Attracting and retaining teachers may be a problem in many rural school districts. According to previous research, teacher attrition is greater in rural regions due to various demographic and other factors. Retention was also cited as a key issue in these rural school districts. The number of teachers quitting their professions before they can…

This study examined the national trends of teacher certification in autism in an effort to better understand the characteristics of individuals who seek this credential, how these characteristics change over time, and where teachers with this certification are currently working in an effort to identify recruitment and retention strategies to areas…

While prior research has examined teachers in rural schools and teachers in charter schools, there has been little research into the intersection of rural and charter schools. Using nationally representative data, we examine the extent to which teacher characteristics, school characteristics, and teacher mobility vary based on the urbanicity of…

Purpose: The objective of this study is to provide an overall national portrait of elementary and secondary teacher shortages and teacher turnover in rural schools, comparing rural schools to suburban and urban schools. This study utilizes an organizational theoretical perspective focusing on the role of school organization and leadership in the…

Using repeated cross-sectional nationally representative data, we demonstrate how the teacher labor markets for rural contexts are different from those in urban-suburban areas. We also show that teacher attrition is not uniform across various rural settings. In particular, novice teachers in rural schools in sparsely populated states are more…

In this commentary, we revisit "NCLB and the Demand for Highly Qualified Teachers: Challenges and Solutions for Rural Schools," an article we published in this journal in 2005. We consider the predictions we made then about the impact of the Highly Qualified Teacher mandate on special education teacher (SET) shortages in rural states and…

Public and private school principals were asked to report whether their school had a staff member assigned to work on parent involvement; workshops or courses for parents or guardians; services to support parent participation such as providing child care or transportation; or a parent drop-in center or lounge. The Principal Questionnaire was…

This study examined the characteristics of teacher incentive pay programs in the United States. Using the 2007-08 SASS data set, it found an inverse relationship between union influence and districts' incentive pay offerings. Large and ethnically diverse districts in urban areas that did not meet the requirements for Adequate Yearly Progress as…

The 2017-18 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. State representative data are also available for public schools, principals, and teachers. NTPS collects data on core topics including…

For this study, we examined the constructs of time, student groupings, and professional staffing in schools and determined their significance in whether or not schools made Adequate Yearly Progress or were required mandatory improvement. We conducted a logistical regression analysis using a national data set, the School and Staffing Survey…

Teachers are crucial to student achievement. It therefore becomes important to assure that teachers who can foster student achievement are present in all schools, and that they remain in the teaching field. The most effective teachers are not evenly distributed across schools. Schools with poor, high-minority, and low-achieving students are more…

This Statistics in Brief provides a snapshot of the state of teacher professional development activities among U.S. public school teachers using data collected through the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) Public School Teacher Questionnaire. This report relies on data provided by public school teachers about their professional…

This study identifies trends in teacher victimization between 1993 and 2012. We analyze rates of verbal and physical abuse toward teachers, comparing teachers at public and private schools and male and female teachers. Public school teachers experience more threats and attacks than their private school counterparts. However, those private school…

This Statistics in Brief adds to existing research on early-career teachers by presenting findings on their preparation and supports from data from the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). This brief, like past research, investigates several specific areas of preparation and types of support. For the purposes of this brief, early-career…

This article discusses the characteristics of rural versus nonrural principals in the High Plains states. It is based on data from the Schools and Staffing Survey, examining the differences in preparation and experience and the extent to which characteristics of the rural principalship (perceptions of autonomy, workload, etc.) predicted retention.…