Attracting Beginning Teachers: The Incentives and Organizational Characteristics that Matter.

Abstract

Concern about teacher shortages has been widespread in the last decade. Numerous reports have focused attention on the issue in the United States where the shortage is particularly acute in specific teaching specialties and in urban and rural schools (Hirsch, Koppich, & Knapp, 2001; Murphy 8c Novak, 2002; United States Department of Education, 2004; Urban Teacher Collaborative, 2000). Attempts to alleviate the shortage have taken place at multiple levels. Some have focused on the attrition rate of new teachers and recommended attention to the mentoring and development of new teachers in order to keep them in the profession (Ingersoll, 2001; Johnson, Verg, & Donaldson, 2005). Other responses have centered on methods to attract more beginning teachers, such as providing alternative routes to teacher certification in order to increase the general pool of certified teachers available to apply for positions (NCEI, 2006). In some locations, extra compensation is provided for geographic areas or subject areas where there are shortages (e.g., North Carolina's Math, Science, and Special Education program). Policy changes such as these, made at federal and state levels, may increase the pool of teachers by making access to teaching easier or providing rewards that are greater than other competing occupations, but the problem for local authorities remains: school districts must attract potential teachers to apply for positions in their particular organizations. To put it another way, the educational sector must compete with other sectors of the economy in order to draw talented individuals into the teaching profession; and within the educational sector, different employers compete against each other for qualified teachers. We presume that school districts generally seek larger pools of applicants in order to maximize the possibilities of hiring highly qualified teachers. Therefore, school districts with teaching vacancies adopt strategies to increase the number of applications they receive for teaching vacancies. Evidence of these strategies appears in newspaper advertisements, school district attendance at recruiting fairs, and school district partnerships with teacher training institutions that provide desirable beginning teachers. Understanding what new teachers seek in a teaching position could enable school districts to target their recruitment strategies more effectively, but there is little research to guide these efforts. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that are salient to new teachers when they consider where (that is, in which school districts) to submit applications for positions. Understanding these factors could help school district administrators to target recruitment materials to address salient factors as well as to make predictions about how operational decisions might impact potential applicants. These decisions include where to allocate resources (e.g., to salaries or to mentoring programs) and how to address working conditions that might dissuade candidates. For example, if (as currently employed teachers may claim) limits on out-ofclass student supervision duties were found to be salient to applicants' decisions, school districts may want to reassign these duties to paraprofessionale as a means to attract applicants. On the other hand, if duty limits are relatively less important to beginning teachers, resources might be devoted to beginning teaching salaries or to mentoring and teacher support. Prior Research With regard to the private sector, Rynes and Barber (1990) cited three areas employers might address to advance recruitment objectives: improving the recruitment practices, targeting nontraditional applicants, and modifying the employment inducements. Rynes (1991) also points out that employers decide whether and where to advertise positions, the resources directed toward recruiting, application procedures, and timing of the hiring process. She noted the importance of job vacancy characteristics and the dearth of research on them across all employers: One set of employer decisions that merits closer scrutiny concerns the determination of vacancy characteristics such as pay, hours, working conditions, benefits, and perquisites. …