Resources

We translate research on educator recruitment, retention, and effectiveness into concise briefs to inform policy decisions.

Recruitment, Retention K-12 Education

The Effects of the Four-Day School Week on Teacher Recruitment and Retention

School districts across the United States are increasingly adopting the four-day school week, often in the hope of addressing teacher staffing challenges. We examine the effects of the four-day week on teacher recruitment and retention in Missouri, where 3 in 10 districts currently use it. After presenting qualitative data showing that educators believe the four-day week improves recruitment and retention, we estimate the effects of the four-day week on these outcomes using difference-in-differences models. We find no evidence that the four-day school week improves teacher retention or that districts expand their workforce post adoption, though the composition of new hires shifts toward more experienced teachers. We show that our findings are unlikely to be driven by saturation effects.

Recruitment, Effectiveness K-12 Education

The supply and quality of STEM teachers

The future of the STEM workforce rests partly on the strength of the STEM teacher workforce to teach and nurture new generations of STEM graduates. However, the STEM teacher workforce is facing critical decline with the annual production dropping from about 31,000 a decade ago to around 20,000 in the last few years. This is concerning given the need for more STEM teachers to meet rising demands. Although production is decreasing, there are improvements in the diversity and qualifications of STEM teachers, including more female teachers and those with higher degrees in STEM fields. Investments in teacher salaries and financial support for STEM education can help address the shortage and improve the future STEM teacher workforce and STEM workforce.

Recruitment, Retention K-12 Education

STEM teacher characteristics and mobility: Longitudinal evidence from the American Midwest

This study examines the demographics, qualifications, and turnover of STEM teachers in Kansas and Missouri—two contiguous, predominantly rural states in the Midwestern region of the United States. The existing literature lacks detailed insights regarding U.S. STEM teachers, especially with recent economic and social changes over the COVID-19 pandemic, and there is particularly limited evidence regarding STEM teachers in the U.S. Midwest. Utilizing large-scale administrative longitudinal data, we filled part of this gap by documenting the characteristics and turnover patterns of STEM teachers in Kansas and Missouri over a 13-year period, from 2010 through 2023. Our analysis shows declining trends among young and early-career STEM teachers, STEM certification, and rising STEM teacher turnover, especially post-COVID-19. We found particularly high turnover rates in urban schools and schools with the highest shares of students of color and poverty. We also found numerous factors of STEM teacher turnover, including salary and employment in schools serving high percentages of minoritized and low-income students, as well as differential turnover patterns among school geographical circumstances. This work is the first comprehensive examination of STEM teachers in Kansas and Missouri. We offer insights into the teacher workforce of the traditionally overlooked U.S. Midwest. Our results suggest important policy implications for sustaining a diverse and qualified STEM teacher workforce in the U.S. amid post-COVID-19 social changes, thereby informing decision making at state and national levels that aim to foster equitable access to high-quality STEM education among students in diverse contexts, while contributing to the U.S.'s long-term economic growth, sustainability, and the world's advancement of STEM education.

Recruitment K-12 Education

Examining the Supply of New Special Educators: Variations by Institutional Characteristics and For-Profit Status

U.S. schools have long experienced shortages of special education teachers (SETs), challenging the nation’s capacity to ensure qualified SETs for students eligible for special education services. Addressing SET shortages requires preparation programs to supply sufficient numbers of new SETs to meet demand, yet prior research provides few insights into trends in the supply of new SETs. Thus, we examined how the supply of new SETs changed over time in relation to the characteristics of teacher preparation programs. We find a decreasing supply of new SETs nationally, primarily driven by a reduced supply of new SETs from small colleges. Results suggest the current SET shortage may be connected, in previously undocumented ways, to the broader decline of small- and mid-sized colleges. Finally, findings indicate the nation may be far more dependent on for-profit institutions for supplying new SETs, which has implications for the production of SETs by alternative certification and traditional teacher preparation programs.

