Research has shown that while the number of school-age children has steadily increased over time, the number of qualified teachers available to educate them has not matched this need. This topical brief shows the percentage of public schools across the nation with teaching vacancies and summarizes strategies implemented in Region 5 Comprehensive…

Many districts and states have implemented incentives to recruit teachers to low-performing schools, and previous research has found evidence that these incentives are effective at attracting teachers. However, effects on the schools and students these teachers leave behind have not been examined. This study focuses on the spillover effects of…

Research was limited when it came to the perceptions of rural district and school leaders regarding the recruitment and retention of teachers of color. Beginning in 2021 2022, Tennessee's Educator Diversity Policy, 5.700 outlined requirements for local education agencies to submit goals, plans, and strategies to promote the recruitment and…

The shortage of African American faculty employed at higher education institutions is prevalent at two-year community colleges across Tennessee. The problem addressed in this study is the lack of African American faculty employed at Tennessee Board of Regents institutions. This qualitative multiple-case study examined why there is a lack of…

Teachers contribute more to reading and math outcomes than any other factor of schooling. However, teacher shortages are pervasive. How can schools and districts recruit high-quality educators, hold onto to the ones they already have, and reflect the diversity of their students? This infographic highlights innovative models beyond the traditional…

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.…

The Mentors Matter Recruitment initiative leveraged state administrative data to recommend and successfully recruit more instructionally effective and experienced teachers to serve as clinical mentors, which, in turn, increased pre-service teachers' readiness to teach. Prior results, however, focus on self-reported outcomes and stem from a single…

For years, policymakers, districts, and scholars have pushed for the inclusion of more Black male teachers in US public schools; however, their even smaller subset--Black male special education teachers--has been ignored, particularly by scholars. The results of this study provide insight into the recruitment and retention of Black male special…

Purpose: For decades, federal and state agencies have identified teacher shortages in high-needs endorsement areas (HNEAs), including science, mathematics, and special education, as a critical problem. Many states have implemented policies and practices to recruit HNEA teachers, but little is known about how their workforce outcomes compare with…

Purpose: For decades, federal and state agencies have identified teacher shortages in high-needs endorsement areas (HNEAs), including science, mathematics, and special education, as a critical problem. Many states have implemented policies and practices to recruit HNEA teachers, but little is known about how their workforce outcomes compare with…

Tennessee's State Board of Education developed Educator Diversity Policy 5.700 to promote the recruitment and retention of educators from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Accordingly, districts throughout the state develop annual diversity goals that reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of their student population and strategies for…

Across the nation, teacher shortages are receiving broad attention. Teacher turnover can lead to negative outcomes for students through the replacement of effective teachers by inexperienced or unqualified teachers, increases in class sizes, or reductions in course offerings. For educators, frequent turnover upsets collaboration, stability,…

Background/Context: School districts across the United States face persistent difficulties recruiting and retaining teachers (García & Weiss, 2019; Schmitt & deCourcy, 2022). Over the last decade, every state in the south has faced a growing teacher shortage, with some facing shortages in all grades and subjects (U.S. Department of…

This report offers analysis of the University of Tennessee's Diversity Action Plans. Every academic college and every Vice-Chancellor Unit on campus issued plans. True to Chancellor Donde Plowman's vision, these colleges and units propose extensive and ideologically-charged reforms. The National Association of Scholars finds in these plans nothing…

A 2017 report estimates that by 2025, Millennials will dominate the workforce. This shift is affecting the teaching profession, and for Alabama to continually compete on a global scale, the teaching workforce will need to be sustained. Alabama, along with the rest of the nation, is suffering the consequences of a teacher shortage in critical…