Next Education Workforce initiative supports educators, schools, and their communities to build and sustain teaching teams that improve outcomes for both educators and students
After launching in 2019, Next Education Workforce was able to grow its reach in the first year of operation from 33 to 269 teachers—a 715 percent increase—ultimately reaching 6,660 students through classrooms led by teacher teams with distributed expertise. In SY 2024-25, Next Education Workforce increased teacher reach by 48 percent and student reach by 32 percent, greatly expanding the number of schools and districts that have access to innovative staffing models at a time of unique challenges for the teaching profession.
A 2025 evaluation of Next Education Workforce conducted by ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation in collaboration with the Center on Reinventing Public Education and Penn Graduate School of Education found evidence that team-based staffing is associated with stronger teacher retention and professional experience. Teachers working in Next Education Workforce teams were less likely to leave their positions than those in traditional classroom models, with turnover of 12 percent compared to 21 percent for non-Next Education Workforce teachers. The study also found that participating teachers reported greater decision-making authority and deeper collaboration, factors strongly linked to retention and improved teacher-student interactions.
Overdeck Family Foundation’s funding, in addition to deep capacity-building support, has allowed Next Education Workforce to grow its reach, evaluate its impact, and improve its understanding of the cost of delivering programs, positioning the organization to further codify and scale its model.
