Problem Of Teacher Shortage Research Articles

Special Education Teacher Retention and Attrition

The lack of qualified special education teachers threatens the quality of education that students with disabilities receive. Attrition plays a part in the teacher shortage problem, and efforts to improve retention must be informed by an understanding of the factors that contribute to attrition. Specifically, the author provides a thematic analysis of studies investigating factors that contribute to special education teacher attrition and retention. She addresses four major themes: teacher characteristics and personal factors, teacher qualifications, work environments, and teachers' affective reactions to work. Following this thematic review, a critique of definitional, conceptual, and methodological approaches used to study special education attrition is provided, as are priorities for future research.

Critical Issues in Special Education Teacher Supply and Demand

The shortage of fully certified special education teachers, which has been described as severe, chronic, and pervasive, threatens the quality of educational services that students with disabilities receive. Over the last decade, researchers have investigated the magnitude of the special education teacher shortage problem and factors that contribute to the imbalance between supply and demand. This special issue includes research syntheses that critically evaluate the complex range of factors that contribute to teacher shortages in special education. These syntheses present a review of what is known about the supply and demand problem, provide a research base to help inform efforts to address the shortage problem, and suggest research questions needing study.

Teacher Shortages in Urban Schools

Quality teachers have an impact on improving student learning and performance, but teacher shortages remain a significant problem for urban schools. This article examines the impact of traditional approaches in teacher recruitment through university-based certification programs as well as alternative certification routes. Each approach may have particular merit, but each also faces particular obstacles, such as overcoming preconceptions held by preservice teachers or demonstrating consistent quality in its trainees. These approaches are primarily concerned with aspects of recruitment and largely ignore the way systematically poor retention measures also contribute to staffing needs. The article argues that traditional and alternative certification efforts are by themselves limited in their potential to address the problem of teacher shortages in urban schools and that an organizational view of schools that looks beyond individual teachers as the lone indicators of instructional performance and educational equity might be a better guide to future research and policy formation endeavors.

Running the Treadmill: Explorations of Beginning High School Science Teacher Turnover in Arizona

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. They argue that the greatest numbers of attrition actually occur among beginning teachers. In addition, teacher migration from school to school within the public education system is also a significant feature of the staffing problem, creating inconsistency and impacting student performance and the general effectiveness of schools. Research also points to the fact that migration is a more frequent occurrence among high school teachers, specifically in high demand subject areas such as science. This paper examines the status of a small sample of beginning high school secondary science teachers in Arizona who have either left the profession or changed positions within the public secondary school system. The authors present the context in which the beginning teachers worked, analyze reasons for their decisions, and compare findings to national data.

Have Geographers Lost Their Way? Issues relating to the recruitment of geographers into school teaching

Despite efforts by the United Kingdom Government, the Teacher Training Agency and other organisations to address the problem of teacher shortages in geography within English schools, the subject is still failing to attract sufficient students into the profession. Whilst the impact of this has yet to be felt fully in higher education, it is only a matter of time before university geography departments may find it increasingly difficult to recruit quality students onto their undergraduate courses. By sampling three distinct populations, geography teachers, geography undergraduates and sixth formers [1] , this research presents evidence of the recruitment problem, seeks to understand its nature and suggests strategies for addressing the underlying issues.

