There is a critical, nation-wide teacher shortage. Exacerbating this shortage is declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs that serve as a pipeline to the profession. To help address this shortage, school districts and teacher preparation programs across the country are implementing a variety of strategies to recruit high school…

The path to becoming a school principal is characterized by a variety of trajectories that reflect the diverse experiences and backgrounds of aspiring leaders. While ideally the road to the principalship would result in a proportional and representative body of principals, research has shown this is rarely the case. To gain a better understanding…

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…

Only two percent of teachers in the United States are African American males (Wallace & Gagen, 2019). If this trend continues, the vast majority of students in America will never encounter an African American male teacher (Burns Thomas, 2020). The purpose of this research study was to explore the motivations and obstacles that African American…

This study sought to utilize Six Sigma techniques to guide the design and selection of promotional materials and strategies to attract college students to an undergraduate Supply Chain Management major. Affinity Diagramming was used to collect and summarize students' comments on what factors they considered when selecting a career. Pareto was used…

In Paper #1, I investigate the career exploration processes of 96 recent graduates of elite higher education institutions with varying levels of interest and commitment to teaching. My aim is to understand how intrinsic motivations to teach (positive) and extrinsic concerns about teaching (negative) are developed and interact such that some…

Considering the prevalence of mathematics teacher shortages in the United States, together with declining enrollments in teacher preparation programs, it is crucial for districts and teacher preparation programs alike to investigate new recruitment initiatives. In this pilot study, a university aimed to increase high school students' interest in…

Despite critical shortages of secondary science teachers in urban schools, relatively little research has focused on the recruitment of undergraduate science majors to teach in urban contexts. This study utilized a retrospective narrative inquiry methodology to explore the career pathways of 14 undergraduate science majors into secondary science…

Teacher education programs at small liberal arts colleges and universities are among the most vulnerable to decreased enrollment, yet they are uniquely positioned to provide well-rounded future teachers and educational leaders for a democratic society. To inform recruitment efforts, this study examined students' perceptions of teaching careers and…

Nationally, schools in the United States struggle to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers. Previous research supports using teacher pedagogy training and mentorship to increase retention. This study examines the use of mentorship in a high school Grow Your Own teacher training program and student career selection. The action research study…

There are very few Black male educators who work in the elementary setting. In fact, most Americans will never experience having a Black male as a teacher during those formative years. Existing research around Black male educators heavily revolves around why Black men do not become educators, but there is little research on the motivations for why…

This qualitative descriptive study was designed to answer the following questions: How do infant/toddler teachers (ITTs) enter the infant/toddler workforce? What motivates teachers to work in the infant/toddler workforce? What recruitment strategies are identified by experienced ITTs? What retention strategies are identified by experienced ITTs?…

Teacher recruitment is a pressing need in the United States. Equally important is the recruitment of more racial-minority teachers to help close the teacher-student diversity gap. We surveyed 300 undergraduates at our university regarding their perspectives on teaching careers--what they found attractive and deterring. Results from this survey and…

There has been a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teacher shortage in K-12 schools across the United States (Klassen et al., 2021; Luft et al., 2005). To help provide a possible solution to the nationwide STEM teacher shortage, this study investigated the factors that influence STEM majors to change careers from STEM…

Given the shortage of agriculture teachers across the country, understanding individuals' motivation to pursue a career in teaching agricultural education is critical to developing strategies for teacher recruitment and teacher education. Several studies have investigated factors that motivate preservice and in-service agriculture teachers to…