Recruitment, Retention K-12 Education

Ethnoracial Diversity of the Special Educator Workforce Over Time

Teachers of color are critical for improving students’ educational experiences and outcomes, especially for students of color. Yet, more than 80% of special education teachers (SETs) in U.S. public schools are white. Thus, we examined how the ethnoracial diversity of the SET workforce changed over time, from 2012–2021, in relation to the increasingly ethnoracially diverse population of students with disabilities. Analyzing multiple waves of several nationally representative datasets, we found that any growth in the number of SETs of color nationally is wholly insufficient to keep pace with growth in the population of students of color with disabilities. With growing ethnoracial disparities between the SET workforce and the population of students with disabilities, race-evasive recruitment and retention initiatives are not justifiable. Instead, coordinated, race-conscious policies and practices are needed across policy, teacher education, and in-service school districts, to foster a SET workforce that is representative of the student population.

Recruitment, Retention K-12 Education

Recruiting and Retaining Teachers in Rural Schools: A Systematic Review of the Literature

In this article, we conduct a systematic review of the literature completed over the past 4 decades pertaining to teacher recruitment, retention, and resultant teacher shortages. We focus on research that examines rural settings, per the National Rural Education Association’s identification of the recruitment and retention of teachers in rural schools as a primary research priority. Evidence distilled in this systematic review shows that though this area of scholarship has expanded in recent years, there remains a paucity of policy and program evaluations focused on rural settings, a stark contrast to the depth of urban-focused and location-agnostic scholarship. While research on other geographic settings may provide some level of relevance for rural settings, evidence pertaining to rural schools, particularly that focused on heterogeneous rural contexts, likely would inform rural policy and practice more effectively. We summarize the existing body of research and conclude by considering possibilities for future avenues of actionable scholarship.

Recruitment, Effectiveness K-12 Education

Disparities in Access to Well-Qualified, Well-Supported Special Educators Across Higher- Versus Lower-Poverty Schools Over Time

Scholars have documented long-standing disparities in access to well-qualified, well-supported teachers, including disparities in access to special education teachers (SETs), based on student socioeconomic status. In response, policy initiatives have aimed to incentivize teaching in higher-poverty schools. Thus, we examined changes over time in disparities between SETs’ demands and resources (including internal resources, such as qualifications, and school-based resources, such as adequate materials), using multiple waves of the nationally representative Schools and Staffing Survey. We found that, by one metric, disparities in certification have closed since 2000. However, SETs in higher poverty schools are significantly more likely to work in self-contained settings than those in lower-poverty schools, and disparities in school-based resources continue to be significant, such that SETs in higher-poverty schools were significantly more likely to teach in self-contained classes, rated teacher cooperation significantly lower, and reported having significantly weaker access to material resources.

Recruitment K-12 Education

How Do Teachers From Alternative Pathways Contribute to the Teaching Workforce in Urban Areas? Evidence From Kansas City

We examine how teachers from two alternative preparation programs—Teach for America (TFA) and Kansas City Teacher Residency (KCTR)—contribute to the teacher labor market in and around Kansas City, Missouri. TFA and KCTR teachers are more likely than other teachers to work in charter schools and, more broadly, in schools with more low-income, low-performing, and underrepresented minority (Black and Hispanic) students. Teachers from both programs are more racially/ethnically diverse than the larger local-area teaching workforce, but only KCTR teachers are more diverse than other teachers in the same districts where they work. We estimate value added to achievement for teachers in both programs compared with nonprogram teachers, with the caveat that our KCTR sample for this analysis is small. In math, we find large positive impacts of TFA and KCTR teachers on test score growth; in English language arts also, we estimate positive impacts, but they are smaller.

Recruitment, Retention K-12 Education

Greener than ever? A look at the newest teachers in our public schools

First-year teachers make up a large and growing share of the teaching force. What does the research tell us about their characteristics and professional needs?

