While the majority of U.S students are children of color, only 20% of teachers are people of color. What's more, 40% of the nation's public schools do not have a single teacher of color on record. Research shows that all students, regardless of race or ethnicity, benefit socially, emotionally, and academically from a diverse teacher workforce.…

School districts across the country are experiencing high rates of attrition which are causing significant challenges. A growing list of demands and responsibilities, along with the lack of administrator support is often cited as the primary reason of departure by early career educators. This qualitative study researched the expectations of high…

California Bay Area school districts are experiencing a teacher shortage that threatens to further widen the opportunity gap for schools with the neediest student populations. Financial incentives, administrator support levels, appropriate and consistent professional development, and mentoring are often cited as areas that cause teachers to leave…

This qualitative study seeks to explore teacher and administrator perceptions of teacher recruitment, retention and support within a Californian turnaround high school run since 2007 by a charter management organization referred to here as New Schools. Upon the basis of previous research that has documented statistically significant improvements…

California will need a stable, high-quality teacher workforce to weather the COVID-19 crisis and support student learning in the coming years. However, persistent and worsening teacher shortages threaten the state's ability to meet that need. Teacher shortages, which are often most acute in high-need fields and high-need schools, more severely…

Teaching is a difficult profession in ideal circumstances. The job requires immense talent and training when students have the overwhelming challenges associated with poverty. Teachers will succeed only if they are given excellent preparation and valuable fieldwork experience with effective teachers. School boards and leaders can and must insist…

The United States is facing a bilingual teacher shortage, a fact that is particularly troubling as the emergent bilingual population continues to grow nationwide. Prior research suggests that the shortage of bilingual teachers may affect the quality of instruction emergent bilinguals receive, yet little is known about the potential effects of this…

Students who are newcomers to the United States -- as English Learners (ELs) -- face barriers to learning, and their academic success often lags behind their native-English-speaking peers. Notably, there is paucity in the literature about Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) high school student newcomers' academic challenges as ELs and the…

The purpose of this report is to describe what the authors learned from studying eight teacher career advancement initiatives implemented across a variety of contexts, including urban, suburban, and rural districts; high poverty and affluent districts; and in schools/districts both with and without strong union presence. They describe key…

California's education system--the largest in the United States--is an essential resource for ensuring strong economic growth in the state. The Career Technical Education Pathways Initiative (the Initiative) became law in 2005 with Senate Bills 70 and 1133 and provided more than $380 million over eight years to improve career technical education…

In October 2010, the University of Southern California School of Social Work entered the online education environment with the launch of the first national web-based MSW program. After an initial enrollment of 80 students, in just 3 years this state-of-the-art MSW, offered in a technology-advanced synchronous and asynchronous format, has generated…

This study describes how staff qualifications, decisions on staffing procedures, and professional development opportunities support the recruitment and retention of quality staff members. Four high-functioning programs were identified. Qualitative procedures and instruments were designed to capture staff and parents' academic perspectives about…

Building a stronger teacher workforce requires the thoughtful orchestration of multiple processes working together in a human capital system. This white paper presents a framework that can be used to take stock of current efforts to enhance the teacher workforce in school districts or educational organizations, as well as their underlying theories…

Public school leaders throughout the United States are approaching consensus about what it takes to educate all students well: more class time, smaller schools, a college preparatory curriculum, instructional coaching for teachers, and utilization of data to understand student needs. Yet results on the ground vary dramatically and remain, in large…

In September 1998, the California State Legislature passed SB 2042, legislation that authorized the reform of teacher recruitment, certification, and licensing in the state. Its provisions are unique in that they represent the first time in California's history that almost all of the standards dealing with teacher preparation and induction were…