What are we trying to do?

This is a multidisciplinary and Multi- institutional study focusing on the teacher workforce, specifically attrition, recruitment, and retention of teachers in North Carolina. Funded by the UNC Collaboratory, we aim to explore several different facets of the teacher workforce. This includes a survey of private colleges in North Carolina that provide Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) and a survey of human resource directors at each NC public school district. We also examined the last 10 years of attrition data and teacher working conditions data.  Finally, we are undertaking a survey of current teachers in NC public school districts.

 

Who are we?

Led by Lorrie Schmid, the team includes members from Duke’s Social Science Research Institute, Duke’s Program in Education, Duke’s Teach House, Lenoir Rhyne University, and North Carolina Independent Colleges & Universities.

 

Duke Social Science Research Institute:
Lorrie Schmid
Jessica Sperling
Adrian Brown
Doreet Preiss
Lauren Whittaker

 

Duke Program in Education:
Scott Holcomb
Kristen Stephens
Morgan Carney

 

Duke Undergraduates:
Kennedy Wallace
Jiae Kim
Carly Blank
Isabella Arango

 

Duke TeachHouse:
Jan Riggsbee

 

NC Independent Colleges & Universities:
Tom West
Denise Adams

 

Lenoir Rhyne University:
Hank Weddington

 

What have we completed so far?

We have completed the first two phases of the study.  Below are links to the work completed thus far, but the study is ongoing and more will be shared in the future.

 

EPP Deans Study

EPP Deans White Paper (pdf)

The EPP Deans Study included information on pre-service teachers at the 31 North Carolina private and independent colleges and universities that make up NCICU. Twenty of the 31 schools took part in the survey and 29 of 31 took part in the structured dialogues.

Findings included:

• The pandemic exacerbated existing challenges with recruiting students to EPPs, particularly for diverse candidates, and programs are using a range of strategies to address these challenges.
• Students are most likely to withdraw from the EPP before beginning student teaching.
• Teacher candidates most often withdraw from the program due to failure to meet program gateways or transition points (e.g., licensure examinations) and anticipated low salary.
• Teacher candidates and new teachers need more support as they transition into the workforce, particularly during the pandemic.
• Mental health and well-being contribute to teacher candidate and licensed teacher attrition. The mental health related challenges candidates experienced increased during the pandemic and EPPs employed a variety of interventions to address mental health related issues.
• Navigating the numerous pathways to licensure poses challenges for EPPs and teacher candidates.
• EPP and LEA relationships have implications for teacher candidate transitions to the classroom and these relationships could be instrumental in recruitment and retention issues.

HR Directors Study

HR Directors White Paper (pdf)

The HR directors study focused on 56 respondents to a survey sent to all 115 public school districts, focused on attrition, recruitment and retention of teachers. Findings include:

• Recruitment, retention, and licensure requirements all increased as challenges during the pandemic.
• Teacher attrition increased during the pandemic and the reasons for this varied by school type.
• Teacher recruitment continues to be essential to help mitigate teacher turnover and fill new positions in the district, with some types of teachers being harder to recruit and some strategies for recruitment appearing to be more effective.
• Ensuring that teachers remain in their positions is becoming increasingly crucial for reducing turnover, especially considering that certain groups of teachers are more challenging to retain and that specific retention strategies yield better results.
• There are variations in teacher turnover, recruitment, and retention by region.
• Districts require innovative programs to support teacher workforce needs in terms of recruitment and retention.
• HR departments experience challenges with alternative licensure pathways for teaching staff.

Understanding Teacher Attrition Over Time

 

Teacher Survey

Presently, we are fielding a teacher survey with current teachers who have stayed in a district over time and those that choose to work in different districts over time.  The survey will be sent to approximately 10,000 teachers in North Carolina starting September 3^rd and data collection will continue until mid-November.

 

Who can I contact with questions?

For any general questions about the project, please contact the team at teacher_survey@duke.edu

 

If you have any questions about the IRB or specific issues, feel free to contact Lorrie Schmid at schmid@duke.edu  or 919-681-7136

 

If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, you may contact the Human Subjects Committee at Duke University at campusIRB@duke.edu or (919) 684-3030. If contacting the IRB, please reference protocol ID #2023-0228

 

EPP Deans White Paper (pdf)
Supplementary Materials (pdf)
HR Directors White Paper (pdf)

 

Want more info, have a question, or want to collaborate? Please reach out to our team.

 

A collaboration between Duke University’s Social Science Research Institute and the Program in Education as well as engagement with two external stakeholders: the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU) and Dr. Hank Weddington, Dean of Education and Human Services at Lenoir-Rhyne University.