The severe teacher shortage in Alabama's rural districts negatively impacts student outcome and educational quality. The purpose of this study was to assess the challenges and coping strategies related to recruiting and retaining teachers in rural Alabama schools. The study's theoretical frameworks are Ryan and Deci's intrinsic motivation and…

Salaries are one of the most powerful policy levers states and school districts can use to attract qualified, effective, and diverse teachers. What role do states play in supporting strategic use of salaries? This report examines the state teacher compensation policies that influence districts' potential strategic use of teacher pay. It analyzes…

Many small rural school districts are consistently faced with the challenge of recruiting and retaining teachers (Lowe, 2006). These districts are faced with challenging factors such as low funding and being geographically isolated that influence teachers to leave these areas more often than urban and suburban areas. With Alabama being one of…

To date, 29 public pre-K programs in 23 states and one U.S. territory have established salary or compensation parity policies to address low and disparate levels of workforce compensation in the early care and education (ECE) field (Friedman-Krauss & Kasmin, 2018). These policies aim to raise the pay or compensation of ECE teachers to the…

Most children in the U.S. spend time in some form of early childhood education (ECE) program prior to entering kindergarten. In fact, children spend an average of 25 hours per week in nonparental care, including center-based care and informal family, friend and neighbor care. Children develop a foundation for learning during these early years, so…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the strategies used to recruit and retain teachers in remote rural school districts, from the perspective of the superintendent, the principal, and the teacher. Data was collected from interviews of superintendents, principals, and teachers, conducted in three remote rural school districts in…

This paper presents the Alabama edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's 2008 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook". The 2008 "Yearbook" focuses on how state policies impact the retention of effective new teachers. This policy evaluation is broken down into three areas that encompass 15 goals. Broadly, these goals examine…

For five years running, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has tracked states' teacher policies, preparing a detailed and thorough compendium of teacher policy in the United States on topics related to teacher preparation, licensure, evaluation, career advancement, tenure, compensation, pensions and dismissal. The "2011 State…

With No Child Left Behind's call for highly qualified teachers, the stakes for recruiting and retaining teachers have never been more important. Alabama, like other states, has struggled to develop policies and programs that effectively staff all classrooms with quality educators. The Center for Teaching Quality, with the support of SERVE, has…