How can we support good teachers and keep them in the profession?

I really like the diversity of comments from people. That what makes good teachers the acceptance of diversity and the fostering of individual's talents. Schools should not be about producing clones for students or forming teachers into consistent 'same' models.
To do this there needs to be the elements that many have spoken of.
1.Good mentoring with support not stifling creativity because that's how it has always been done.
2.Positive people within the staff and especially the administration. The effective of negativity is massive and infects whole schools. The students pick up on it and it makes going to work horrible.
3.Good working environment, flexible spaces, clean, innovative and diverse. We ask our students to sit on cheap, uncomfortable furniture, yet parents in their workplaces have environments that contribute to their productivity.
4. Administration that is open, support and skilled in areas they need - understand the business of schooling, not just good educators or long term teachers. If there good educators keep them in the classroom and put administrators in who know about HR and administration.
5.Support from parents and the community that teaching is worthwhile.

Is the education sector that much different from any other industry where keeping the workers happy increases productivity and decreases turnover rate? How about feeling appreciated everyday, not just on Teacher Appreciation Day?

I think we start with the little things, and the rest takes care of itself. Google goes about the little things the right way! My school district doesn't.

"An army marches on its stomach."

Google provides delicious (and varied) meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner--free of charge! My school district has strict rules about charging teachers for any extra food (which eventually gets thrown away) from the day's hot lunch choice. I'm not looking for a handout, but let's use some common sense here!

"All work and no play make Jack (and Jill) a dull boy (and girl)."

Google lets her workers play to blow off steam and generate creative ideas, not only during lunch and breaks, but whenever! In my building, lunch hour is an opportunity to correct papers, catch up on email, gobble food, and use the bathroom. How about a weekly ping pong/Foosball/Wii Sports/book bowl/Jeopardy/Wheel of Fourtune/Trivial Pursuit tournament? I have colleagues that started an American Idol pick 'em style tournament; which was very well received.

Create a culture of sharing and creating together.

At Google, the workers eat in the office cafeteria during lunchtime. They suggest this idea so workers from other areas of the Google machine can talk and familiarize themselves with each other. Sharing and creating together becomes that much easier when you know the person your working with. My district (and most likely every district) can't make time for collaboration due to lack of time and/or financial constraints (paying substitute teachers). The one thing the teachers in my district desire is time to share, collaborate, and create together.

Food, play, and time to share. It's just that simple. Kindergarteners do it why can't we?

Helping each other succeed should be the code for teachers and administrators. When I got started in new teaching positions at schools, I was thrilled to be part of a new community, eager to help enhance the school and work environment, and desirous of collaborating with fellow teachers in a wide variety of areas. Sometimes I met a person who was open to collaboration, but more often, I met unwilling partners. I found it bewildering that so many would work only within the available parameters. Usually in my first year, I threw myself into new things. Later, because my energy got dissipated having to work solo, I too fell into line with the "veteran" teachers who had shaken their heads when I offered them my ideas. Then, I realized I had to look elsewhere for work. Even though my ideas were popular and successful, I often wasn't helped carrying them out the next year.
In classroom management, cooperation is absolutely essential. One rare school I worked in had administrators supporting new teachers and subs with frequent visits to their classrooms to ensure mutual respect and good discipline.
To retain teachers, schools need to help them feel their ideas are welcome. Instead of reacting with "confusion" and disinterest, administrators should help teachers collaborate on utilizing their positive experiences in schools, such as presenting enjoyable student programs, implementing new curricular approaches, adopting initiatives to involve families, and involving the whole school in community service projects.
Usually, teachers have responded to a sensed "calling" to be educators; however, if success seems too elusive, ie administrators notice only their faults, their guiding light gets extinguished and they wander away to greener pastures.

It's great to read the valuable lists that Edutopia members (teachers on the frontlines) are sharing here! Not only excellent suggestions for supporting good teachers to stay in the profession, but some of you have specifically addressed the need for supporting new teachers to avoid the attrition we so often see after only 3-5 years in this profession, especially in lower-performing schools (where retaining master teachers is particularly critical!)

A common thread In many of the lists is a need for teachers to be seen, receiving feedback and support.

Isolation is deadly in our profession. I know this from firsthand experience.

When I was teaching in an urban public high school, there were great chasms of time that would pass (weeks even!) where the only conversations I'd had at work that were longer than one minute were with teenagers. We have to open classroom doors, visit each others' rooms, invite parents and expect our administrators to role up their sleeves and help co-teach a lesson once in awhile.

