Through an exchange of letters, a veteran public school teacher advises a doubting beginning teacher (her former student) to remain in the classroom. The letters reveal both women's innermost thoughts about the difficult, demanding, and rewarding profession of teaching. (SM)

This magazine feature presents four articles whose focus is the issue of diversity in physical education. The articles specifically address issues and strategies concerning recruitment and retention of African-American faculty in the field of physical education. (GLR)

Investigated teacher retention and attrition by examining data from the 1990-91 Schools and Staffing Survey and 1991-92 Teacher Followup Survey. Results indicated that teachers with less experience were more likely to move or leave. Empowerment and higher salary were correlated positively with teacher retention. Appreciation of the intrinsic…

An elementary teacher education program was established in southeastern British Columbia (Canada) to meet staffing needs in six rural school districts by establishing a pool of teachers likely to remain in the area. A 5-year study of the first cohort of 22 teachers found that 20 held teaching jobs and 17 were still living in the area. (TD)

Examined the Prairie Teachers Project, a program of support for new teachers in eight rural schools, focusing on why teachers remained or left. Teachers who remained tended to have lived in and feel committed to small communities. Rural schools likely to retain new teachers had ongoing programs of professional development, supportive colleagues…

A longitudinal study of 117 teachers from the beginning of their preservice education through their fifth year of teaching found that attitude toward teaching as a career remained constant during teacher preparation but was less positive after five years of teaching. This attitude was related to 6 of 15 academic and personal characteristics…

States that music teachers are influential in encouraging others to become music teachers. Lists the benefits of a career in music education, characteristics that will help identify promising students, what a teacher can do to encourage students to consider a career in music education, and how to offer support to new teachers. (CMK)

Beginning teachers do not enter the classroom as finished products. Many school administrators say that new teachers are often exuberant and optimistic but ill-equipped for the classroom. There are some administrators who are openly exasperated with the low quality of teacher applicants who are available. A personnel director, after interviewing…

Establishing and sustaining quality teaching is equally dependent on the capacity of organizations and networks at regional, district and school levels to productively engage in improvement efforts that are realized in the classroom. The "teacher workforce" evokes military and industrial images, huge numbers of workers who must be trained,…

Retention of a competent teaching force is a growing concern among the nation's educators and policy makers. Providing new teachers with quality induction programs may mitigate significant teacher attrition and teacher staffing issues now facing many school districts in the United States. This article reports positive results in the long-term…

Faculty of color are severely underrepresented in American higher education; they make up just over 10 percent of full-time undergraduate professors. Many in academe are familiar with this statistic and know that progress in increasing the presence of faculty of color on U.S. campuses has been slow. They are also aware, however, that students of…

While many areas in education are experiencing teacher shortages, the retention of special education teachers in particular is a critical concern in many schools across the nation. Even prior to the developing national teacher shortage, educators were voicing concerns about higher burnout and/or teacher attrition rates in special education as…

Over the past decade, the high number of teachers leaving the profession has been a growing concern among parents, teacher educators, administrators, and policy-makers. While most argue the problem is due to a burgeoning demand and increased numbers of retirements, some researchers propose that the problem of teacher shortages is far more complex.…

Mindful of the current difficulty and challenge in retaining new teachers, particularly in urban schools, this study examines data from a 1997 qualitative investigation of 6 Black sixth-year teachers in 2 Midwestern urban school districts regarding their views of their alternate route preparation program in order to identify features of effective…

We report on a series of pilot programs that we developed and carried out to support the success and satisfaction of new faculty, particularly faculty of color. We hope that others committed to retaining and supporting underrepresented faculty can apply our learning from this pilot project, as a whole or in part.