Arizona

Arizona State University’s Next Education Workforce™ works with school systems and community partners to staff schools differently — with teams. This approach empowers teams of educators with distributed expertise to work together to meet the needs of a shared roster of students. It’s a fundamental shift from the conventional one-teacher, one-classroom staffing model that aims to improve outcomes for students and experiences for educators. As a result, content is less siloed, each educator can focus on their strengths, and the job of teaching becomes less isolating.

In 2020, Arizona’s Mesa Public Schools partnered with ASU to implement these models, focusing on creating a stronger sense of belonging and community among students and educators. This partnership has inspired schools and school systems across the country to design and implement their own team-based strategic school staffing models. By the 2024-25 school year, 143 schools across 17 states have partnered with the Next Education Workforce. Early research on these models has shown promising results: lower turnover and higher job satisfaction for educators; and academic growth and greater levels of engagement for students.