Staff Recruitment

All Research

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SYNOPSIS
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Teacher Preparation and Induction.

This issue is the second in a three-part series on quality teaching. The other two issues in the series focus on teacher recruitment and teachers' career structures and work environment. This issue examines research and expert consensus on teacher preparation,

Allen, M. (2000). Teacher Preparation and Induction. Progress of Education Reform, 1999-20012(3), n3.

Mitigating teacher shortages: Financial incentives.

The first brief in this series, Teacher Shortages: What We Know, explores research on teacher shortages and highlights recent state task force findings. This report is one of five policy briefs examining strategies states are using to address shortages.

Aragon, S. (2016). Mitigating teacher shortages: Financial incentives. Retrieved from.

The role of teacher quality in retention and hiring: Using applications-to-transfer to uncover preferences of teachers and schools.

This study uses applications-to-transfer data to examine separately which teachers apply for transfer and which get hired and, in so doing, differentiates teachers from school preferences.

Boyd, D., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., Ronfeldt, M., & Wyckoff, J. (2010). The role of teacher quality in retention and hiring: Using applications-to-transfer to uncover preferences of teachers and schools. Working Paper No. 15966. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from https://www.nber.org/papers/w15966.pdf

A review of the research literature on teacher recruitment and retention

In the face of a growing school-age population, U.S. schools and school districts are struggling to maintain teaching standards while recruiting bright new teachers and retaining their most-effective ones. This literature review represents a comprehensive and critical examination of research published since 1980 on the topic of teacher recruitment and retention in the United States.

Brewer, D., Guarino, C. M., Santibanez, L., & Daley, G. A. (2004). A Review of the Research Literature on Teacher Recruitment and Retention (TR-164).

University Council for Educational Administration: Quality Leadership Matters

Policy Brief 2018-1: Addressing the Importance and Scale of the U.S. Teacher Shortage

Castro, A., Quinn, D. J., Fuller, E., & Barnes, M. (2018). Quality leadership matters. University Council for Educational Administration. Policy Brief Series,(1)1.

K–12 Teacher recruitment and retention policies in the Higher Education Act: In brief

One of the more difficult issues involves a debate between observers who are concerned about an overall teacher shortage, and others who see it largely as a distributional problem where some schools have a relative surplus of teachers while other schools struggle with a persistent, unmet demand for qualified teachers. Those in the former camp focus on policies that aim to improve the recruitment and retention in the teaching profession in general, while those in the latter camp focus on policies that target education funding to fill positions for certain hard-to-staff schools and/or subject areas.

Congressional Research Service. (2019). K–12 Teacher recruitment and retention policies in the Higher Education Act: In brief.

Missing elements in the discussion of teacher shortages

Though policymakers are increasingly concerned about teacher shortages in U.S. public schools, the national discussion does not reflect historical patterns of the supply of and demand for newly minted teachers.

Cowan, J., Goldhaber, D., Hayes, K., & Theobald, R. (2016). Missing elements in the discussion of teacher shortages. Educational Researcher45(8), 460–462.

Wanted: A national teacher supply policy for education: The right way to meet the “highly qualified teacher” challenge

The authors study the mal-distribution of teachers and examine its causes then describe examples of both states and local school districts that have fashioned successful strategies for strengthening their teaching forces. 

Darling-Hammond, L., and Sykes, G. (2003). Wanted: A national teacher supply policy for education: The right way to meet the “highly qualified teacher” challenge. Education Policy Analysis Archives11(33), 1–55.

Understanding and addressing teacher shortages in the United States.

While anecdotal accounts of substantial teacher shortages are increasingly common, we present evidence that such shortages are not a general phenomenon but rather are highly concentrated by subject and in schools where hiring and retaining teachers are chronic problems. We discuss several promising, complementary approaches for addressing teacher shortages.

Dee, T. S., & Goldhaber, D. (2017). Understanding and addressing teacher shortages in the United States. The Hamilton Project.

Virtual classrooms: STAR simulator building virtual environments for teacher training in effective classroom management

The focus of this project is to create research in teacher education that positively impacts teacher recruitment, preparation and retention in urban environments. The novel approach we are using to attack this problem is that of capturing, analyzing, synthesizing and simulating human interactions in Mixed Reality (part real, part synthetic) environments, thereby creating training/screening settings that are realistic and yet do not put actual children at risk.

