ITEEA Partners at National Educator Shortage Summit
ITEEA's Executive Director, Kelly Dooley, CAE, is representing the association as a partner at the 2026 National Educator Shortage Summit being April 9-10, 2026.
The National Educator Shortage Summit: Building a Sustainable Educator Workforce is a highly interactive convening of PK-20 stakeholders, bringing together PK-12 administrators, higher education leaders, state and local education agencies and workforce partners to co-design solutions that strengthen the educator pipeline. This event moves beyond identifying the challenges of educator shortages to focus on actionable, data-informed strategies that sustain and support the education workforce.
Building upon the insights captured in Rewriting the Retention Playbook (2025), this year’s Summit emphasizes six critical shifts essential to building a sustainable educator workforce:
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Development & Career Management – Expanding from linear advancement to dynamic, non-linear career pathways.
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Employee Experience & Leadership – Equipping leaders to prioritize engagement, growth, and well-being.
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Well-being & Work-life Integration – Moving from reactive burnout responses to proactive, holistic wellness.
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Compensation & Benefits – Elevating transparency and understanding of total rewards and long-term value.
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Recognition & Appreciation – Fostering daily cultures of gratitude that celebrate all staff contributions.
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Strategic Retention – Aligning fragmented efforts into unified, system wide retention strategies.
Through structured collaboration, participants will engage in deep dialogue and practical planning that bridges preparation and practice, transforming one-off initiatives into coordinated, sustainable solutions. NESS provides a rare national space where policy, practice and research intersect, enabling participants to share promising practices, analyze workforce data and build shared strategies that are locally grounded yet nationally aligned. Above all, the Summit serves as a call to collaborative action, inviting all stakeholders to co-create a future in which every student is supported by a well-prepared, well-supported, and thriving educator.