Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is Vital Network and who is it for?
Vital Network is focused on improving workplace culture in schools to boost educator retention. It’s designed for entire school communities, from school administrators and superintendents to teachers, support staff, HR directors, and district leaders. Vital Network’s mission is to make every school a great place to work so educators love their jobs and want to stay. If you’re looking to reduce teacher turnover, address principal burnout, or strengthen your school’s culture, Vital Network is built for you.
Why is improving educator retention and well-being so important?
High teacher turnover and burnout have reached crisis levels in education. About 16% of teachers leave their school or the profession each year. In one national survey, 44% of teachers reported feeling burned out “always” or “very often,” one of the highest burnout rates of any industry. This constant churn hurts student learning and drains district resources.
The cost of teacher turnover is steep. Replacing a single teacher can range from about $9,000 in a rural district to over $20,000 in an urban district, and can reach nearly $25,000 in a large district. These costs add up fast.
Just as importantly, when schools lose great educators, school climate and teacher well-being suffer. Students lose the stability of experienced adults who know the community and can build long-term relationships. Improving retention helps schools provide more consistency for students, boost morale, and strengthen learning outcomes.
How does Vital Network help reduce teacher turnover and burnout?
Vital Network takes a holistic, systems approach to educator burnout and retention. Instead of treating burnout as a personal issue (with self-care tips that don’t fix the work), Vital looks at the school environment and daily practices that shape educators’ experience.
We start by asking: How are the adults? Then we collaborate to improve the day-to-day conditions that drive burnout and turnover.
Vital helps school systems move from burnout to vitality.
Burnout is prolonged exhaustion caused by negative external conditions that no amount of self-care can overcome. Vitality is the purpose and energy experienced when working in an empowering community.
Through guided planning, experimentation, and reflection, educators regain a sense of control and hope. In practice, Vital may help a school streamline burdensome meetings, improve communication and trust, strengthen support systems, or give teachers more voice in decisions. These changes improve well-being, reduce overwhelm, and build a school culture where educators want to stay.
What are the phases of the Vital Experience?
Vital Network guides schools through a cycle of continuous improvement with five phases:
Prepare
Kickoff and goal-setting. This phase gets everyone aligned on the plan for the year and ready to do the work together.
Inquire
Listen and learn. We gather educator voice through an Educator Experience Survey and structured dialogue. The goal is to understand what’s really happening so you can focus on the right priorities.Ideate & Plan
Collaborative solution design. Teams choose key challenges and create a practical action plan with strategies that fit the realities of the school.Experiment
Take action. Schools test new strategies in real time, learn what works, and adjust quickly.Reflect & Iterate
Review and improve. Teams reflect on progress, use pulse checks or feedback to see what’s changing, and refine the plan for the next cycle.
This structure keeps the work focused, doable, and responsive to the needs of your educators.
How does Vital use surveys and data to drive improvement?
Surveys and data are a cornerstone of Vital’s process, but we treat data as a starting point, not a scorecard.
Vital’s Educator Experience Surveys are research-based, short, anonymous, and designed to measure conditions that influence retention and well-being. The surveys focus on four domains of the educator workforce experience:
Time Management
Voice & Decision-Making
Care & Support
Well-Being
Vital delivers results quickly through the platform so teams can take action while the information is still relevant.
What makes Vital different is how the data gets used. The goal isn’t judgment. It’s inquiry. A result becomes a question: What is this telling us? What do we want to change? What is already working that we can build on?
Vital Advisors help school teams interpret the data, prioritize focus areas, and translate insights into practical changes. Repeated surveys and pulse checks help track progress and support continuous improvement.
Does Vital Network provide a technology platform or portal for schools?
Yes. Vital provides a secure online platform that supports the work throughout the year. Schools and districts can use the platform to:
Access interactive dashboards and reports
Review survey data in a clear, usable format
Support reflection and action planning
Find tools, resources, and exemplars
Monitor progress over time
The platform is designed to be straightforward and useful for busy educators and leaders.
Who are Vital Advisors?
Vital Advisors are experienced school and district leaders who guide partners through each phase of the Vital Experience. They are the human backbone of the work.
A Vital Advisor helps you:
Interpret data with context and care
Facilitate honest, constructive dialogue
Build a practical plan that fits your school
Support implementation and iteration
Share field-tested strategies and tools
Keep the work moving without making it feel heavy
Vital Advisors don’t deliver a one-size-fits-all program. They co-create solutions with your team, grounded in the realities of your district and schools.
How does Vital Network support school administrators and leadership development?
Vital supports both educators and school leaders because leadership stability is tightly linked to teacher retention.
Research shows school leadership significantly impacts teacher retention, and supportive administration is one of the top factors influencing teachers’ decisions to stay.
Vital supports administrators by:
Elevating leader voice and identifying pain points (including through leader-focused surveys in some districts)
Coaching leaders on practices that improve working conditions and staff experience
Helping district and school leaders build better structures for collaboration and decision-making
Strengthening alignment between central office and school-level teams
Building networks of leaders who can share real strategies and learn from one another
When principals and assistant principals feel supported and effective, they’re more likely to stay, and teachers benefit too.
Is Vital Network’s approach customized for local context or one-size-fits-all?
Vital’s approach is customized. Every district and school has a unique culture, constraints, and strengths. Vital Advisors take time to understand your context and help you choose priorities and strategies that fit.
The process is consistent (survey, reflection, planning, action, iteration), but the focus areas and solutions are local. A rural district with a few schools will not implement Vital the same way as a large district with dozens of schools.
The work is designed to be responsive. If something isn’t working, you adjust. That’s the point.
What results have schools seen with Vital Network?
Schools and districts have reported outcomes like:
Improved morale and well-being
Stronger staff voice and trust
Better alignment between district leadership and schools
Practical improvements to day-to-day operations (especially meeting structures, workload management, and communication)
Stronger collaboration between educators and administrators
Early indicators of improved retention and stability
District leaders have described Vital as a true partner in the work, noting that the process is focused on positivity, forward momentum, and local context.
How much does Vital Network cost, and what is the return on investment?
Pricing varies based on scope, number of schools, and level of support. Many districts start with a pilot and then scale. Some partnerships are supported through grants or statewide funding.
The return on investment is tied to the high cost of turnover. Replacing a teacher can cost roughly $9,000 to $25,000 depending on the district context. If Vital helps retain even a small number of educators, districts can often offset the cost through avoided turnover expenses alone.
ROI also includes:
Reduced disruption to student learning
Stronger staff continuity and collaboration
Better recruitment outcomes due to a healthier culture
Less time spent in constant hiring cycles
Greater capacity to implement other strategic initiatives because the workforce is more stable
What makes Vital Network different from other programs or survey tools?
Vital is different because it combines:
A research-based survey tool
A structured improvement process
A dedicated Vital Advisor who walks alongside you
A focus on working conditions, not surface-level morale boosts
A strengths-based approach that builds hope while staying realistic
Practical, locally designed solutions rather than one-size-fits-all prescriptions
A network of schools and districts learning together
Vital is not “just a survey.” The transformation comes from what you do with the data, together, over time.