To address the increasing demand for school-based agriculture education (SBAE) teachers throughout the United States, it is imperative for teachers to remain in the profession. Although the literature has identified several factors influencing SBAE teacher retention, previous research has not examined psychological needs satisfaction. Our study…

Considerations around teacher attrition, supply and demand, and retention are incomplete without including teacher mobility. The problem, as it currently stands, finds SBAE ill-equipped, at the professional level, to support mobile teachers. Providing support, however, starts with understanding the population; in this case, mobile teachers. The…

This unique thought experiment invites the field of agricultural education to a critical dialogue on issues related to making teaching a career. Leveraging elicitation techniques, we introduce a series of nine letters on agriculture teacher retention. Written by agriculture teacher education faculty with expertise in teacher retention, these…

Community engagement has significant impacts on SBAE teachers' perceived opportunities to remain at their schools or in the profession at large. We wanted to better understand how interactions between teachers and their communities invoked challenge or support, particularly in helping us understand how to retain mobile teachers. Specific to this…

This theoretical manuscript acknowledges the three-circle model for agricultural education as an enduring guide for student success. To complement the three-circle model, authors adapted "donut economics" to craft the donut model for agriculture teacher success. Within the proposed model, teacher success is defined as a level of…

Recruitment and retention of agriculture teachers is a major concern in the field of school-based agricultural education (SBAE). A major reason cited for this concern is perceived shortcomings in teacher compensation. To remedy this factor, Illinois implemented an extended contract grant program to provide agriculture teachers with additional…

Complex career decisions, such as teacher mobility, are often reduced to stigmatizing labels that do little to account for the state of teaching as a profession or credit those engaging in migratory decisions as making healthy career choices. Through our study, we focused on understanding workforce mobility, teaching as an unstaged profession, and…

The recruitment and retention of agriculture teachers has been a persistent problem for several decades, requiring unique approaches to solving this issue. This study sought to garner a unique prospective of why and how one enters the profession by understanding why second generation agriculture teachers (SGATs) chose to enter the profession after…

Agricultural education's most pressing issue is a lack of qualified classroom teachers. In 2020-2021, 30 states reported the loss of over 70 agricultural education positions, with many schools closing these positions due to inadequate staffing. Furthermore, in 2021-2022, there were 1,680 agricultural education vacancies nationwide and only 789…

This article describes the collaborative efforts of various state and national agencies working together to recruit and retain agriculture teachers in the states of Kentucky, South Carolina, and Ohio. We contrast multiple measures of recruitment and retention in these states with those from the comparator states of Arkansas, West Virginia, and…

Agricultural education, like many other disciplines, is experiencing a shortage of school-based agricultural education (SBAE) teachers. We examined the perceptions of Pennsylvania SBAE teachers regarding extended contracts as they have been identified as a possible tool to improve recruitment and retention. The purpose of the study was to sample…

Due to the overwhelming number of teachers exiting the profession each year, recruitment and retention efforts continue to be a high priority for stakeholders within agricultural education. Specifically, teacher attrition has been identified as one of the leading problematic issues hindering growth of school-based agricultural education (SBAE)…

Research often references years of experience specific to participants, yet no compiled report exists for secondary school-based agricultural education (SBAE) to holistically quantify years of teaching experience. In addition, definitions accounting for experience fall short of capturing the myriad ways experience counts in the broader teaching…

The shortage of teachers, specifically agriculture teachers, has been established and literature shows us why some teachers choose to leave. The question remains, how can we provide induction programs to agriculture teachers that support their unique needs and ultimately retain beginning agriculture teachers in the profession long term? This…

With half of all school-based agricultural education teachers leaving the profession within their first six years, the need is greater than ever for post-secondary graduates to enter and stay in the profession. This study explored potential influencers on graduates' career decisions, focusing on identifying potential reasons they chose to not…