Parts of California, and the nation, are in the midst of a teacher shortage that adversely affects communities, schools, families, and students, and especially Students and Families of Color (California Department of Education [CDE], 2022b; Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017a, 2017b; Carver-Thomas et al., 2021; Commission on Teacher…

In Paper #1, I investigate the career exploration processes of 96 recent graduates of elite higher education institutions with varying levels of interest and commitment to teaching. My aim is to understand how intrinsic motivations to teach (positive) and extrinsic concerns about teaching (negative) are developed and interact such that some…

Schools in economically marginalized areas often have a disproportionate number of low-performing or ineffective teachers and face challenges in recruiting and retaining highly effective teachers. The grow your own (GYO) model recruits and trains recent high school graduates and school employees who are interested in becoming classroom teachers.…

The Grow Your Own Teacher (GYOT) program addresses the shortage of qualified teachers by recruiting and training community residents to become qualified teachers. These programs look and feel like community-building strategies instead of teacher pipeline strategies. The GYOT initiative is not new, but the mainstream absorption of the GYOT…

The nation is facing a crisis with the current teacher shortage and rapidly decreasing number of individuals choosing teaching as a profession. Texas has the largest public school teacher workforce in the nation. In nearly ten years in Texas, from the 2012-2013 to the 2021-2022 school years, the number of individuals obtaining a degree in…

Career and Technical Education (CTE) aims to prepare students for a career or college. CTE teacher attrition negatively affects students and school districts. CTE teacher attrition also leaves schools with talent gaps concerning educators. Recruitment and induction are two critical points for new teachers, especially CTE educators, who do not…

The teaching profession is in peril. Teacher recruitment and teacher retention are issues that have compounded the teacher shortage crisis, particularly in Black and Latinx communities. Research has demonstrated that there are a plethora of academic and socio-emotional benefits when Black and Latinx teachers are educating Black and Latinx…

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…

Of the roughly 3.5 million public school teachers in the United States, approximately 80% are White. In contrast, about 51.7% of the nation's students are African American, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian. This mismatch is expected to grow as the number of BIPOC students in our nation's public schools continues to increase. Studies have shown…

Public school leaders struggle to find teachers to fill the vacancies in America's classrooms. The teacher shortage crisis is a result of many overlapping causes which include the disparity in resources to attract potential teachers, a declining enrollment in teacher preparatory programs, a lack of teachers certified to teach critical shortage…

This study investigated the mentorship experiences of TK-12 teachers of Color (TOCs) with community college students aspiring to be teachers and how it informed their growth and development into Murrell's (2000) definition of a "community teacher." Through analysis of 15 interviews with teachers of Color involved in the Community…

This action research study examined and suggested strategic programs and practices to recruit more African American public school teachers. Collected interview and focus group data were analyzed using the modified van Kaam method and NVivo 12© software to identify themes regarding programmatic recommendations supporting the recruitment of African…

Teacher recruitment and retention problems hinder large urban school districts from assigning the equitable number of quality teachers, thus further adding to the existing high-caliber teacher shortage at historically underserved schools. In some school districts, policies on seniority and transfer combined with inadequate administrator support,…

This qualitative research study was focused on equitable access that promotes a more balanced distribution of highly effective teachers across school systems, particularly in those settings where there are higher concentrations of underserved student populations. Research has shown the lowest poverty students were twice as likely to have access to…

This report describes strategies that I implemented as an assistant principal at a Technical High School (henceforth referred to as "The Technical High School"), which provides specific vocational/technical training in sixteen different Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs. The problem I addressed was how to successfully…