The United States no longer has the best educated workforce in the world. To maintain its current standard of living and successfully compete in the global economy, the country needs to overhaul an antiquated education system that is not geared to produce the graduates it needs. In a new report, Tough Choices or Tough Times, the New Commission on…

This article focuses on the challenge of teacher retention in rural schools in relation to the No Child Left Behind mandate, that school districts must attract and retain highly qualified teachers. This case study examines the extent to which a rural school enhanced teacher retention by overcoming the barriers that might otherwise have presented a…

This document, a companion report to a detailed investigation into school districts' teacher selection processes, presents detailed case studies conducted in six different school districts: (1) Mesa Unified School District (Arizona); (2) Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland); (3) East Williston Union Free School District (New York); (4)…

An exploratory sociological analysis was made of the role adaptations of public junior college teachers. Teachers from two Missouri unified public school system junior colleges were interviewed personally and by mail; information was also gathered from observation, informants, and relevant documents. Both colleges recruited their faculty largely…

Advocates establishment of training programs for substitute teachers in the local school districts, along with active recruiting of substitutes. Emphasizes that substitutes' salaries must improve and that the regular teacher should provide adequate information about school policies and procedures, as well as complete class lesson plans that any…

Many big-city school systems nationwide are modernizing, expediting, and decentralizing the ways in which teachers are recruited, hired, and placed in schools, as well as offering a range of new incentives to attract and retain teachers. Districts are rapidly adopting new employment processing technologies, notably automated applicant-tracking…

Describes how the combination of tax-deferred savings and tax-deferred retirement programs provided for in the Economic, Growth and Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act of 2001 can be used by school districts to attract and retain quality teachers. (PKP)

The recruitment and retainment of new and veteran teachers in schools that experience high poverty and low performance is a constant challenge in US school districts. How a new set of initiatives launched by the School District of Philadelphia resulted in a significant drop in its new teacher attrition rate is examined.

The U.S. Department of Education's "1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey" indicated that teacher shortages are 50 percent higher in urban schools than in suburban schools. Almost a third of the teachers leave the profession during the first three years and nearly half leave after five years. In schools serving low-income communities,…

When this research report was first conceived, the current economic crisis was only just on the verge of revealing its full extent. Economic crisis or no economic crisis, over the years funding for PK-12 education has been a constant struggle. While all schools continue to face difficulties, for various reasons rural schools have different and…

Prior research has suggested that solutions to teacher labor market problems must take into account the importance of local context and indigenous labor market forces. With this in mind, three rural school systems in north Louisiana collaborated with the Louisiana Center for Rural or Small Schools (LaCROSS) to develop teacher recruitment…

Each year, the School District of Philadelphia hires a large number of new teachers. Philadelphia needs these new teachers not because enrollment is increasing--in fact, enrollment in the public schools has been decreasing over the past few years as a result of a declining birth rate and the growth of charter schools--but because a substantial…

This report presents challenges of and strategies for implementing reform in middle-grades schools, highlighting the perspectives of district administrators who participated in the Urban Middle-Grades Reform Network. The first section reviews literature on district support of school reform, including research on limitations of district-led reform,…

Describes challenges rural school districts meet in recruiting young, talented teachers, particularly those facing tough new federal standards for hiring teachers in Title I schools. Describes how some school districts are meeting the challenge through emphasizing the benefits of rural schools, identifying and assisting high school students with…

A survey of 115 rural Pennsylvania principals examined the effectiveness of various recruitment sources for teachers. Substitute teacher lists were the most often used recruiting source. Problems in recruiting for "hard to fill" positions and the effectiveness of various methods for recruiting minorities are discussed. (LP)