Teaching Quality Matters

For almost a decade now, teaching and teacher education have been pivotal issues in state and national elections and legislation. In addition, there have been dozens of reports, surveys, blue-ribbon panels, research syntheses, professional initiatives, and new empirical studies examining the presumed relationships among teacher qualifications, teacher preparation, teaching performance, and educational outcomes. In short, it has become commonplace to presume that matters of teaching quality figure largely in the ultimate improvement of education. Despite this convergence of attention, it is important to note that there is often more than one question tangled up in debates about teaching quality. Three of the most important of these are: Does quality of teaching make a difference in students' learning and their lives? How do we define teaching quality? and How do we best recruit and prepare qualified teachers? In editorials for this journal and elsewhere, I have written extensively about the politicized debates that surround the third question regarding the preparation of qualified In this editorial, I touch briefly on whether or not teaching quality makes a difference and then concentrate on the issue of how we should define teaching quality. Does Teaching Quality Make a Difference? On this first question, there is enormous consensus. The American public, the education profession, researchers, legal advocates, and policy makers all seem to agree that quality of teaching makes an important difference in students' learning, their achievement, and their life chances. In a recent public opinion poll on teacher quality (Hart & Teeter, 2002), for example, it was clear that although the public strongly favored educational reform tied to accountability, they also equated educational improvement with quality teaching and were not willing to lower hiring standards to solve the teacher shortage problem. Along similar lines, even among those who argue for diametrically opposed approaches to teacher preparation, there is apparent consensus that teaching quality is a critical influence on how and what students learn. The frequency of citations by researchers and policy makers of all stripes to William Sanders's conclusion that individual teachers are the single largest factor that adds value to student learning (Sanders & Horn, 1998) makes this point persuasively. Finally, legal advocates in several pending cases across the country have consistently asserted that access to qualified teachers is a birthright of all children (American Civil Liberties Union, 2000). In short, despite different assumptions about the purposes of schooling, the nature of teaching as an enterprise, and appropriate ways to measure teaching effectiveness, there is enormous consensus that teaching quality makes a significant difference in learning and school effectiveness. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) cemented this conclusion into law with its guarantee that all schoolchildren must have highly qualified teachers. How Do We Define Teaching Quality and Highly Qualified Teachers? On this second question, there is much less consensus. For the public at large (again based on the Hart-Teeter poll), communication, teaching skills, and a teacher's ability to interest students--rather than content information--are most important. When asked to define quality teaching more specifically, 42% of respondents mentioned designing learning activities that inspired pupil interest, 31% said having enthusiasm, and 26% said having a caring attitude, although only 19% mentioned having a thorough understanding of the subject. When asked to name the biggest problem preparing teachers, 67% said that developing the skill to make material interesting and accessible was a greater problem than developing content area knowledge. The public's emphasis on know-how and relating to students makes an interesting comparison to other definitions of teaching quality. …

Informing expectations for induction: explorations of attrition among supported beginning secondary science teachers in the United States

The problem of teacher shortages in many industrialized countries has been the catalyst for the provision of induction programs. The guiding purpose for these programs is to ease the transition from novice to professional and in turn encourage teachers to remain in the profession. This article explores the status of one science-focused induction program in the United States, with particular attention to the expectation that induction programs can help retain beginning teachers. The authors present the context for US induction programs and describe their development. They then examine the cases of eight beginning secondary science teachers who participated in the program but nevertheless chose to leave teaching. Findings indicate that teachers left because they were either out of place in the profession, or they had lost patience with their working conditions. The study broadens our understanding of reasonable expectations for induction programs and, through content analysis and cross-case comparison, examines the needs of the beginning teachers for whom these induction programs are designed.

The Problem of Teacher Shortages

This paper examines the demand for teachers in the UK and establishes the factors which determine teacher shortages. Policy options aimed at alleviating these shortages are suggested.

Relationships Between Levels Of Job Satisfaction Expressed By North Carolina Vocational Agriculture Teachers And Their Perceptions Toward The Agricultural Education Teaching Program

For a number of years, one of the concerns confronting vocational agriculture on the national level has been a shortage of qualified teachers. Mattox (1974) stated that effective programs of vocational agriculture arc dependent upon an adequate supply of qualified teachers and that teacher educators for many years have been trying to solve the teacher shortage problem with little success. He also reported that a large percentage of prospective teachers, once trained, enter other professions or leave teaching after a short period of time.

Equality of educational opportunity at racially isolated schools: Balancing the need for teacher certification with teacher shortage

Providing for equality of educational opportunity at racially isolated schools continues to be an important area of concern for educational policy makers. Quality teachers to staff instruction programs at these schools is essential to promoting equal opportunity for minority groups. Unfortunately, these schools continue to suffer chronic teacher shortages. Recently, California implemented a teacher certification examination (CBEST) designed specifically to improve the quality of teachers entering the profession. An unintended consequence of the certification movement was the exacerbation of the teacher shortage problem at racially isolated schools. The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of teachers who passed and failed the CBEST. The study finds that failure rates are highest among minority teachers that are presently employed. The study also finds that the mathematics knowledge subscale scores best discriminate those passing from those failing the CBEST. An analytical approach for determining “optimal” cutoff scores on the CBEST which balances the need for certification with the problem of teacher shortage is proposed.

Beginning Teachers : a Review of Research

During the 1940's and early 1950's a small number of studies of beginning teachers were completed. However, in the late 1950's, particularly in Britain and the United States, the joint problem of teacher shortages and the high drop-out rate of young teachers gave rise to a new wave of studies on beginning teachers. In the last two decades, the recognition of this need has resulted in reports of over 250 studies and a plethora of literature about the beginning teacher. In categorising this material, a broad distinction has emerged between the theory-based research and literature and that which is orientated toward the professional development and practices of beginning teachers.