn more about Teacher Retention Academy.

About Dr. Mary Rivers
Dr. Mary Rivers is a retired educator and founder of Teacher Retention Academy. Drawing upon her experience in education, she works with educational leaders to strengthen the systems, leadership practices, and school cultures that help teachers thrive and remain in the profession.

About Teacher Retention Academy
Teacher Retention Academy provides resources, professional learning, consultation, and practical strategies designed to help educational leaders reduce teacher turnover and build school environments that support long-term teacher success.

Teacher Retention Academy
From Hiring Teachers to Keeping Teachers

For additional information, interviews, speaking engagements, or professional learning opportunities, visit Teacher Retention Academy.

Dr. Mary Rivers
Teacher Retention Academy
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