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While the traditional classroom model is still the norm in most schools, an innovative team-based approach is gaining traction and shaking up the way school leaders look at staffing nationwide.
As an alternative to having one teacher per classroom, more schools are experimenting with having four to five teachers working together to instruct larger groups of students — typically around 100 depending on the grade level. That group of educators is then often led by a veteran, or “lead,” teacher.
During the 2024-25 school year, about 150 schools across 17 states implemented this team-based strategy for teachers through the Next Education Workforce initiative, said Lennon Audrain, head of innovation and policy initiatives at NEW and a research assistant professor at the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation at Arizona State University.
Another nonprofit organization, Public Impact, has launched a similar team-based staffing initiative called Opportunity Culture. More than 1,000 schools in 17 states and the District of Columbia also tapped into this program during the 2024-25 school year.
On top of that, North Dakota became the first state to gain approval from the U.S. Department of Labor to create a registered apprenticeship program for lead teachers in early September. That will allow the state to access federal grant funds and launch a pilot program this fall for 15 teachers who will receive specialized training in the team-based staffing model.
Those in the new apprenticeship program, designed in partnership with Arizona State University, will complete 10 micro-credential courses to earn a lead teacher certificate from the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction.
Audrain said he thinks the new registered apprenticeship model will spur more interest in team-based teaching and “push people to really think differently — just about how they’re going to have to structure their people’s time and expertise.”
A strong strategy for retention
What’s unique about the lead teacher position is that it allows experienced teachers to advance in their careers and gain leadership experience without having to leave the classroom, Audrain said.
Audrain coauthored a June study that found teachers participating in the NEW model were less likely to quit compared to those instructing in traditional classrooms. In fact, the predicted turnover rate for NEW teachers was 12%, compared to 21% of non-NEW teachers and 16% of all teachers nationwide.
In his research, Audrain found that teachers who were on a team reported they had more autonomy and, as a result, saw even higher levels of retention.
That finding signals that educators on teams feel that they’re trusted by their colleagues and their school administrators when making decisions, Audrain said. On the flip side, he said, in a traditional one-teacher classroom model, it’s more difficult for teachers to collaborate or talk with their colleagues as much.
The NEW model can incur additional costs for districts, the study noted, however there could be long-term savings from reducing teacher turnover. Audrain said that the team-based models also require a mindset shift on how to view school operations. For instance the NEW initiative has worked with districts to adjust their student information systems and rethink space when passing school construction bonds, he said.
Districts will also often provide higher compensation for lead teachers, depending on their budgets, Audrain said.
Team-based teaching amid K-12 budget challenges
At a time when many districts are having to take a hard look at their budgets as student enrollment continues to decline and school closure conversations move forward this fall, Audrain said that this could make for a good opportunity for school leaders to rethink their staffing models.
Enrollment challenges are already causing some districts to reckon with their current staffing levels — as seen in Florida’s Orange County Public Schools, where 116 teachers are being reassigned to new positions this school year because of a sharp and unexpected drop in enrollment.
Some education economics researchers say widespread teacher shortages may even be in the rearview mirror, because some schools chose to hire more teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic with federal emergency funding despite ongoing enrollment declines.
Though that doesn’t mean traditionally hard-to-staff roles don’t still exist, it does, however, translate into calls by some K-12 experts for schools to more seriously consider strategic hiring practices, including re-examining models for teacher pay, pathways into the profession, and team-based instruction, Audrain said.
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