Dieker, L., Hynes, M., Stapleton, C., & Hughes, C. (2007). Virtual classrooms: STAR simulator. New Learning Technology SALT4, 1-22.

Teacher Retention Strategies

Research on teacher turnover has led to the identification of retention strategies to help advance the profession and improve the recruitment, preparation, and support of teachers. This report summarizes available research on these strategies and discusses potential barriers and research on their relative cost-effectiveness.

Donley, J., Detrich, R., States, J., & Keyworth, R. (2019). Teacher Retention Analysis Overview. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. https://www.winginstitute.org/teacher-retention-strategies

A call to teaching

"But I am addressing my remarks not just to those of you assembled today in this majestic Rotunda but to a generation of college students, professionals rethinking their careers, military veterans, retirees and others who may be thinking of becoming a teacher. Put plain and simple, this country needs an army of great, new teachers—and I can think of no better place to start recruiting them then in Thomas Jefferson's hallowed halls."

Duncan, A. (2009). A call to teaching. Secretary Arne Duncan’s remarks at the Rotunda at the University of Virginia. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

The impact of incentives to recruit and retain teachers in “hard-to-staff” subjects: An analysis of the Florida Critical Teacher Shortage Program

We investigated the effects of a statewide program designed to increase the supply of
teachers in “hard-to-staff” areas.

Feng, L., & Sass, T. R. (2015). The Impact of Incentives to Recruit and Retain Teachers in" Hard-to-Staff" Subjects: An Analysis of the Florida Critical Teacher Shortage Program. Working Paper 141. National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER).

An investigation of the effects of variations in mentor-based induction on the performance of students in California

Policy makers are concerned about reports of teacher shortages and the high rate of attrition among new teachers. Prior studies indicate that mentor-based induction can reduce the numbers of new teachers leaving schools or the profession

Fletcher, S., Strong, M., & Villar, A. (2008). An investigation of the effects of variations in mentor-based induction on the performance of students in California. Teachers college record110(10), 2271-2289.

Public employee quality in a geographic context: A study of rural teachers

Recruiting high quality employees is one of the key functions of public human resource managers and a critical component of effective public service delivery. This is particularly true in education but little is known about public sector or teacher hiring patterns in areas that are predominantly rural, poor, and isolated from other locales.

Fowles, J., Butler, J. S., Cowen, J. M., Streams, M. E., & Toma, E. F. (2014). Public employee quality in a geographic context: A study of rural teachers. The American Review of Public Administration44(5), 503-521.

Planning for the Future: Leadership development and succession planning in education

This article reviews the research and best practices on succession planning in education as well as in other sectors. The authors illustrate how forward-thinking superintendents can partner with universities and other organizations to address the leadership challenges they face by creating strategic, long-term, leadership growth plans that build leadership capacity and potentially yield significant returns in improved student outcomes.

Fusarelli, B. C., Fusarelli, L. D., & Riddick, F. (2018). Planning for the future: Leadership development and succession planning in education. Journal of Research on Leadership Education13(3), 286–313.

A policy agenda to address the teacher shortage in U.S. public schools

The teacher shortage in the nation's public schools—particularly in our high-poverty schools—
is a crisis for the teaching profession and a serious problem for the entire education system.
It harms students and teachers and contributes to the opportunity and achievement gaps
between students in high-poverty schools and their more affluent peers.

GarcĆa, E., & Weiss, E. (2020). A Policy Agenda to Address the Teacher Shortage in US Public Schools: The Sixth and Final Report in the'Perfect Storm in the Teacher Labor Market'Series. Economic Policy Institute.

Transfer incentives for high- performing teachers: Final results from a multisite randomized experiment

In this final report, we present findings on the implementation and impacts of an intervention
that identified school districts' highest-performing teachers and then used monetary
incentives to encourage them to transfer into the lowest-achieving schools.

Glazerman, S., Protik, A., Teh, B. R., Bruch, J., & Max, J. (2013). Transfer Incentives for High-Performing Teachers: Final Results from a Multisite Randomized Experiment. NCEE 2014-4003. National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.

The mystery of good teaching

Who should be recruited to fill the two to three million K–12 teaching positions projected to come open during the next decade? What kinds of knowledge and training should these new recruits have? These are the questions confronting policymakers as a generation of teachers retires at the same time that the so-called baby boom echo is making its way through the education system.

