The increased privatisation of educational systems is a global trend with several important implications for teachers' preparation and workforce outcomes. With many countries facing teacher shortages, retention for novice teachers is a key area of focus for educational leaders and policymakers -- yet there is a lack of evidence related to the…

A School District Principal Preparation Partnership Program is designed to establish collaboration between a University and school districts that employ the school leaders graduated by the university. This collaboration improves school principal preparation by integrating relevant school district policies, practices, knowledge, and skills into a…

Researchers use data from the RAND American Mathematics Educator Study surveys of public school principals and teachers to investigate three school structures--referred to as "school opportunity structures" throughout this report--that may affect kindergarten through 8th grade (K-8) students' mathematics learning. These structures are…

Little is known about differences between traditional, university-based certification programs and alternative certification programs in terms of outcomes for students and teachers. Across all preparation pathways, however, too many early career teachers leave the field (over 40% within first five years). This attrition problem is likely to grow…

This study contributes to the literature on first year teachers by identifying complexities and struggles of becoming a teacher and the implications of district-university partnerships to strengthen our educator preparation program. The importance of partnerships with stakeholders, memorandum of agreements to share data, observations of first year…

The purpose of the current study was to examine barriers, if any, reported by special education directors to providing extended school year (ESY) services. Results indicate four barriers to providing ESY services listed in order of importance by special education directors: difficulty in finding qualified personnel to work over the summer,…

The authors drew upon state policy documents and other public sources to review licensure requirements for charter school principals. The results indicate that few states have adopted licensure requirements for charter school principals compared with traditional public school principals, and many exempt charter school principals from licensure…

Policymakers and professional educators attempt to be good stewards of public funds while simultaneously raising expectations for student outcomes that reflect academic excellence in the public school system. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of Texas public school districts and the factors influencing the inefficiency of…

Frequent leadership changes have the potential to disrupt the continuity of education for students in the school district. As these high level administrators move to other positions or retire, with them goes a wealth of understanding and expertise, hence, the need for increased emphasis placed on the most appropriate choice of an interim…

Due to the lack of qualified agricultural education teachers needed to fill yearly vacancies on the secondary school level, educators at Texas Tech University conducted a longitudinal study concerning how student teachers spend their time during their student teaching experience in an attempt to identify if this time spent has an impact on the…

Meeting the demands of a proficient scientific workforce depends on students' communication skill preparation. To describe students' self-perceptions of their communication skills, we surveyed 315 students in Texas A&M University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Participants noted they were most proficient in their ability to listen…

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the highest unemployment that the U.S. has seen since the Great Depression, with particularly heavy job losses for Black, Hispanic, and Native American workers. In this set of studies commissioned by Lumina Foundation, the authors examine actions that states and community colleges can take to address the needs of…

This descriptive study investigated the challenges related to implementing gifted education services in preschool centers. Participants were 254 licensed preschool center directors in a southern state. Participants completed a researcher-created survey including both selected response items and constructed response items to examine the perceived…

Persistent and consistent criticism of our nation's educational system has increased pressure on school districts and teacher education programs to improve the quality of teachers in our public schools. While there is research regarding the characteristics of effective teachers, the difficulty is often in identifying and hiring those teacher…

This quantitative study utilized Richard H. Hall's attitudinal attributes of a professional using a Likert scale. The survey was administered to officers in two similar mid-sized police departments. The first agency had 650 officers, while the second had 350 officers. Agency One requires all applicants to possess a bachelor's degree, while Agency…