Understanding Recruitment, Preparation, and Retention in the Field

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Strategic Plan includes educator recruitment and retention as a priority area. To address this important area, the department is always seeking to better understand the factors that influence individuals to prepare for, enter, and leave the teaching profession. To further this goal, the Walton Family Foundation helped support a comprehensive study of teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention in Missouri.

Strategy and policy organization Education First was engaged to complete this work. Although the organization communicated often with DESE personnel to better understand the state context, and the department assisted researchers with developing questions and identifying individuals for interviews and focus groups, the researchers carried out their work independently. The study took place over several months in the spring and summer of 2024, with the goal being to “to better understand the challenges and opportunities for strengthening teacher pipelines across Missouri”. The work included desk research, quantitative data analysis, interviews, focus groups, and surveys.

The study produced a great deal of data from which multiple conclusions may be drawn. A few examples include the following.

• Negative perceptions of teaching impede recruitment.
• Percentages of vacancies and inappropriately certified teachers are highest in remote rural and large city LEAs.
• Access to educator preparation programs is not equitably distributed, geographically.
• Financial barriers constrain the supply of teachers during preparation.
• Preparation curriculum is sometimes an unnecessary obstacle.
• A large percentage of program completers never enter the Missouri public school workforce.

The public is invited to review the document linked below. This final report presents the results of the study as well as recommendations for steps that might be taken in response. The department is disseminating the results to various interested parties and is developing plans to strengthen teacher recruitment and retention efforts informed by this new information. 

Strengthening Missouri’s Teacher Pipeline: Understanding Recruitment, Preparation, and Retention in the Field.