O’Keefe, Joseph M

English

Loyola Marymount University

Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiryand PracticeVolume 3 | Issue 4 Article 106-1-2000Research on Teacher Recruitment and RetentionJoseph M. O’KeefeFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ceThis Review of Research is brought to you for free with open access by the School of Education at Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount Universityand Loyola Law School. It has been accepted for publication in Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice by the journal's editorial boardand has been published on the web by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. Formore information about Digital Commons, please contact digitalcommons@lmu.edu. To contact the editorial board of Catholic Education: A Journalof Inquiry and Practice, please email CatholicEdJournal@lmu.edu.Recommended CitationO’Keefe, J. M. (2000). Research on Teacher Recruitment and Retention. Journal of Catholic Education, 3 (4). Retrieved fromhttps://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ce/vol3/iss4/10533REVIEW OF RESEARCHRESEARCH ON TEACHER RECRUITMENTAND RETENTIONJOSEPH M. O'KEEFE, S.J.Associate Professor, Boston College1999-2000 Visiting Associate Professor and Jesuit Chair in Education,Georgetown UniversityAt a recent national conference on teacher quality. Secretary of EducationRichard Riley said:If I could boil down the biggest challenge to K-12 education in one sentence,it would be this: "We've got a record number of children to teach, and ashortage of qualified teachers." Many school districts are reporting the worstshortages of qualified teachers in memory, particularly in math, science,special education, and bilingual education. It's gotten so bad that someschools have been forced to put any warm body in front of a classroom. Ithas been estimated that 250,000 teachers are working without proper prepa-ration in course content, or without any kind of training in how to teach.Even well-prepared teachers are being forced to teach "out of field." (Riley,2000)A recent study of the teacher shortage through the academic year 2008-2009 substantiates the secretary's claim. And it reports that 568,000 newlyhired teachers are projected to be needed for private schools from 1998-1999until 2008-2009 (Hussar, 1999). Moreover, Catholic educators from aroundthe country have concurred with the predictable scenario—as the vacanciesin public schools increase and differentials in remuneration remain as high asthey are, the effect on Catholic schools could be very serious indeed(O'Keefe, 1999).In light of the concern about teacher recruitment and retention, threerecent studies related to new teachers will be reviewed here. They all camefrom publications of the American Educational Research Association. Thefirst article, written by Richard M. IngersoU (1998) of the University ofCatholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice, Vol. 3. No. 4, June 2000. 533-539©2000 Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice534 Catholic Education/June 2000Georgia, examines the phenomenon of underqualified teachers in secondaryschools. The second, by Marvin Wideen of Simon Fraser University, JolieMayer-Smith of the University of British Columbia, and Barbara Moon(1998) of the University College of the Fraser Valley, reviews the research onlearning to teach. The third, by Ken Zeichner (1999) of the University ofWisconsin-Madison, reviews new scholarship on teacher education. It ishoped that these articles will help Catholic educators to think imaginativelyabout ways to bring new high-quality teachers into schools, and to create cir-cumstances that will foster their vocation in the long term.There is a shortage of people taking teaching jobs, but the problem islarger than that. In his article, "The Problem of Underqualified Teachers inAmerican Secondary Schools," IngersoU (1998) demonstrates that a verylarge number of teachers are assigned subjects in which they have neither amajor, a minor, nor even a state certificate. He explains the phenomenon ofout-of-field teaching: how much of it goes on; to what extent it varies acrossdifferent subjects, across different kinds of schools, and across differentkinds of classrooms. He then speculates on the reasons why it continues.IngersoU relies heavily on the federal School and Staffing Survey, last con-ducted in the 1993-1994 academic year (a round of data collection is goingon during the 1999-2000 academic year). Table 1 gives a summary of hisfindings.Table 1Percentage of Secondary School Teachers in Each Field Without aMajor or Minor in the FieldPRIVATE25.742.023.034.053.923.953.1With the exception of physical sciences (a slightly lower percentage inprivate schools) and math (a significantly higher level in private schools), thetwo sectors face the same problem. There are, predictably, differences with-in sectors. IngersoU explains that in most fields, teachers in high-povertyschools are more likely to be teaching out of field than are teachers in moreaffluent areas. He continues:FIELDEnglishMathScienceLife SciencePhysical ScienceSocial StudiesHistorySource: IngersoU, 1998, p. 28.PUBLIC24.131.419.933.156.919.353.1REVIEW OF RESEARCH 535Small schools (fewer than 300 students) have higher levels of out-of-fieldteaching in each of the core academic fields than do larger schools (600 ormore). This gap is especially striking in the private sector. In a number offields, large private schools have among the lowest overall levels of out-of-field teaching. On the other hand, small private schools (which representover 80% of all private schools) have the highest levels. (IngersoU, 1998, p.30)In speculating why this practice is so widespread, he echoes the lamentof many about the low status of the teaching profession:The comparison with traditional professions is stark. Few would require car-diologists to deliver babies, chemical engineers to design bridges, or sociol-ogy professors to teach English. The commonly held assumption is that suchtraditional professions require a great deal of skill or training—that