Where teachers are central to improving schools

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Where teachers are central to improving schools
Recruiting and Retaining Math and Science
Teachers in Rural Schools
Eric Hirsch, Center for Teaching Quality NCCTQ
National Issue Forum, 5/24/06
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Where teachers are central to
improving schools

• Teaching and Learning Conditions Surveys in 5
  states in Spring 2006 with more than 125,000
  respondents and data for more than 3,000 schools
• Working with in 5 states on convenings of
  National Board Certified Teachers to address
  issues of recruitment and retention in
  hard-to-staff schools
• Project in 3 rural NC districts to examine and
  improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
  recruitment and retention practices

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• Not enough production last year only 157 new
  math teachers graduated from the entire 16 campus
  University of North Carolina system
• Result is that 36 percent of high school math, 71
  percent physical science and 57 percent chemistry
  teach courses without a major or minor and
  certification in their subject (NCES 99-00 data)
• Reliance on alternative route and visiting
  international faculty in rurals, but recent SRI
  study shows few career switchers from math and
  science to teaching (about 5 in 7 programs vs.
  42 in education or full-time students) and
  concerns about retention and quality

Math and Science Shortages Driven by Production
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• Rural areas particularly hard hit in ability to
  recruit qualified applicants
• In one of our studied districts the math faculty
  had to prepare lessons for a class staffed by
  subs all year long. Another had to bus students
  from one school to take science at another
• Acute challenges create limited applicant pools
  related to lifestyle, in field, access to
  expertise, etc.
• In general, see far greater similarities amongst
  teachers across subject and settings than
  differences

Rural areas are particularly hard hit by these
shortages of qualified applicants
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• While percentages who indicated a desire to leave
  teaching were similar, rural educators were far
  less likely to state an intention to move to
  another school (14.2 vs. 5.2 percent)
• Math and science slightly more likely to indicate
  that they would leave the profession (7.8 and 8.3
  percent vs. 6.9 percent) or move (15.2 and 14.6
  percent vs. 12.5 percent). Special education
  least likely to indicate that they would leave
  teaching
• Rural and urban were about as likely to express a
  willingness to teach at a hard-to-staff school.
  Fewer rural educators were undecided and more
  were steadfast in their unwillingness to go (42.7
  percent rural versus 34.2 percent urban)

Disparities Found in Math and Science Educators
in Alabama Survey Work
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Willingness to Teach in a HTSS

• More than half (58.3) would consider working in
  a HTSS with the right incentives

Source Hirsch, E. Recruiting and Retaining
Teachers in Alabama, CTQ, 2006. Survey of 4200
educators in 3 Alabama districts
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Educator Concerns About Teaching in a HTSS
Source Hirsch, E. Recruiting and Retaining
Teachers in Alabama, CTQ, 2006.
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Financial Incentives Can Work to Recruit to HTSS
Source Hirsch, E. Recruiting and Retaining
Teachers in Alabama, CTQ, 2006.
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Incentives Need to Match the Desires of Educators
to Move to High Needs Schools
Source Hirsch, E. Recruiting and Retaining
Teachers in Alabama, CTQ, 2006.
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But Non-Financial Incentives Will Work Better to
Recruit and Retain in HTSS
Source Hirsch, E. Recruiting and Retaining
Teachers in Alabama, CTQ, 2006.
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Teachers Look to Working Conditions When
Considering Where to Work
Source Hirsch, E. Recruiting and Retaining
Teachers in Alabama, CTQ, 2006.
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Teachers Look to Working Conditions When
Considering Where to Work
Source Hirsch, E. Recruiting and Retaining
Teachers in Alabama, CTQ, 2006.
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Working Conditions are Critical to Keeping
Teachers in Schools
Source Hirsch, E. Recruiting and Retaining
Teachers in Alabama, CTQ 2006
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Leadership is the Most Important Factor in
Retention Decisions for Teachers
Source Recruiting and Retaining Teachers in
Alabama, CTQ 2006
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• 1. Improve the pipeline of math and science
  teachers through program approval and targeted
  incentives
• Louisiana not only has quality, but quantity
  indicators for program approval with bonuses
  based on hard-to-staff subjects and schools.
  Faculty can lose professional development funds
  and eventually program approval based on yield
• Provide additional funding, support and
  incentives to programs that feed rural districts
  to develop partnerships, specialized programs and
  prepare additional math and science educators
• Ensure clinical placements are in diverse
  settings so the stigma of working in rural and
  HTSS
• Pipeline strategies (scholarship, loan
  forgiveness should target HTS schools and
  subjects)

State Policies to Recruit and Retain Math and
Science Teachers to Rural Areas
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• 2. Grow your own is particularly critical for
  rural areas as it is easier to attract and retain
  a teacher already in the community
• Teacher cadet program minimal investment,
  structure curriculum, college credit (SC)
• Fellows program or other structured partnerships
  with universities and as important community
  colleges (NC)
• Target paraprofessionals who are familiar with
  the community and the rigors of HTSS (CA) and
  consider additional incentives for math/science
  and other HTS subjects

State Policies to Support Improved Recruitment
and Retention Efforts
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• 3. Invest in technology to address critical
  content and support issues
• Virtual schools and distance learning
  opportunities for math and science content
  courses to ensure high quality teaching
• Virtual professional development in providing
  content-driven professional development and
  content-focused customized mentoring that meets
  the unique needs of rural math/science educators

State Policies to Support Improved Recruitment
and Retention Efforts
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• 4. Ensure rural districts can customize
  financial incentives to meet the needs of their
  unique challenges (and do not think they are the
  only solution)
• Provide an array of acceptable options that
  include a variety of potential incentives
  (signing bonus, retention bonus, housing, moving,
  M.A., tuition for children)
• Consider block grants, RFP, venture capital fund
  and other means of getting resources to support
  districts that allow for research-based
  innovation
• Financial incentives should be enough to have
  some likelihood of success, driven by local data
  and markets

State Policies to Support Improved Recruitment
and Retention Efforts
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• 5. Ensure non-financial incentives are part of
  the solution as they matter most to teachers
• Invest in high quality leadership (standards,
  preparation, evaluation, professional
  development)
• Empower educators through distributed leadership
  and collaborative time
• Content driven PD
• Customized mentoring and support that
  acknowledges the different needs and preparation
  levels of math/science teachers in rural areas

State Policies to Support Improved Recruitment
and Retention Efforts
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Where teachers are central to
improving schools
976 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, Ste. 250 Chapel
Hill, North Carolina 27514 (919)
951-0200 ehirsch_at_teachingquality.org www.teaching
quality.org www.teacherworkingconditions.org www.
teacherleaders.org