There is so much work and preparation that goes into being a great teacher. As a principal, you see what your teachers have to offer on a daily basis—from their deep relationships with students and families to their commitments toward improving their practice to the teamwork they demonstrate with their colleagues. Those reasons alone are why the stats about teacher turnover should be so concerning to you. Almost 16% of teachers leave the field each year, with 40%-50% of new teachers abandoning the profession within the first five years.

There’s a lot of great things to be said about true project-based learning. Students learn critical thinking and problem-solving skills. They apply learning to authentic problems and grow their own agency as they become immersed in finding solutions. Entrepreneurial learning, one method of project-based learning, takes this type of critical thinking to a new level—one that applies to careers and the world outside of school.

It is crucial that students today have a solid understanding of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The future of the US economy depends on having workers who can think critically and innovate in order to sustain technological growth and development. It seems clear that most jobs of the future will rely heavily, if not totally, on some aspect of STEM education. According to the U. S. Department of Commerce, STEM occupations are growing at 17%, while other occupations are growing at 9.8%.

Education is quickly moving into the digital realm. There are apps for everything teachers and students need—from lesson planning to flashcards to behavior monitoring. Whole classrooms are getting flipped; lessons are taking place online, while practice and remediation are happening in person. High schools are offering online courses for graduation credit and, once a student graduates, they can earn certain college degrees without ever stepping foot on campus.

As much as you probably love your job in the classroom, there have surely been days when you’ve stayed in bed a few extra minutes and wondered what it would be like to work from home, or more specifically, to teach from home. As the end tech world grows, there are increasing opportunities for online teaching.

An elementary school principal in Phoenix, Arizona asked students the question, “What do principals do?” Answers such as, “loves books,” “plays with kids,” “gets on stage a lot,” and “pays bills so we can stay in school until the 6th grade” were submitted by kindergarteners through fourth graders. It’s fair to say students don’t see everything a principal does during the day, but they certainly have clued in on some of the important aspects of the job.