Goldhaber, D. (2002). The mystery of good teaching. Education next2(1), 50-55.

Knocking on the door to the teaching profession? Modeling the entry of prospective teachers into the workforce

We use a unique longitudinal sample of student teachers (“interns”) from six Washington state teacher training institutions to investigate patterns of entry into the teaching workforce. We estimate split population models that simultaneously estimate the impact of individual characteristics and student teaching experiences on the timing and probability of initial hiring as a public school teacher. 

Goldhaber, D., Krieg, J., & Theobald, R. (2014). Knocking on the door to the teaching profession? Modeling the entry of prospective teachers into the workforce. Economics of Education Review43, 106-124.

Identifying effective teachers using performance on the job

This paper provide some recommendations to increase the pool of potential teachers, make it tougher to award tenure to those who perform least well, and reward effective teachers who are willing to work in schools serving large numbers of low-income, disadvantaged children. 

Gordon, R., Kane, T. J., & Staiger, D. O. (2006). Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job. The Hamilton Project Policy Brief No. 2006-01. Brookings Institution.

The impact of the COVID-19 recession on teaching positions

Recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers is essential for student learning. As a 2019 Learning Policy Institute analysis found, “Investments in instruction, especially high-quality teachers, appear to leverage the largest marginal gains in [student] performance.” Research has shown that teacher cuts during the last recession disproportionately impacted districts and schools serving students of color and students from low-income families. 

Griffith, M. (2020). The Impact of the COVID-19 recession on teaching positions. Learning Policy Institute.

Teacher recruitment and retention: A review of the recent empirical literature.

This article critically reviews the recent empirical literature on teacher recruitment and retention published in the United States.

Guarino, C. M., Santibanez, L., & Daley, G. A. (2006). Teacher recruitment and retention: A review of the recent empirical literature. Review of educational research76(2), 173-208.

Salary incentives and teacher quality: The effect of a district-level salary increase on teacher recruitment

A salary increase in an urban school district can attract more applicants. The policy attracted applicants who would have only applied to higher-paying school districts in the absence of the salary increase. Improvements in the applicant pool can lead to an increase in the quality of new-hires.

Hough, H. J. (2012). Salary Incentives and Teacher Quality: The Effect of a Compensation Increase on Teacher Recruitment and Retention in the San Francisco Unified School District. Stanford University.

Can a district-level teacher salary incentive policy improve teacher recruitment and retention

In this policy brief Heather Hough and Susanna Loeb examine the effect of the Quality Teacher and Education Act of 2008 (QTEA) on teacher recruitment, retention, and overall teacher quality in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). They provide evidence that a salary increase can improve a school district’s attractiveness within their local teacher labor market and increase both the size and quality of the teacher applicant pool. 

Hough, H. J., & Loeb, S. (2013). Can a District-Level Teacher Salary Incentive Policy Improve Teacher Recruitment and Retention? Policy Brief 13-4. Policy Analysis for California Education, PACE.

Teacher recruitment ROI: What’s yours?

Competition for teachers is fierce and expensive. In fact, many schools and organizations pay thousands of dollars each year to third party talent sourcing sites such as Linkedin, Indeed, and Glassdoor to help them find quality candidates. And sometimes this search can feel more ‘luck of the draw’ than strategic.

Howard, J., & Tam, W. (2019, September 18). Teacher recruitment ROI: What’s yours?

Out-of-field teaching, educational inequality, and the organization of schools: An exploratory analysis

Contemporary educational theory holds that one of the pivotal causes of inadequate student achievement, especially in disadvantaged schools, is the inability of schools to adequately staff classrooms with qualified teachers. Deficits in the quantity of teachers produced and in the quality of preparation prospective teachers receive have long been singled out as primary explanations for underqualified teaching.

Ingersoll, R. (2002). Out-of-field teaching, educational inequality, and the organization of schools: An exploratory analysis.

Minority teacher recruitment, employment, and retention: 1987 to 2013.

This brief summarizes the results from a study of the recruitment, employment, and retention of minority k-12 teachers. The study examines the extent and sources of the minority teacher shortage—the low proportion of minority teachers in comparison to the increasing numbers of minority students in the school system.

Ingersoll, R., & May, H. (2016). Minority teacher recruitment, employment and retention: 1987 to 2013. Learning Policy Institute, Stanford, CA.

What It Takes to Operate and Maintain Principal Pipelines: Costs and Other Resources.

