Abstract
Teachers are one of the key building blocks of education systems. Schools, districts, and other education programs’ processes for recruitment, licensure, hiring, training, and supporting teachers make a crucial difference in the health of a learning environment. For this reason, programs that hire and/or support teachers have a vested interest in them from recruitment through the length of their employment. Key to retaining these teachers are effectively designed training and support components of a program (Desimone, 2009). Based on the significance of this topic, the Virtual School Leadership Alliance made teacher support and retention their first major research effort. The Virtual School Leadership Alliance (Alliance) is an association of the chiefs of leading virtual schools across the country that provides collegial support and collaborative opportunities for the individual members and member organizations to share resources, services, and expertise. Members of the Alliance for 2014-15 include Georgia Virtual Learning, Howard County Public School System, Idaho Digital Learning, IDEAL-New Mexico, Illinois Virtual School, Indiana Online Academy, Michigan Virtual, Montana Digital Academy, North Carolina Virtual Public School, The Virtual High School (VHS), the Wisconsin eSchool Network, Wisconsin Virtual School, and Virtual SC. Evergreen Education Group provides strategic guidance, conducts research, and coordinates the activities of the Alliance to ensure productive communication, collaboration, and value for each member.