PhD Student University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Abstract: Across the United States, teacher retention rates are staggeringly low and impacts all type of public school systems, which includes urban, suburban and rural school districts. Over 50% of teachers leave the education field within the first five years of employment (Ingersoll, 2002), so it is critical to explore the challenges and strategies that schools face with recruitment and retention of teachers. The teaching staff is the most valuable resource located in a rural school district, to it is imperative to understand why it is difficult to recruit and retain qualified teachers to the rural schools. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine a rural school district in Champaign County, Illinois, with the intention of better understanding the challenges and complexities they face and the strategies used with highly qualified teacher recruitment and retention in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) from the perspective of the superintendent, principal and highly qualified teachers that have remained in the rural school district for five years or more. The largest shortage is among teachers who are qualified and willing to teach in traditionally hard-to-staff schools (Ingersoll, 2002). Rural schools encounter challenges associated with racial segregation, geographic isolation, limited resources in the school and community (Johnson & Strange, 2007). Building on the Social Exchange Theory (SET), this study looked at the relationships between human resource management and rural communities and their impact on teacher retention. The data collection process consists of semi-structured, open-ended interviews of four teachers, a principal and the superintendent to gain their perspectives about what influences the higher teacher retention and challenges the rural school faces with recruiting and retention of teachers. Four rural communities make up the school district in this study. The reasons for teachers to accept positions in this rural school district (small school, family, etc.) was different than the influences of what keeps the teachers to remain in the rural school (close-knit community, flexibility to create new courses, etc.). The findings of this study suggests that the four rural communities that make up this school district play a critical role to keep the teacher retention rate high. The findings provide a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by a rural school with recruitment and retention, and the strategies used for recruitment and retention. The fundamental conclusion of the case study was recruitment efforts need to be more formalized, reach a more diverse population, and have a formal induction program to provide consistency. In addition, retention efforts need to include a variety of initiatives to meet the varying desires of rural school educators.
References: Ingersoll, R. M. (2002). The Teacher Shortage: A Case of Wrong Diagnosis and Wrong Prescription. NASSP Bulletin, 86(631), 16–31. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1177/019263650208663103 Johnson, J., & Strange, M. (2007). Why rural matters 2007: The realities of rural education growth. Washington, D.C.: The Rural School and Community Trust.