This report fills an important gap in the literature on school leadership by presenting an approach for understanding the resources and expenditures associated with efforts to prepare, hire, evaluate, develop, and support school leaders and by presenting estimates of those resources and expenditures. 

Kaufman, J. H., Gates, S. M., Harvey, M., Wang, Y., & Barrett, M. (2017). What It Takes to Operate and Maintain Principal Pipelines: Costs and Other Resources. RAND Corporation. PO Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138.

Teaching anti-bias curriculum in teacher education programs: What and how.
In this article, the authors discuss what an anti-bias curriculum is, provide the theoretical framework and rationale for involving teacher candidates in certain activities that promote the anti-bias curriculum, and offer additional anti-bias strategies for teacher candidates and teacher educators to implement in their classrooms.

 

Lin, M., Lake, V. E., & Rice, D. (2008). Teaching anti-bias curriculum in teacher education programs: What and how. Teacher Education Quarterly35(2), 187-200.

Perceived effects of scholarships on STEM majors’ commitment to teaching in high need schools

This study examines the Noyce Program, which provides scholarships for STEM majors in return for teaching in high need schools. Implications for teacher education programs include that recruitment strategies should identify candidates who are committed to teaching in high need schools and programs should provide experiences to encourage this commitment not just to become certified.

Liou, P. Y., Kirchhoff, A., & Lawrenz, F. (2010). Perceived effects of scholarships on STEM majors’ commitment to teaching in high need schools. Journal of Science Teacher Education21(4), 451-470.

Effective schools: Teacher hiring, assignment, development, and retention

In this paper, the authors use value-added methods to examine the relationship between a school’s effectiveness and the recruitment, assignment, development and retention of its teachers.

Loeb, S., Béteille, T., & Kalogrides, D. (2012). Effective schools: Teacher hiring, assignment, development, and retention. Education Finance and Policy7(3), 269–304.

The principal as Human Capital Manager: Lessons from the Private Sector

This research suggests that the effectiveness of principals in managing the recruitment and advancement of teachers will contribute to improvements in student learning. One of the key ways these managers influence performance is through human capital management: the attraction, development and retention of the employee talent the organization needs.

Milanowski, A., & Kimball, S. (2010). The principal as human capital manager: Lessons from the private sector. Teaching talent: A visionary framework for human capital in education, 69-90.

Teacher acquisition of functional analysis methodology

The current study examined methods for training teachers to use functional analysis methods.

Moore, J. W., Edwards, R. P., Sterling‐Turner, H. E., Riley, J., DuBard, M., & McGeorge, A. (2002). Teacher acquisition of functional analysis methodology. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis35(1), 73-77.

Creating Sustainable Teacher Career Pathways: A 21st Century Imperative

The authors offer a new vision of teacher career pathways for the 21st century that holds promise for recruiting and retaining excellent teachers who further student learning. They showcase recent initiatives at the local, state, and national level that promote teacher role differentiation and create different models of teacher staffing and teacher career continuums.

Natale, C. F., Bassett, K., Gaddis, L., & McKnight, K. (2013). Creating sustainable teacher career pathways. 2013-07-05)[2016-02-19]. http://researchnetwork. pearson, com/wp-content/uploads/CSTCP-21 CI-pk-final-WEB. pdf.

Principal Shortage

To highlight principal shortage trends, examine school leader recruitment issues, and offer policy recommendations for improving school leader recruitment efforts at the federal, state, and local level.

National Association of Secondary School Principals. (2017). Principal shortage. Reston, VA: Author. Retrieved from https://www.nassp.org/policy-advocacy-center/nassp-position-statements/principal-shortage/

The academic quality of public school teachers: an analysis of entry and exit behavior

The authors investigate how the labor market decisions of recent college graduates, new teachers, and employers affect the academic quality of the teaching workforce in public schools.

Podgursky, M., Monroe, R., & Watson, D. (2004). The academic quality of public school teachers: An analysis of entry and exit behavior. Economics of Education Review23(5), 507–518.

Solving the Teacher Shortage: How to Attract and Retain Excellent Educators

This report reviews an extensive body of research on teacher recruitment and retention, and identifies five major factors that influence a teacher’s decision to enter, remain in, or leave the teaching profession, generally, and high-need schools, specifically.

Podolsky, A., Kini, T., Bishop, J., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2016). Solving the teacher shortage: How to attract and retain excellent educators. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.

