Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Karen D. Bowser
Committee Member
Rena E. Villa
Committee Member
Thomas J. Thompson
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Claudia Santin
Keywords
attrition, career advancement, career fairs, class sizes, colleges of education, cost of living, district personnel, e-recruiting, family and friends, Hillsborough County School District, job security, literature review, minority teachers, parental support, planning time, questionnaires, recruitment, retention, salary, school administrators, school districts, special education, student discipline, summer employment, support programs, teacher recruitment, teacher retention, teacher shortage, teacher supply and demand, training, vacancies
Abstract
Hillsborough County School District (HCSD), which in September 2002 was designated as the 10th largest district in the country, lacked a comprehensive plan to recruit and retain teachers. District staff demographic reports, teacher attrition reports, and continual posted vacancies of all special education subject areas indicated that minority teachers and special education teachers were in high demand but in short supply. The purpose of this applied dissertation project was to develop a teacher recruitment and retention action plan for the district.
Methodologies used to address the research questions included a comprehensive review of literature, focus group discussions with minority and special education teachers, administration and analysis of questionnaires, and the development of a comprehensive teacher recruitment and retention action plan.
Data analysis revealed the factors that influenced both minority and special education teachers to accept teaching positions with the HCSD were district personnel, location, family and friends, cost of living, and job security.
Both teacher groups indicated that better salary, smaller class sizes, improved student discipline, parental support and involvement, school administrators’ support, and career advancement were the major reasons teachers chose to remain in the district. Opportunities for summer employment and planning time with peers were other reasons that minority teachers gave for remaining in HCSD.
School district respondents indicated that e-recruiting and attending career fairs are effective ways to recruit teachers. The strategies cited most frequently as effective for retaining teachers were training, smaller class sizes, support programs, and recruiting from colleges of education.