I just got back from AASA, and it was a good reminder of why these conferences matter. You get past the headlines and hear what district leaders are actually dealing with, and what they're doing that's working.
This year felt different. Less talk about big new initiatives. More talk about building systems that hold up over time.
If I had to summarize the K-12 staffing conversation in one sentence, it's this: vacancies are still real, leadership development is getting more intentional, and substitutes are starting to be seen as part of the instructional and talent pipeline, not just coverage.
Here's what stood out most to me.
Persistent vacancies aren't going away
Even with declining enrollment in some regions, staffing pressure hasn't really let up. The urgency's still there, but the tone has shifted. Leaders are talking less about emergency solutions and more about stability.
The common thread is pipelines. Not just recruiting harder, but building pathways that attract, develop, and retain people over time so districts aren't constantly restarting the search.
Substitutes are moving from coverage to pipeline
One idea kept resurfacing: substitutes as an entry point into the profession.
We see this at Spur all the time. Strong future teachers often first walk into schools as subs. They discover they like the work, they build relationships, and they start to imagine a different path. The ones who stick often become some of the best long-term hires a district makes.
I heard examples of "teacher associate" roles that give substitutes a clearer runway into teaching. It lowers the barrier to entry without lowering expectations, and it gives districts a chance to see someone in action before making a longer-term bet.
Here's the part that still surprises me. Most staffing vendors penalize districts for hiring their substitutes. The model's set up to keep people on the vendor's payroll, not help districts build their own workforce.
We're leaning the other way. When a district hires one of our people, we celebrate it. That's the whole point. We placed someone great, they proved themselves with kids, and the district wants to keep them. That's a win for students and a win for the district.
Prepared substitutes help instruction keep moving
Instructional quality's still front and center. What's changed is how substitutes fit into that conversation.
If instruction matters every day, substitutes can't be an afterthought. There's a growing expectation that staffing partners help raise the level of preparation and context so classrooms don't stall every time a teacher is out.
That doesn't mean a sub has to replicate a lesson perfectly. It means continuity. Learning moves forward, even a little, so teachers can take time off without feeling like they're leaving a mess behind.
A practical way to think about it:
- If a substitute day is always a lost day, you've built a system where absence equals regression.
- If a substitute day can still be a learning day, even at 60 percent, you've built a system that can breathe.
Leadership development is getting more intentional
Leadership came up everywhere, especially in larger districts.
One of the best sessions I sat in on featured Jasmine Kullar, Chief School Leadership Officer at Cobb County, and Dr. Corey D. Grubbs, Chief of Transformation and Innovation at Columbus City Schools.
Their framing stuck with me:
Talent isn't something you acquire. It's something you design for. How you recruit sends a signal. How you grow people builds trust. How you retain them reflects your culture. How you reward them reveals what you truly value.
A few specific moves they shared were worth writing down.
1) Hire for competencies, not paper
Both leaders talked about moving from qualification-based hiring to competency-based hiring. The most practical tactic was simple: use real performance tasks in interviews.
Give a candidate an hour to prepare a short presentation, then have them deliver it to a panel. You learn more in ten minutes than you'll learn in a traditional Q&A.
It's not about putting on a show. It's about getting closer to the real work:
- Can this person communicate clearly?
- Can they make a case?
- Can they handle questions without spinning?
- Can they lead themselves under time pressure?
If you want a simple starting point, pick one leadership role and add one "practical" step. One prompt. One hour of prep. Ten minutes to present. A short rubric. You'll be shocked what it reveals.
2) Control the recruitment narrative with honesty
They also talked about recruiting in a world where districts are often fighting negative headlines, budget cuts, or closures. The answer wasn't to pretend those pressures aren't real. The answer was to get proactive about the story you tell candidates.
What I heard in plain terms:
If you don't define what it means to lead here, someone else will do it for you.
The best recruitment pitch isn't "we have openings." It's "here's the mission, here's the kids, here's the work, here's the impact, and here's how we support leaders so they can actually succeed."
3) Retention is job design
Cobb County invested $500,000 to fully fund advanced degrees for 200 educators. No debt, higher earning potential, and deep loyalty. It's hard to argue with the math.
They also moved to a balanced calendar with full weeks off in September, November, February, and April to get ahead of burnout instead of reacting to it.
Columbus City shared a "Grow Your Own" pipeline, funding paraprofessionals to get certified while they work.
Different tactics, same underlying idea: people stay when the job's livable and the path forward is real.
4) Combat isolation on purpose
Principal burnout is often framed as "stress." What I heard was more specific: isolation.
Two tactics that stood out:
- Create structured peer teams where principals solve problems together, not alone.
- Make sure leaders have a safe coach who isn't also their evaluator.
Dr. Grubbs described a regional coaching model where the people supporting principals aren't the same people evaluating them. That distinction matters. Leaders need space to be honest about what's hard without worrying it'll show up in a review.
5) Your budget is a value statement
Both leaders came back to the same point, in different ways:
Show me your budget, and I'll show you what you value.
They talked about ruthless prioritization — auditing subscriptions and cutting what isn't being used — so they could fund the people investments that actually move outcomes.
It's one of those things that sounds obvious, but most systems don't behave this way. It takes discipline, and it takes saying no to things that are popular but not effective.
6) Make PD real again
Another practical insight: separate "nuts and bolts" operational updates from real learning.
- Operational updates can be virtual.
- Professional development should be face-to-face, built for actual skill building, and led by people who know how to facilitate, not just present.
That one distinction alone can change how leaders experience the system. It signals respect for their time, and it makes learning feel like learning again.
The throughline: build pathways, not quick fixes
Different districts, different geographies, all leaning toward the same idea.
- Build pipelines earlier.
- Invest in leadership.
- Treat substitute teaching as part of the long game.
Staffing's still messy. It always will be, because schools are human systems. But the districts making real progress are building clearer pathways:
- From substitute to teacher.
- From teacher to leader.
- From day-to-day staffing decisions to long-term stability for students and schools.
If you're a district leader and you want something practical to take back, here are six moves I'd consider in the next 30 days:
- Define the handful of competencies that actually make someone a great leader in your system.
- Add one practical to interviews and score it with a simple rubric.
- Run stay interviews with your highest-impact people and look for patterns you can act on.
- Separate coaching from evaluation so leaders have a place to be honest and grow.
- Audit subscriptions and reallocate at least one cut into a people investment.
- Design substitute days for continuity, so absence doesn't automatically mean lost learning.
That's the shift I felt this year. Less scrambling. More system-building. And that's a big step in the right direction.