What might be other strategies for beating the isolation blues that so many of our teachers suffer from?

Oh, I've got sooo much to say on this topic, I could write a whole book! Bascially, Principals need to start really getting to know who the good teachers are! Some are totally clueless as to what goes on in some classrooms! Then give the...m some sort of praise for that... it could be simple, like at my school we had an employee of the week thing. Then when there are budget cuts and/or job openings don't let the good ones go because the Principal's neighbor's daughter just graduated (or got a new certification added) and needs a job! Nepotism and personality compatibility have no place in a school. The ONLY thing that should matter in hiring or keeping someone is who is the BEST person for the job. Period! Point blank, that's it! Nothing else should matter!
Also, districts mandating curriculum that a "professional" teacher sees is not working with her particular students shoud stop too. Don't spend the money in the first placy unless they are tested with that particular school's (not county's) demographics and then make allowances for teachers who do know what will work with those kids!
I've been teaching for 15 yrs. and I'm ready to leave b/c I'm so tried of playing the stupid political games they play! And that' sad because I am good, and could really help kids if given the chance!

Teachers should be matched up with a veteran who has proven to be successful not only with test scores, but with students, parents, colleagues and administrators to team teach with year one. Year two would be an independent year.
Administrators should support new teachers with resources, professional development needs and time out of the classroom to observe successful teachers. All educators (no matter what the sign reads on the desk) should foster an atmosphere of professional growth in the best interest of the children. Teachers need to be encouraged to take time to become reflective on teaching practices. Professional Learning Communities across grade levels,buildings, regions, districts and states should be developed to assist new teachers and administrators become successful leaders. Expectations, procedures and policies must be clear from the start for new teachers. Support should come from "How can I help" and never a "Gotcha". Teachers need to know it will not always be easy, but with a strong support system in place it is always worth it!

Here's what will keep your best teachers there:

• Safe 24 hour access to a clean, updated and well equipped school. Dedicated teachers work at all hours and want safe access to their classrooms. They also want to work in schools that are clean, updated, and well stocked with the materials they need.

• Freedom. Allow your best teachers some leeway to teach. Assume the best, not the worst. Often they’ll do much more than you ever expected them to. Don’t micromanage bulletin boards and how many pumpkins they have in their classrooms.

• Give teachers a reasonable number of students. 16-24 is reasonable. Anything more than this isn’t. Aids aren’t the answer. In theory they are wonderful additions to a proactive, personalized learning program. However, in practice they may need extensive training and may have no interest in following the classroom teacher’s lessons.

• Create a positive, can-do school faculty atmosphere. Don’t pick the same teachers over and over again to demonstrate instructional techniques. Don’t allow a handful of our faculty to make important school wide decisions. Involve everyone. Make your decisions transparent and allow teachers to vote on important issues like how to spend money and how to schedule effectively. Get teachers involved—ask them for help and allow anyone to join a committee.

• Principals need to smile and come to work happy. If you love your job we’ll love ours. Quit or leave if you don’t.

1) Create far more time for collaborative planning.
2) Allow teachers to document their own professional development efforts, rather than requiring them to attend (too often) insulting professional development sessions where they are given PowerPoint lectures and suffer through condescending comments.
3) Provide housing subsidies in small communities so that young teachers will be attracted to rural areas in cadres.
4) All teacher training programs/colleges should be home-based in the public schools, not on a separate campus, and should be 5-year programs.
5) Provide more administrative support to teachers.
6) Market Constructivism to every parent and politician, so it's not just a ivory tower concept.

We've done a good job of dis-empowering teachers for economic and political reasons that don't take a Marxist theorist to identify. I'd love to see the opposite.

The best way to support all teachers -- and to make it possible for them to do their jobs -- is for this society to commit to making sure all kids have enough to eat, decent housing, and good health care. Kids who are hungry, homeless, or sick can't learn no matter how good the teacher is.

I just finished my first year of teaching. I would have to say having a mentor program where the mentor can come into the new teachers classroom several times a year would be helpful. I would have also benefited from being able to go into teachers classroom to observe them. I was in a district where everyone shared lesson plans via the network. This was extremely beneficial for new teachers. The Beginning Teacher Support Academy was not tailored to the needs of Special Education Teachers. The state requirements in CA have general education teachers go through a huge paper that is very time consuming and not very helpful.