ERIC Number: ED610532
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Oct
Pages: 50
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Educator Recruitment and Retention in Maine Schools
Johnson, Amy; Hawes, Kathryn; Olson, Sigrid
Center for Education Policy, Applied Research, and Evaluation
In response to recent anecdotal reports that Maine is experiencing heightened staff shortages, this study was designed to understand the current and future issues facing recruitment, induction, and retention of teachers and administrators in Maine's public schools. This report includes analysis of current administrative data on teacher and administrator demographics as well as data from surveys of current and former teachers and administrators in Maine schools. The descriptive picture of current staffing patterns--compiled from state-level staffing data--was designed to provide comparisons to prior data reported in a 2001 task force report in order to determine whether the circumstances have worsened since that time. Survey questions were designed to further illuminate the potential reasons for Maine's current challenges in recruiting and retaining educators. The teacher and administrator surveys upon which much of this report was based were conducted in January 2020. The administrative and survey data analysis were completed in February and a preliminary report was compiled, on track for a planned delivery and legislative briefing in late March. However, the emergency shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted that schedule, and subsequently delayed finalizing the report. Concerns were also raised about the impact of pandemic conditions on the data since the educators participating in the survey would undoubtedly have responded quite differently if the same questions were asked after school shutdowns occurred. The authors explored the possibility of revisiting some of the key survey questions in the summer of 2020 to see how perspectives may have changed in the intervening months. Ultimately, it was decided that the data are valuable as collected as they represent a pre-pandemic snapshot of Maine's workforce conditions. To increase the relevance of the report to inform policymakers' most immediate and pressing needs, the final section of the report (conclusions and policy implications) was re-written before final publication to incorporate consideration of their changed importance in the present circumstances. Teacher administrative data analyzed for this report has confirmed that the demographics of Maine's workforce have indeed changed in the past 20 years.
Descriptors: Teacher Recruitment, Teacher Persistence, Teacher Surveys, Teacher Shortage, Teaching Experience, Teacher Salaries, Job Satisfaction, Stress Variables, Administrator Surveys, School Administration, Teacher Certification, Elementary Secondary Education, Teacher Attitudes, Administrator Attitudes
Center for Education Policy, Applied Research, and Evaluation. University of Southern Maine, 37 College Avenue, Gorham, ME 04038. Tel: 888-800-5044; Tel: 207-780-5044; Fax: 207-228-8143; e-mail: cepare@usm.maine.edu; Web site: http://usm.maine.edu/cepare
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Maine State Legislature; University of Maine System (UMS)
Authoring Institution: University of Southern Maine, Center for Education Policy, Applied Research, and Evaluation; University of Southern Maine, Maine Education Policy Research Institute
Identifiers - Location: Maine
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A