Attrition of secondary agricultural education professionals is a major concern to the educational system in the United States. A number of studies have documented that attrition is a very serious problem, especially for beginning teachers during his or her first years on the job. As the need for teachers continues to grow, it becomes progressively more difficult for school administration to recruit, identify, and hire highly qualified secondary agricultural education teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the attrition risk factors among secondary agricultural education teachers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee and the region as a whole. Specifically, this study was designed to identify and describe secondary agricultural educators who are at-risk for leaving the profession based on the four constructs; alternative career opportunities, expectations versus realities, people frustrations and passions for the profession. In addition, the numbers of years of service and gender differences were examined. A stratified random sample (n = 583) of the population (N = 2,667) received the email questionnaire (33.6% response, n = 196). Participants were described as males (62%) having a minimum of a traditional four-year degree (73%) and an average of 13 years of teaching experience. The majority of secondary agricultural education teachers in the study possessed high levels of attrition risk as related to expectations versus realities, followed by moderate risks of alternative career opportunities and people frustrations. However, teachers in the study indicated a very low risk for attrition when analyzing passions for the profession. Participants indicated the state of residence had no significant implication on the overall risk of attrition, alternative career opportunities, expectations versus realities, or passions for the profession. Statistically significant results were on the construct, people frustrations, between Georgia and Mississippi and Georgia and Tennessee. Overall, the region was assessed as a moderate risk of attrition (M = 2.76). No significant relationships were found between sex and attrition risk, or number of years in the profession and attrition risk.

In America urban school systems have encountered difficulties retaining teachers. The ramification of teacher attrition is that the neediest students are often taught by those with the least educational experience. The purpose of this study was to determine the implications of Virginia teacher licensure regulations on teacher retention in Lighthouse City Public Schools. The study addressed four research questions: 1) "What factors influence the retention of teachers in Lighthouse City Public Schools? 2) Is it possible to predict demographically by race, gender, age, grade level of teaching assignment or licensure preparation program which groups or sub-groups of people are more likely or less likely to leave a school system? 3) Does the licensure preparation program influence retention? 4) Were the Virginia licensure requirements the reasons cited for the departure of teachers in 2004, 2005, and 2006? The research focused an urban school system in southeastern Virginia with approximately 33,000 students. The population was 361 teachers hired for the 2003 school year. A researcher developed survey was electronically mailed to the still employed teachers, and a mailed survey was sent to all the teachers who had left the school system. A multiple regression was performed on the demographic data to try to predict teacher retention or attrition. The results of the multiple regression indicated that statistically (p<.01) only the variable of licensure could be a predictor of retention. All of the survey respondents agreed that a strong principal was the key to retention. Urban school systems are challenged by local standards, state standards, and No Child Left Behind mandates, and compounding the difficulties is on-going teacher loss. It is imperative that school system leaders provide new teacher support and time for the inexperienced to learn how to become excellent. Teachers are not expendable; students are at stake. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether College of Education graduates who sought and secured employment as teachers differed on the academic variables of grade point average, student teaching evaluation, and professional recommendations from those who were not successful at securing such employment. A comprehensive review of related literature was conducted, focusing on three aspects of the employment situation: (1) teacher supply and demand, (2) the selection process, and (3) the role played by academic criteria in the selection process. A study was conducted in which students who were successful in finding teaching positions were compared with those who were not successful, on the academic variables of grade point average, student teaching evaluation, and professional recommendations. Demographic data were also collected and analyzed. The subjects were sixty-three randomly selected students from the May 19 80 graduating class of the College of Education, North Texas State University, Denton, Texas. For purposes of statistical analysis, the students were divided into the following three groups: Group A (those who successfully sought employment as teachers), Group B (those who sought such employment but were not successful), and Group C (those who did not seek employment as teachers).

Malawi, as a country with very limited resources, needs to have educational policies in place to maximize effectiveness of the public education system. Policymakers depend on accurate data, but variations in data between sources leaves policymakers uncertain as they attempt to craft policies to address the growing educational crisis in Malawi. A desk study was performed to evaluate the policy implications of employing data from multiple sources using primary school teacher supply and demand in Malawi as an illustration. This study examined one national organization, Malawi's Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MoEST); three international aid and assistance organizations (IAAOs), including The Department for International Development (DIFD) from the UK, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); and one global organization, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNSECO). The study documented differences and similarities between the data sources. Among the factors considered were the nature of each institution and the effect it could have on data collection, aggregation, analysis and reporting; the definitions used by each organization, and their implications for data use; and each organization's methods of collection, aggregation, analysis and reporting. The study found significant variations in the teacher supply and demand data presented by the five organizations, with variations of up to 333% between sources. To address this problem, it is recommended that the Government of Malawi (GoM) establish a central agency to standardize education data. Three policy scenarios are detailed, presenting the probable outcome of various actions the GoM could take regarding this recommendation.