is,expertise—and hence, specialization is assumed unnecessary. (IngersoU,1998, p. 35)The strength of Ingersoll's (1998) argument is in the presentation ofthought-provoking data. Less persuasive is his argument for improvement.He argues the obvious—teachers need more professional respect. But he doesnot offer any creative plans to overcome the situation. Second, he equatesquality teaching with academic credentials. While such a link is plausible, thereader would benefit from more detailed studies of what actually happens inclassrooms. Finally, it is interesting that his study completely neglects theteaching of foreign language.Wideen, Mayer-Smith, and Moon (1998) review 93 empirical studies onlearning how to teach in their article "A Critical Analysis of the Research onLearning to Teach: Making the Case for the Ecological Approach." Theauthors use a helpful framework to analyze teacher education literature.Studies are categorized by subject area, the largest being prior beliefs, fol-lowed by program monitoring, short-term interventions, long-term interven-tions, student teaching, and first year. The review supports the contention ofmany educators and politicians that most teacher education programs arequite ineffective. Yet there are lessons to be learned from these programs.First, induction is key because beliefs about teaching are well establishedbefore a student goes to college. A necessary first step in the inductionprocess is autobiographical refiection: What are the images, patterns, andtechniques that the prospective teachers carry with them after more than 16years of observing teachers as students? The authors quote Britzman, whodescribed implicit institutional biographies in the cumulative experience ofschool lives that contribute to well-worn and common-sense images of theteacher's work (Wideen et al., 1998). In fact, the authors found that the mostcommon recommendation made by researchers in the studies we reviewed536 Catholic Education/June 2000was that having beginning teachers examine their prior beliefs was an essen-tial first step in the process.Second, effective programs are idiosyncratic; there is no one best way toprepare future teachers. Yet, some positive elements do emerge. The authorsstate that the program features that appeared to best support beginning teach-ers were constant and significant support, working with cohort groups, and asystematic long-term message that provides some guidance and direction forpersonal development (Wideen et al., 1998). Each teacher and each programmust be seen in their particular contexts, thus the ecological perspective.Third, the authors notice an ethnic and racial mismatch between prospec-tive teachers and their students. They state that in many settings researchersnotice a homogeneous population of beginning teachers attempting to learnhow to teach a heterogeneous population of students in schools (Wideen etal., 1998). Furthermore, this issue of ethnic divide has often gone unattendedin teacher preparation programs.Finally, Wideen, Mayer-Smith, and Moon (1998) notice a shift in the roleof the university. In the past, prospective teachers experienced knowledge ina compartmentalized and decontextualized way. The authors explain:The implicit theory underlying traditional teacher education was based on atraining model in which the university provides the theory, methods andskills; the schools provide the setting in which the knowledge is practiced;and the beginning teacher provides the individual effort to apply suchknowledge, (p. 167)The Wideen, Mayer-Smith, and Moon (1998) article is especially helpfulfor those who hire teachers with little or no formal professional training in auniversity. Hiring untrained teachers has been common in Catholic schoolsfor a long time and is now becoming more frequent in public systems, espe-cially those that acutely experience the teacher shortage. The school isbecoming the primary site for teacher preparation. Many of the lessons out-lined in this article, gleaned from the experience in schools of education,apply as well to elementary and secondary schools that induct and mentornew members of the teaching profession. And as school administrators andteachers take on the role of teacher training, it behooves them to be conver-sant with the literature. Wideen, Mayer-Smith, and Moon provide an impor-tant service but try to cover too much ground in one article. Moreover, theirrecommendations for improvement are rather vague.In "The New Scholarship in Teacher Education," Zeichner (1999) exam-ines the research on teacher education since 1978. The author explains thatbefore 1978 very few researchers actually looked at the process of teachereducation as it happened over time and how teachers and student teachersinterpreted and gave meaning to the preservice and professional developmentprograms they experienced. The author notes a shift from positivistic studiesREVIEW OF RESEARCH 537to broader range, qualitative inquiry. The latter is more respectful of the com-plexity of activity of teacher education and teachers as intelligent beingscapable of purposeful thought.Zeichner (1999) uses five categories to organize the literature on teachereducation: survey research; case studies of teacher education programs; con-ceptual and historical research; studies of leaming to teach; and examinationsof the nature and impact of teacher education activities, including self-studyresearch.Like many of his colleagues, Zeichner (1999) prefaces his review of theliterature with an observation about the low status of teacher education, bothin the university and among practitioners. He then describes important find-ings that come from the five research categories. The most notable follow.Surveys substantiate the phenomenon of ethnic mismatch described ear-lier; as a result, teacher educators must ensure that newcomers learn culturalsensitivity through exposure to cultures other than their own and carefulscrutiny of their own prejudices.Case studies, especially those that have a longitudinal dimension, offerhelpful concrete examples of programs that work. As opposed to the pre-197 