Strategies for teacher retention are presented, including successful approaches and elements for operating a state system for personnel recruitment and retention in special education. Such initiatives as the Utah Mentor Teacher Academy; the Texas Teacher Recruitment, Retention and Assistance Program; and the Kansas Recruitment/Retention Project…

Findings of a study that determined factors of beginning teachers' work and career choice commitment and retention are presented in this paper. The data consisted of a nationally representative sample of first-year K-12 public and private, full- and part-time teachers derived from the 1987-88 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). The final subsample…

This report describes a project which examined special education teacher stress and burnout during the trainee (N=358) and inexperienced teacher (N=357) periods. The project's two goals were: (1) documentation of the relationships among teacher background, preparation, organizational variables, and occupational stress and burnout variables through…

This report, one of a series of evaluation reports on the New York State Mentor Teacher-Internship Program, follows the experiences of intern teachers from the first year of the Program, 1986-87, and the second year, 1987-88. Follow-up questionnaires administered to the program interns focused on: (1) their overviews of the experience of being an…

An induction system for beginning teachers should provide continued support in the instructional area and also induct the newcomer into the general operational and social milieu of the individual school. The following areas of concern in the process of teacher orientation are discussed: (1) What information is provided regarding the decision…

This study examines the career plans and experiences of newly certified teachers and teachers with one to five years of teaching experience in the Illinois public schools. During Fall 2001, the three groups reported here were surveyed via telephone about their employment experiences, their intended career plans, the reasons behind the decisions of…

This study, commissioned by The Abell Foundation, analyzes new teachers hired by the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) over the past several years. In particular, the study compares different categories of new teachers: those with full professional certification, teachers in alternative certification programs (Teach for America, the…

Through an exchange of letters, a veteran public school teacher advises a doubting beginning teacher (her former student) to remain in the classroom. The letters reveal both women's innermost thoughts about the difficult, demanding, and rewarding profession of teaching. (SM)

An elementary teacher education program was established in southeastern British Columbia (Canada) to meet staffing needs in six rural school districts by establishing a pool of teachers likely to remain in the area. A 5-year study of the first cohort of 22 teachers found that 20 held teaching jobs and 17 were still living in the area. (TD)

A longitudinal study of 117 teachers from the beginning of their preservice education through their fifth year of teaching found that attitude toward teaching as a career remained constant during teacher preparation but was less positive after five years of teaching. This attitude was related to 6 of 15 academic and personal characteristics…

States that music teachers are influential in encouraging others to become music teachers. Lists the benefits of a career in music education, characteristics that will help identify promising students, what a teacher can do to encourage students to consider a career in music education, and how to offer support to new teachers. (CMK)

Beginning teachers do not enter the classroom as finished products. Many school administrators say that new teachers are often exuberant and optimistic but ill-equipped for the classroom. There are some administrators who are openly exasperated with the low quality of teacher applicants who are available. A personnel director, after interviewing…

Retention of a competent teaching force is a growing concern among the nation's educators and policy makers. Providing new teachers with quality induction programs may mitigate significant teacher attrition and teacher staffing issues now facing many school districts in the United States. This article reports positive results in the long-term…

While many areas in education are experiencing teacher shortages, the retention of special education teachers in particular is a critical concern in many schools across the nation. Even prior to the developing national teacher shortage, educators were voicing concerns about higher burnout and/or teacher attrition rates in special education as…

Over the past decade, the high number of teachers leaving the profession has been a growing concern among parents, teacher educators, administrators, and policy-makers. While most argue the problem is due to a burgeoning demand and increased numbers of retirements, some researchers propose that the problem of teacher shortages is far more complex.…