Recruiting and retaining qualified, competent teachers is an ongoing problem for small school administrators. The reasons for high turnover are numerous and complex, e.g., preservice preparation is presently more suitable for large, metropolitan schools than for small, rural schools; career orientations fail to recognize that experience in small…

Addressing the problems of recruiting and retaining qualified teachers for small and rural schools, this digest outlines improvements that could be made by teacher education programs, state education agencies, school superintendents, and teachers themselves. Suggested guidelines for teacher education programs stress nontraditional approaches that…