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Alicia Herald

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How a Web Dating Adventure Inspired an Education Movement

Mission and culture fit are key to a teacher's satisfaction and school performance. Online dating helps figure out if there's a match.


Every year over half a million public and private school teachers leave their classroom. In fact, one out of two new teachers will quit teaching before they reach their fifth year in the classroom. This is a costly problem in terms of time, money, and impact on kids. What may come as a surprise is the cause of high turnover in education. Unlike the common notion that attrition is driven by low pay or classroom issues, it's actually dissatisfaction with working conditions.

Having spent my career in education—as an elementary school teacher, adjunct professor, school board member, and most recently as an executive director of a Teach For America regional site—I have seen first hand the value of putting the right teacher in the right classroom (and the adverse impacts of the wrong teacher in the wrong school.) Numerous studies show mission and culture fit are key to a teacher's satisfaction and school performance. But despite the evidence that fit matters, there is no easy or systematic way for teachers to find a school that's a good fit.

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