8paradigm, this work provides a close-up and detailed look at particularteacher education activities and shows what a teacher education programlooks like from the inside, from the perspective of students and faculty. Thesecarefully detailed studies of practice often describe situations very differentfrom those suggested by course bulletins and catalogues (Zeichner, 1999, p.9).Research that does not include empirical study of current realities, whatZeichner labels conceptual or historical, has articulated the long-standingdebate in teacher education between a concentration on teaching methods anda focus on specialized disciplinary knowledge. This genre of research hasalso brought to light critical perspectives which include the pervasiveness ofa market mentality in a capitalist culture, lingering effects of racism, and thecentrality of gender roles in determining the work and status of teachers.Studies of learning to teach illuminate the dynamics of the process in var-ious settings. It is clear that one size does not fit all. Nonetheless, certain ele-ments of success emerge (Zeichner, 1999): organizing students into cohortgroups; new and more connected relationships between school-based andcampus-based courses; using assessment tools (i.e., portfolios) that are morecomprehensive than standardized examinations; service-learning experiencesthat expose students to local culture and need; and the use of case studies andnarrative that help prospective teachers examine the beliefs and attitudes thatthey bring into the classroom.Finally, Zeichner (1999) offers helpful insights about the business ofteacher education. He provides insight into the politics of the AmericanEducational Research Association in its turf issues and hierarchies. The ere-538 Catholic Education/JunQ 2000ation of a distinct strand for teacher educators is called Division K and hasallowed much of the new research to flourish. He examines the internal pol-itics of the universities, where teacher education programs have long beencash cows, divisions that have large income from tuition but low salaries andhigh teaching loads for professors. He describes the dynamics of book pub-lishing, mostly an English-only option because of the demands of the marketand publishers' desire for profitability. The article is thought provoking andinformative. However, it is unfortunate that Zeichner offers no relief from theself-pitying tone of much teacher education literature that blames others as itbemoans the discipline's lack of status in the academy, in state houses, and inschools.SOME CONCLUDING THOUGHTSDuring the 1994-1995 academic year, the National Center for EducationStatistics conducted its periodic study of teachers, those who have stayed andthose who have left the profession. It asked those who left to name the threemajor reasons for their departure. The leading reasons were: poor studentmotivation to learn (17.6% public and 5.7% private); student discipline(17.9% public and 10.5% private); poor opportunity for professionaladvancement (3.5% public and 14.6% private); and lack of recognition andsupport from the administration (13.8% public and 30.2% private) (Whiteneret al., 1997, p. 15). The figures, especially those regarding recognition andsupport from private-school administrators, are challenging indeed.In light of the teacher shortage in both numbers and quality and themovement to school-based teacher education, administrators will need tooffer more recognition and support. They face new and important responsi-bilities for teacher training and retention. Articles such as the ones reviewedhere offer a way forward.Catholic educators have some unique advantages as they move ahead.For example, the Catholic understanding of vocation provides a frameworkfor reflection on one's past history, which has been identified as the crucialstarting point in teacher education. The focus on community in Catholic edu-cation provides opportunities for support networks and shared refiection,which have been so helpful in the teacher-education cohort model. Catholicsocial teaching, with its clear statements on the sinfulness of racism and itsstance on the dignity of people from all cultures, can address the ethnic mis-match that so many studies identify. Finally, the Catholic school, which hasenjoyed a long tradition of site-based management based on subsidiarity andwhich is free from many govemmental constraints, is well suited for this eraof experimentation and change.REVIEW OF RESEARCH 539REFERENCESHussar. W. J. (1999). Predicting the need for newly hired teachers in the United States to 2008-09. (NCES 1999-026). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Centerfor Education Statistics.IngersoU, R. M. (1998). The problem of underqualified teachers in American secondaryschools. Educational Researcher, 28(2), 26-37.O'Keefe, J. M. (1999). Creative resourcing for Catholic schools: The critical issue of hiring andretaining high-quality teachers. Momentum, 30(4). 54-58.Riley, R. (2000, January 9). Remarks. National Conference on Teacher Quality. Washington,DC. [On-line]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/01-2000/20000l09.htmlWhitener. S. D., Gruber, K. J., Lynch, H.. Tingoes, K., Perona, M.. & Fondelier, S. (1997).Characteristics of stayers, movers and leavers: Results from the teacher follow-up surx'ey:1994-1995. (NCES 97-450). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, NationalCenter for Education Statistics.Wideen, M., Mayer-Smith. J., & Moon. B. (1998). A critical analysis of the research on learn-ing to teach: Making the case for an ecological perspective on inquiry. Review ojEducatiotial Research, 68(2), 130-178.Zeichner, K. (1999). The new scholarship in teacher education. Edticational Researcher, 28(9),4-15.

Research on Teacher Recruitment and Retention

O’Keefe, SJ, Joseph M.

Boston College: Open Journal Systems

https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1188&amp;context=ce

Research on Teacher Recruitment and Retention

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Loyola Marymount University

Boston College: Open Journal Systems