Educational reforms have occurred throughout the history of public education. In 2009, the federal Race to the Top initiative was born and included many educational reform models. To have these reform models gain traction at the state level, a call was made by the U.S. Department of Education (Race to the Top Program Executive Summary, 2009) for…

Rural schools in the United States serve more than 9.3 million students (Showalter et al., 2019), often possessing strengths and facing challenges that differ from their metropolitan and suburban counterparts. To attend to the unique context of rural schools and to encourage rural education research in key areas, the National Rural Education…

African American teachers are slowly leaving the classroom, causing an imbalance in the student/teacher ratio (NCES, 2019). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, African American teachers make up 3% in California and 7% nationally. This study sought to understand the reasons for the decline in the number of African American…

The beginning years of a teacher's career can be an overwhelming experience, and combined with being in an isolated, fly-in community, particularly during a pandemic, can be debilitating. This qualitative research is aimed to support and account for the story of a Black Afro-Caribbean, early career teacher (ECT) in a Northern Ontario First Nation…

Tennessee's State Board of Education developed Educator Diversity Policy 5.700 to promote the recruitment and retention of educators from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Accordingly, districts throughout the state develop annual diversity goals that reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of their student population and strategies for…

Teacher shortages in some regions, schools and content areas have caused states to consider fast-tracking teachers into the classroom through avenues that include little or no clinical preparation. Teachers who enter the profession through these pathways are less likely to be prepared, less effective and less likely to remain in the profession…

This book examines the lives and contributions of career change teachers: individuals who have switched careers to become classroom teachers. Their leadership experiences, industry connections, ways of embedding real world applications in classroom teaching practices and diverse skills sets are investigated in the context of their contributions to…

Research shows that a diverse teacher workforce benefits all students -- especially historically underserved students in American education, in particular Black students. With a historic pool of federal education funds now available to help address the effects of the pandemic, school districts and states have a unique window of opportunity to…

The literature on faculty diversity initiatives heavily consists of best practice recommendations that lack empirical support. Consequently, the authors conducted a survey study to better understand the types of faculty diversity initiatives used by colleges of engineering at Research 1 universities, the financial resources that fund them and…

Research often references years of experience specific to participants, yet no compiled report exists for secondary school-based agricultural education (SBAE) to holistically quantify years of teaching experience. In addition, definitions accounting for experience fall short of capturing the myriad ways experience counts in the broader teaching…

There is now a burgeoning of literature that addresses the effects of teacher racial identity on school discipline. Scholars have recently found evidence to support the hypothesis that exposure to Black teachers can significantly reduce suspensions for same-race identity students; this being particularly true for Black students in North Carolina…

After an active election season, State of the State addresses offer time for new and incumbent governors to outline policy priorities and celebrate state accomplishments. Since 2005, we've tracked, analyzed and identified education policy trends in governors' State of the State addresses to help you understand trending education issues across…

The intent of this annual report is to shine light on the Texas Education Agency's commitment to ensuring that every one of the more than five million public school students in Texas is prepared for success in college, a career or the military. The achievements of Texas students are a testament to the hard work of educators across the state. Their…

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented uncertainty both within teacher preparation programs and in schools. While it has exacerbated existing and long-standing inequities in California's educational system, the pandemic also presents an opportunity to innovate teacher education programs and rethink how they prepare and sustain candidates of…

To develop and support an effective, diverse educator workforce, education leaders in California are encouraged to coordinate, or braid, state funds, federal funds, and specialized grants. By braiding funds, education leaders can adapt to the ebb and flow of annual budgets to better meet local needs that can improve outcomes for students. This…