Commitments to transparency and public service are two ways our superintendents to watch are steering their schools toward continuous improvement.

How to keep teachers in the profession is clear, yet those in power outside of the classroom are dictating educators' decisions.

"When schools are up and going, the community can get back to normal more quickly," says Collier County Superintendent Kamela Patton.

Nearly half of schools in 2021-22 had higher chronic teacher absenteeism—defined as missing at least 10% of school days—than in the prior year.