Across the United States, the effort to ensure that students are able to meet national and state standards is being seriously undermined by three factors in particular: failure to attract, cultivate, and retain our newest teachers (South Carolina Induction and Mentoring Program Guidelines, 2006). This study is an assessment of the conditions in a…

Unfilled teaching positions are rising in South Carolina, increasing year over year. To combat this problem of practice, I conducted an improvement science study to understand factors that impact teacher satisfaction levels aimed to raise teacher retention rates. The study aimed to allow teachers to identify areas that school administrators can…

The goal of Smithsonian Science for North and South Carolina Classrooms was to provide teachers with ongoing, differentiated professional development and research-based curricular materials to improve elementary student achievement in science, mathematics, and reading. This work used an inquiry-based science curriculum, Smithsonian Science for the…

This study served two primary purposes: (a) to explore students' perceptions regarding the utilization of technology in their classroom-based instruction, and (b) to provide an overview of the current use of technology in classrooms that encompasses all high school students. The significance of the study was to contribute to the body of research…

In this study, we examine teachers' perceptions concerning the relative importance of different administrative supports for teacher retention across school levels (i.e., middle and high schools), retention status (i.e., low or high), and locale (i.e., rural and urban). Results from our Best--Worst Scaling analyses, with a sample of 178 South…

The purpose of this qualitative, embedded single case study was to identify successful implementation and instructional strategies for one-to-one technologies, beyond the iPad, for teachers at a large, rural, midlands, South Carolina high school. The specific focus of this study was the perception of teachers integrating emerging one-to-one…

This research study explored regular veteran and non-veteran regular teachers' evaluation of perceived competence to teach in an inclusive classroom setting in a rural South Carolina School District. This research study examined six factors related to elementary teachers: teachers' teaching backgrounds, planning for inclusive practices, support…

The problem addressed in this study was kindergarteners in public, rural schools struggle with phonemic awareness, causing their reading development to be delayed. The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry study was to explore through the stories of kindergarten teachers whether students from a public, rural setting struggled with a lack…

The present study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on middle level females enrolled in algebra in face-to-face instruction or virtual instruction during the 2020-2021 school year. The study analyzed the data from the required summative assessment for algebra students mandated by South Carolina Department of Education. Districts had flexibility…

A rural lower socioeconomic school district in South Carolina was the focal area for this research study. Data was disaggregated by using the Title I elementary schools' SC assessments and data collected from the participants. The data analysis attempted to determine the leadership behaviors used by principals based on the overall perceptions of…

This study aimed to determine whether a correlation exists, either positive or negative, between the concentration of Exemplary followers in a K-12 school with perceived school morale levels and teacher retention. Past research determined the connection between morale and retention. Robert Kelley's research on follower types highlights the…

This study explored the experiences of five Latinx Spanish teachers who worked in schools in rural North Carolina and South Carolina. Using data from 25 semistructured interviews and publicly available school/community demographic information, this qualitative multiple-case study sought to answer the following questions: (a) How do Latinx Spanish…

With more than two decades of on-the-ground experience impacting 300,000 educators and 3 million students, NIET's success is grounded in research. The success of NIET's work is evident in the positive findings from evaluations of impact. In NIET's 2022-23 Research Summary, we summarize findings from five new studies and highlight selected findings…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to develop a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of novice teachers who remain teaching in high-poverty, high-minority rural schools in South Carolina in relation to the administrative support they received. The research questions guiding this study are: (1) How do novice…

Administrative support has been frequently identified as the most important factor influencing teachers' employment decisions (Burkhauser, 2017; Ladd, 2011). While many rural schools operate in hard-to-staff contexts that suffer from severe teacher shortages, it is unknown if rural teachers require rural context specific administrative support.…