The use of emergency certification to fill teaching vacancies has increased in many school districts across the United States. Prior research suggests that teachers' underlying motivations for entering the profession are associated with student outcomes, but very little is known about the motivations of emergency certified teachers who enter the…

Completing a college degree is major accomplishment under the best of circumstances. The economic and societal value of a college degree has the potential to produce residual benefits for one of the most vulnerable populations, foster care alumni. A specific group of foster care alumni, those who "age out" of foster care share the same…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to discover reasons Oklahoma T & I teachers choose to remain in teaching; many of whom were described as career switchers. Of particular interest was examining various types of teacher supports and factors, including mentorship that contributed to participants' decisions to remain in the teaching…

A recent survey of 41 different state boards of education revealed that officials from 28 states indicate that they are experiencing teacher shortages. The shortages in some states are significant. While the teacher shortage in many states is tied to different factors, one frequently cited reason for leaving the teaching profession is low pay.…

This study used self-determination theory (SDT) to investigate the motivations for selecting a major among mass communication and media majors at 18 colleges and universities across the United States. Specifically, 669 mass communication majors were queried on their intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for choosing a major, their degree of major…

Agriculture is the nation's largest employer with more than 24 million people working in some phase of the agricultural industry; however, the knowledge and skills needed in today's agricultural industry are lacking. Assuring future generations are agriculturally literate and taught the significance of agriculture is crucial. Systematic delivery…

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe factors that influence senior agricultural education students' choice to become a secondary agricultural education teacher. The study focused on the extent to which students' beliefs and attitude about teaching influenced their intent to select teaching secondary agricultural education as a…

Over the course of the student teaching experience, a student teacher's intention to teach can increase, decrease, or remain the same. The purpose of this study was to explore differences in student teachers that were representative of each category. Teaching intention of 103 student teachers at four universities in 2005-2006 exhibited little…