Written by Craig Chin & Avni Gupta-Kagan, USHCA Human Capital Partners

The energy in the room was palpable as we wrapped up another year of Louisiana’s Recruitment & Retention Fellowship. For the fifth consecutive year, HR leaders from across the state gathered to share not just their challenges, but their breakthrough solutions.

What struck us most was how these leaders have evolved from problem-identifiers to solution-builders, creating systems and processes that are fundamentally changing how their districts attract, hire, and retain great educators.

The Louisiana Department of Education’s partnership with USHCA has now supported more than 90 leaders across 65+ school systems, and this year’s cohort demonstrated remarkable innovation in addressing the persistent challenges facing school districts statewide.

From streamlining hiring processes to building robust talent pipelines, these leaders are proving that with the right tools, community, and mindset, meaningful change is possible.

Streamlining Hiring and Onboarding

East Baton Rouge Parish Schools tackled one of the most common pain points: the time between offer acceptance and the first day of work. What used to take 11 business days now takes just three to four days, thanks to on-site fingerprinting, digital onboarding days, and clear accountability systems.

As their team noted, “Small process shifts make a big difference, but ongoing communication is key, and face-to-face still matters.”

St. Landry Parish transformed its entire approach by moving HR from a business department focused primarily on compliance to a more supportive environment for educators. The district established on-site fingerprinting—crucial when the nearest facility was 30 miles away—created comprehensive substitute preparation programs, and developed an Educator Empowerment Academy for new teachers.

The result? A renewed sense of support that’s keeping teachers engaged and excited about their work.

Growing Your Own: Pipeline Development at Scale

Several districts demonstrated sophisticated approaches to building teacher pipelines from within their own communities.

Assumption Parish Schools built an impressive grow-your-own program that now has candidates at every stage of certification. Through partnerships with REACH and iTeach, the district has created pathways for undergraduates, associate degree holders, and graduate students.

Most remarkably, Assumption Parish began the year with 36 vacant positions and managed to fill most of them through internal development. Their approach includes detailed tracking, differentiated compensation for mentors, and strategic use of tools like Learning Liaisons for Praxis preparation.

St. John Parish created an innovative in-house CDL certification program to address bus driver shortages, then expanded this approach to teacher certification through a partnership with Marathon Oil and Southern University. The district is bringing master’s-level teacher preparation directly to its campus, making it more accessible for current paraprofessionals and community members.

Data-Driven Solutions to Persistent Problems

St. Bernard Parish addressed the critical issue of teachers struggling to pass the Praxis exam. By surveying teachers on temporary authorization certificates, the district discovered that 75% had attempted the exam but felt unprepared.

Their solution combined mentorship focused on Praxis support, after-school study sessions, and, most innovatively, the creation of an on-site testing center. The personal touch of testing in familiar surroundings with friendly faces made a significant difference in success rates.

Ouachita Parish Schools used data visualization to improve its principal support system. Rather than treating all principals the same, the district developed a tiered system based on seven quality indicators of high-performing leadership.

This allows the district to provide targeted support where it’s needed most, recognizing that effective principal development requires differentiation just like effective teaching.

Culture and Retention: The People-First Approach

Livingston Parish Public Schools achieved remarkable retention results by fundamentally changing its support model. After hiring more than 200 new teachers in 2023, the district reduced early-career teacher resignations to just nine in 2025.

Their approach centered on intensive, focused support from supervisors and coordinators, grounded in the mindset that retention is “our” job—not just the principal’s job.

Webster Parish Schools took perhaps the most direct approach possible: showing up.

By holding office hours in each school and meeting with hundreds of employees, the HR director built relationships and addressed real concerns. Simple issues like broken bathrooms were fixed, communication barriers were broken down, and employees felt heard.

The cost was minimal—just time—but the impact was transformative.

Innovation in Hard-to-Fill Positions

Districts also demonstrated creativity in addressing specific staffing challenges.

Zachary Community Schools focused on transparent communication about compensation and benefits. By conducting a comprehensive compensation study and communicating the full value of working in the district, leaders helped teachers better understand their total compensation package.

The district also utilized small incentives throughout the year to provide more consistent support when families needed it most.

NOLA Public Schools partnered with TNTP to create a tuition-free teacher certification program that works with candidates both inside and outside the classroom year-round. Combined with strategic salary increases and Praxis support, the district has seen increased applications and stronger candidate pools.

Discovery Schools recognized that rapid growth required a different approach to onboarding. The organization developed specialized processes for mid-year hires, created work groups to improve principal-HR partnerships, and built systems designed to scale with its expanding network.

The Power of Community and Continuous Learning

What continues to inspire us about this fellowship is how these leaders energize one another.

As one participant noted, “This is the only thing we go to that says it is for learning where we actually learn things.”

Another shared, “Due to this fellowship, I feel re-invigorated about my work. Thank you to this community.”

The sharing sessions have become laboratories for innovation, where leaders not only present their successes but workshop challenges in real time. The cross-pollination of ideas—from charter to traditional public schools, from small rural districts to large urban systems—creates solutions that no single district could develop alone.

Looking Forward

As we prepare to launch our sixth cohort, we’re reminded that the work of human capital leadership in education is both art and science.

It requires data-driven decision-making, systems thinking, and process improvement. But it also requires a deep understanding of people, communities, and the relational aspects of teaching and learning.

This year’s cohort will be recognized by the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) in the coming months, and our sixth cohort is already selected for this year.

The work continues, and the results speak for themselves: When HR leaders are supported, equipped, and connected, they create ripple effects that reach every classroom in their districts.

The leaders in Louisiana’s fellowship continue to prove that with the right support, tools, and community, HR leaders can be transformative forces in their districts. They’re not just filling positions—they’re building cultures, developing people, and creating the conditions for great teaching and learning to flourish.

If you have a group of K–12 HR and talent leaders looking for a community where they can solve common challenges, learn alongside peers, and feel less alone in this work, we’d love to connect with you.