State Efforts to Strengthen School Leadership: Insights from CCSSO Action Groups.

This brief is intended to inform state leaders and others in the field about the participating states’ efforts to strengthen the recruitment, preparation, support, and supervision of school leaders.

Riley, D. L., & Meredith, J. (2017). State Efforts to Strengthen School Leadership: Insights from CCSSO Action Groups. Policy Studies Associates, Inc.

Databurst: Teacher Shortages and Surpluses

The Teacher Shortages and Surpluses Databurst is an analysis of states' work to track teacher shortages and surpluses, and to implement the policy solutions to address these challenges. This resource includes an overview of promising practices currently being implemented, a snapshot of all 50 states' and the District of Columbia's efforts in addressing teacher supply and demand challenges, and noteworthy state policies by region across the country.

Ross, E. (2018). Databurst: Teacher Shortages and Surpluses. Retrieved from https://www.nctq.org/publications/Teacher-Shortages-and-Surpluses-Databurst

Teacher recruitment and retention: A critical review of international evidence of most promising interventions

 A raft of initiatives and reforms have been introduced in many countries to attract and recruit school teachers, many of which do not have a clear evidence base, so their effectiveness remains unclear. Prior research has been largely correlational in design. This paper describes a rigorous and comprehensive review of international evidence, synthesizing the findings of some of the strongest empirical work so far.

See, B. H., Morris, R., Gorard, S., Kokotsaki, D., & Abdi, S. (2020). Teacher recruitment and retention: A critical review of international evidence of most promising interventions. Education Sciences10(10), 262.

Teacher Quality Index

This book examines issues pertaining to making effective hiring decisions. The authors present a research-based interview protocol built on quality indicators.

Stronge, J. and Hindman, J., (2006). Teacher Quality Index. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Understanding Teacher Shortages: An Analysis of Teacher Supply and Demand in the United States
This paper reviews the sources of and potential solutions to teacher shortages in the United States. It describes the sources of current and projected increases in teacher demand relative to enrollments, shift in pupil-teacher rations, and attrition. 

Sutcher, L., Darling-Hammond, L., & Carver-Thomas, D. (2019). Understanding Teacher Shortages: An Analysis of Teacher Supply and Demand in the United States. education policy analysis archives27(35).

Fifty years of federal teacher policy: An appraisal

The federal role in developing the teacher workforce has increased markedly in the last
decade, but the history of such involvement dates back fifty years. Relying initially on
policies to recruit and train teachers, the federal role has expanded in recent years to
include new policy initiatives and instruments around the themes of accountability,
incentives, and qualifications, while also continuing the historic emphasis on teacher
recruitment, preparation, and development.

Sykes, G., & Dibner, K. (2009). Fifty Years of Federal Teacher Policy: An Appraisal. Center on Education Policy.

What teachers want: School factors predicting teachers’ decisions to work in low-performing schools

Attracting and retaining teachers can be an important ingredient in improving low-performing schools. In this study, we estimate the expressed preferences for teachers who have worked in low-performing schools in Tennessee. Using adaptive conjoint analysis survey design, we examine three types of school attributes that may influence teachers’ employment decisions: fixed school characteristics, structural features of employment, and malleable school processes.

Viano, S., Pham, L. D., Henry, G. T., Kho, A., & Zimmer, R. (2021). What teachers want: School factors predicting teachers’ decisions to work in low-performing schools. American Educational Research Journal58(1), 201-233.

The national teacher shortage is a myth. Here’s what’s really happening

The faux teacher shortage is of tremendous consequences. It routinely results in both states and school disricts lowering their standards for who is license and hired. But more important, it serve to distract us from fixing the chronic and persistent and alignment of teacher supply and demand. 

Walsh, K. (2016, December 2). The national teacher shortage is a myth. Here’s what’s really happening. The Washington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-national-teacher-shortage-is-a-myth-heres-whats-really-happening/2016/12/02/58fac7d0-b4e5-11e6-a677-b608fbb3aaf6_story.html

Filling the void: A grounded theory approach to addressing teacher recruitment and retention in urban schools

This research addresses the problem of teacher shortages in urban, high-needs schools.

Wronowski, M. L. (2018). Filling the void: A grounded theory approach to addressing teacher recruitment and retention in urban schools. Education and Urban Society50(6), 548-574.

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