Aside from poor salaries and fringe benefits, the basic causes of teacher dropout are frustration and lack of status, both of which are greatly dependent on teacher workload. Components of workload are (1) a rigid school day and 35-hour week differing from freer patterns in higher-status occupations; (2) oversize classes which reduce teaching…

Often viewed as a recruitment issue, the teacher shortage is better defined as a retention issue. This three-year study examines teacher retention through a professional learning communities framework. During the first year of data collection, 217 first- and second-year teachers in a small urban school district were surveyed to assess their…

This paper is based on our studies of teacher recruitment and retention. Using official statistics from a variety of secondary sources, it builds on our previous work on the changing demand for teachers by exploring issues of teacher supply in the UK. Our findings suggest there is no overall shortage of applicants to initial teacher education and…

This study offers an interpretive exploration of teachers' perceptions of violence, and its links with their decisions to leave urban schools. The study presents the stories of those who began their career in urban districts and then left within five years. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with twelve former urban educators are the main source…

This report reveals that about 100 Chicago schools suffer from chronically high rates of teacher turnover, losing a quarter or more of their teaching staff every year, and many of these schools serve predominantly low-income African American children. In the typical Chicago elementary school, 51 percent of the teachers working in 2002 had left…

A shortage of quality teachers in high-risk urban schools has compelled school leaders to examine innovative methods of recruiting and retaining new teachers to hard-to-staff campuses. Principals must work aggressively to attract new teachers to their campuses by forming university partnerships for early recruitment, and initiating on the job…

Describes one school district's experiences using an automated substitute teacher calling system, noting that this automated system cannot help with problem of substitute teacher shortage and describing how the district worked to attract and retain high quality substitutes by examining teachers' opinions of ideal substitute teachers…

Qatar has recently faced a tremendous reform in education that requires changes in many domains and causes a lot of challenges. A very serious challenge is teachers' retention where many teachers tend to leave their schools looking for new jobs. In independent schools as well as governmental schools, teachers switch jobs and therefore schools…

Project TRREE is a three-year, federally funded project conducted by the Kentucky Department of Education. The purpose of the project is to develop a systemic approach to increase the number of highly qualified special education teachers with a focus on recruitment of linguistically, culturally and ethnically diverse educators. Taskforce members…

High-stakes testing in New York City (NYC) schools has produced a culture of high-stakes teaching. The latter concept emphasizes both the importance of good teachers to the performance of urban students and the threat to keeping good teachers in NYC schools due to measures such as scripted lessons and mandated curriculum. This essay draws upon…

The 2007 Hawai'i State Legislature passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 56 S.D. 1 "Requesting the Hawaii Educational Policy Center to Report on the Retention and Change in Assignment of Teachers Within the Department of Education." The resolution requested a report on the effectiveness and current status of teacher preparation and…

Responses from 79 of 258 secondary career and technical education teachers compared 26 who left the teaching profession with those who remained in terms of their teaching commitment level and first-year teaching experience. Job-related stress and negative first-year experiences were the reasons most often given for leaving the teaching profession.…

Recruiting and retaining good teachers has recently reemerged as an important policy concern on the national agenda, as shortages of qualified teachers have appeared in a number of regions around the country. This four-section report addresses the recruitment and retention of teachers. The first section considers the shortage of high quality…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) House Subcommittee Passes Education Funding Bill: Appropriations Bill Would Provide Large Increases for Title I and…