Turnover of early childhood education (ECE) professionals negatively impacts program costs, staff morale, and relationships with children. We determined whether the presence of work as a calling was associated with less intention to leave the ECE field. From an online survey administered to 265 ECE professionals in Pennsylvania, a calling score…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to explore the lived experiences of the mid-level female community college administrators in Pennsylvania, as well as explore the career pathways, aspirations, challenges, and opportunities for mid-level female community college administrators in Pennsylvania. For years, the focus of many…

Using data from sixty-eight interviews conducted with men and women raised in rural counties in Pennsylvania, we ask how growing up in rural settings shapes people's aspirations regarding work over three periods. We find that participants' early aspirations during their late teens were shaped by rurality, gender, and class. During the transition…

Over the last few years, much attention has been focused on the nationwide teacher shortage. As teachers begin to retire in record numbers, and the number of students entering teacher education majors continues to decline, concern around the teacher shortage heightens (US Dept. of Ed., 2016). The numbers are even more dire when looking at Teachers…

Postsecondary education is associated with achieving economic self-sufficiency and other positive outcomes. Young people in foster care face challenges pursuing postsecondary education, which can lead to them being less likely than their peers to enroll in college and less likely to earn a degree when enrolled. One federal initiative meant to…

Women have played integral and instrumental roles in public education since its inception, yet women continue to be underrepresented in one major educational position, the superintendency. This study examined female principals in Western Pennsylvania and perceived barriers of these females in aspiring to the superintendency. Data for this study…

This paper proposes three new measures of components STEM career preferences (affinity, certainty, and goal), and then explores which dimensions of "science learning activation" (fascination, values, competency belief, and scientific sensemaking) are predictive of STEM career preferences. Drawn from the ALES14 dataset, a sample of 2938…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of lifestyle factors including geographical relocation, accommodation for dual earner careers, and availability of family or non-family domestic help on the career choices of women assistant superintendents and superintendents in school districts in the USA. Women's access to the…

Women aspiring to be principals and superintendents in the U.S. public school system have little information concerning optimum career paths to leadership. This article considers recent research and theory regarding career planning in the context of K-12 schools, and the different approaches adopted by male and female aspirants. The choice of…

A variety of factors contribute to women's underrepresentation in educational administration, particularly in positions that traditionally lead to the superintendency. This study examines the career pathways of female superintendent aspirants from the elementary principalship. A conceptual framework based on career development and motivation…

This report provides a first look at selected findings from the first follow-up of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). HSLS:09 focuses on understanding students' trajectories from the beginning of high school into higher education and the workforce. The core research questions for the study explore secondary to postsecondary…

Why do girls perform so well academically yet lose ground as professional women? This diminishing number of women up the leadership hierarchy is often referred to as the "leaky pipeline," and attributed to many factors: external ones such as work environments not conducive to work/life balance, and internal ones such as women's own…

The purpose of this participatory action research was to create a comprehensive evaluation of advanced geoscience education in Pennsylvania public high schools and to ascertain the possible impact of this trend on student perceptions and attitudes towards the geosciences as a legitimate academic subject and possible career option. The study builds…

Little is known about Black male students who graduate from high school, enroll in college, aspire to earn degrees beyond the baccalaureate, and espouse commitments to various career pathways in the field of education (teaching, school administration, education research, the professoriate, education policy, and so forth). What compels these men to…

This First Look presents findings from the base-year survey of the newly launched High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), the first round of a study that will follow a ninth-grade cohort through high school and into their postsecondary years. HSLS:09 is the fifth in a series of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) high school…