Recruitment, Retention K-12 Education

Teacher Attrition and Retention in Kansas: A Case Study of Geographically Rural States with Persistent Teacher Shortages

Teacher attrition is a key contributor to teacher shortages in many states, particularly those with large geographically rural areas. Using seven waves of the School and Staffing Survey and Kansas as a case study, this study examines the teacher labor force from 1988 to 2012. Moreover, the study describes the teacher mobility patterns for Kansas from 2000 to 2012 and compares them against the national average, the Midwest states, and the Great Plains states. Furthermore, it examines whether younger teachers, teachers with graduate degrees, and STEM and special education teachers in Kansas are more or less likely to turn over. Lastly, the study examines how certain teacher and school characteristics are associated with teacher attrition for Kansas as a whole and for rural schools in particular. Implications for research and policy are discussed.

Recruitment, Retention K-12 Education

Recent Trends in the Characteristics of New Teachers, the Schools in Which They Teach, and Their Turnover Rates

Background: Over the past couple of decades, new teachers have become a pronounced focus of policy makers. This attention is a result of demographic shifts in the teacher labor market, increased attention to the quality of teachers assigned to historically underserved student populations, and high rates of new teacher turnover. Purpose: Our goal is to understand how the characteristics of new teachers and the schools in which they teach have changed over time, including changes in the characteristics of teachers in schools that enroll a majority of economically disadvantaged and minority students. We examine how these broad changes relate to new teacher turnover, as well as the induction supports that may improve retention. Research Design: We draw on nationally representative data from all seven waves of the Schools and Staffing Survey from the 1987–1988 to 2011–2012 school years to better understand the extent to which the characteristics of beginning teachers, the schools in which they teach, and their turnover rates have changed over time. We draw on data regarding teachers’ demographic characteristics, education and credentials, and school characteristics and working conditions, and turnover. Data Analysis: We first describe how characteristics of new teachers and the schools in which they teach have changed. We then examine how these characteristics vary systematically across schools that enroll a majority of students who identify as racial/ethnic minorities and schools with fewer racial/ethnic minorities. We examine the extent to which new teachers are more likely than more experienced teachers to turn over from underserved schools and how organizational supports such as administrative support and induction programs predict lower rates of turnover. Findings: Beginning teachers are now more likely to be certified, to have earned a graduate degree, and to have graduated from a selective college. They are also much more likely to begin their careers in schools that enroll more racially diverse students than in previous decades. Teachers are more likely to turn over from schools where the majority of students identify as racial/ethnic minorities, although the presence of supportive colleagues and administrators and induction supports are associated with lower turnover rates. Conclusions: That the majority of new teachers now begin their careers in schools serving a majority of economically disadvantaged and minority students has implications for the preparation and induction of new teachers. Our results point to the continued importance of the provision of supports that integrate teachers into the social and professional culture of a school.

Recruitment, Retention K-12 Education

Examining the Teacher Labor Market in Different Rural Contexts: Variations by Urbanicity and Rural States

Using repeated cross-sectional nationally representative data, we demonstrate how the teacher labor markets for rural contexts are different from those in urban-suburban areas. We also show that teacher attrition is not uniform across various rural settings. In particular, novice teachers in rural schools in sparsely populated states are more likely to turn over than novice teachers in urban-suburban schools in sparsely populated states. We also examine how teacher and school characteristics are associated with turnover in different rural contexts. The findings indicate there should be a concerted effort to examine teacher attrition in various rural contexts and not simply as delineation from urban-suburban areas.

Recruitment, Retention, Effectiveness K-12 Education

Changes in the demographics, qualifications, and turnover of American STEM teachers, 1988–2012

Qualified science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers are critical in the provision of high-quality STEM education for all students. Through descriptive and regression analysis, we document how demographic characteristics, qualifications, and turnover rates of a nationally representative sample of public school STEM teachers have changed from 1988 to 2012. Over this time period, STEM teachers are more likely to be female, attend selective colleges, have graduate degrees, and have STEM qualifications. Although STEM teachers are no more likely to turn over than other teachers, this masks differential rates between high- and low-poverty schools. Moreover, our results highlight the importance of recruiting qualified STEM teachers to work in high-poverty schools and providing supports to help them thrive and remain in the classroom.

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