An estimated 17% to 30% of new teachers in the U.S. leave the profession within their first 5 years of teaching. Some challenges that prompt new teachers to leave the field include stress, lack of appropriate support, and feeling unprepared to handle behavioral and academic issues among their students. Research supports the finding that teachers…

Data about the teaching profession in Indiana make clear the potential for a full-blown public crisis unless policymakers take decisive action this year. Indiana teacher pay dropped 15 percent between 2000 and 2017 when adjusted for inflation, moving from $59,986 to $50,554--and Indiana teachers earn 17 percent less than college graduates in other…

Teachers' shortage in the field of K-12 teaching in general and health subjects teaching in particular is one of the most significant challenges in both developed and developing countries, particularly in rural school districts and communities. Leaders at rural school districts strive to establish connections and plans to recruit experienced…

Career Technical Education (CTE) teacher recruitment is a challenge that has dogged state CTE leaders for decades. According to a recent survey of State CTE Directors, 98 percent said that increasing access to industry experts is a high priority in their state. And 20.4 percent of rural districts with CTE teacher vacancies report that CTE…

The Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA) provided states with newfound flexibility on accountability measures and school improvement strategies. Many policy experts have analyzed states' ESSA plans, which explain how states use their federal funds under various provisions of the new law, as well as the approaches states take to identify and rate…

Nobody goes into teaching to get rich, but that's no excuse not to pay teachers as professionals. Compensation is one of the most important factors in determining who enters the teaching profession and how long they stay--yet 90 percent of all U.S. school districts pay teachers without any regard for their actual performance with students,…

Created by the U.S. Congress in 2006, the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) represents the first federal initiative targeted directly at state and district efforts to introduce performance measures into educator compensation. TIF responds to a growing body of evidence that existing pay structures do not respond to labor force realities or adequately…

This paper explores the problems of recruiting the most qualified individuals to the teaching profession. Part 1 discusses the premise that supply and demand in teacher education are subject to the market forces that influence career choices in other fields. An analysis is given of how those fluctuations operate to reduce the intellectual quality…