This digest examines considerations and strategies for selecting and retaining teacher mentors, suggesting that the degree to which mentors are meaningfully engaged in the mentoring process may have a significant impact on a program's success. Strategies for recruiting mentors range from opportunistic appointment to promoting self-nomination to…

This ERIC Digest discusses the shortage of qualified teachers in mathematics classrooms and analyzes programs to enlarge the pool of mathematics teachers. (KHR)

An effective recruiting program is one that locates the best candidate available, makes an acceptable job offer, and retains the new employee for at least eight years. Successful recruiting results from a department chair's commitment to a people-oriented administration. By being aware of the career paths of faculty members, the chair can…

The central issues and processes of recruiting and retaining college faculty are examined in the context of managing human resources and the principles of fair employment. Although attention is focused on the needs of department or division heads, the analysis may be helpful to administrations with responsibility for recruiting faculty. The…

Recruiting and retaining qualified, competent teachers is an ongoing problem for small school administrators. The reasons for high turnover are numerous and complex, e.g., preservice preparation is presently more suitable for large, metropolitan schools than for small, rural schools; career orientations fail to recognize that experience in small…

This digest summarizes the findings of a study commissioned by the Council for Exceptional Children to identify the variables that affect a special education teacher's ability to succeed and desire to continue in the field. Themes that positively influence the conditions teachers work in were identified including a sense of collegiality and…

This digest examines the rural teacher shortage from a policy perspective and suggests strategies to address the problem. The rural teacher recruitment and retention problem varies across states. An adequate number of teachers are trained each year nationwide, but the problem is with distribution. Recent research on rural teacher recruitment and…

This digest examines the spread of mentoring in the United States, obstacles to realizing the potential of mentoring as a vehicle of reform, needed research, and selected issues of policy and practice. While the education community understands that mentors have a positive effect on teacher retention, the question of what mentors should do, what…

School facilities directly affect teaching and learning. Poor conditions make it more difficult for teachers to deliver an adequate education to their students, adversely affect teachers' health, and increase the likelihood that teachers will leave their school. This study documented how teachers in Chicago and Washington, DC rated their working…

Although the number of minority students in U.S. schools continues to increase, the number of ethnically diverse teachers continues to decline. The multicultural classroom creates a demand for teachers who are aware of cultural differences within the student population. Minority teachers are in a unique position to understand these differences and…

During the past decade, there has been a simultaneous decline in the number of African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American teachers and an increase in the number of students among these same groups of minorities (referenced in this text as people of color). An array of topics relative to this decline were explored as the subject of a…

Examination of factors that contribute to a sustained commitment to the teaching profession suggests that motivation is influenced by nationality, socioeconomic background, gender, and point in time. In general, minority teachers come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and have greater access to teaching than to some other professions. Rewards…

This addendum addresses questions of interest to state education policy makers, also elaborating on questions posed in the original work. Issues examined include: the extent to which subject knowledge contributes to teacher effectiveness; the extent to which knowledge of pedagogical theory, learning theory, or child development contribute…

Senior, high quality teachers can be retained in inner city schools despite limited resources and difficult conditions. Compared to teachers in suburban and rural school districts, teachers in urban systems often have lower salaries, work under greater bureaucratic constraints, teach more students per day, and lack basic materials. Good,…

The recruitment, selection, induction, and retention of capable teachers are interrelated processes involving schools' personnel, policies, and organization. This report explores issues surrounding these processes and discusses methods to improve districts' programs. Part I, "Recruiting Teachers," describes the competition for capable…