Teacher recruitment and retention in the United States has been deemed an issue across all disciplines and grade-levels. School-based agricultural education (SBAE) is no exception to this issue, where for decades a national shortage of qualified agriculture teachers has persisted. According to the 2021 Illinois Agricultural Education Annual…

The purpose of this study was to understand undergraduate students' perceptions of the teaching profession and how these perceptions influence their decision to enter, or not, the teaching profession in the state of Illinois. The Illinois Association of Regional Superintendent of Schools (2023) survey reported 79% of schools say they have a…

Region 9 Comprehensive Center (R9CC) and Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) collaboratively collected and analyzed teacher workforce data to identify barriers for recruiting and retaining an effective and diverse teacher workforce. R9CC and ISBE used the Teacher Shortage Tool from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders to identify equity…

This qualitative case study explores the motivating factors that influence CTE pathway selection for African American men students and will investigate the interplay between two components of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), self-efficacy and outcome expectations, and their role in the career decision-making process. Drawing upon SCCT, this…

Approximately half of a million educators move or leave the profession each year with an estimated 41% of all educators exiting within the first five years. Additionally, agriculture teacher preparation programs are not producing enough graduates to meet current demands with 1,476 agricultural teacher vacancies existing in 2016 and only 772…

Forty years ago, Alan Peshkin began his study of fundamental independent Baptist Christian schools. With time, further insight can be gained on the outcomes of the students from these schools. Despite possessing employer-desired character traits, fundamental Christian school students were expected to earn few academic or career achievements. The…

The shortage of teachers in Illinois is reflective of a recent trend where agricultural education graduates of in-state post-secondary institutions have not met the need for the number of available teaching positions. The retirement of the many teachers from the Baby Boomer generation is looming over the profession, making recruitment efforts…