Attracting and Retaining Special Educators in Rural and Small Schools: Issues and Solutions

Abstract The author of this article describes the challenges of recruiting, orienting, and retaining qualified special education teachers in rural and small schools. Through a review of the literature, the issues are defined and then successful strategies used by school districts are proposed as solutions. Why do small and rural school district administrators find it so difficult to attract and retain qualified special education teachers? How do small and rural district administrators compete with larger, urban peers? What can district personnel do to retain their teachers? These questions are being asked by administrators in many small and rural districts throughout the country. How can we find the answers? In a review of the literature concerning the needs of beginning teachers in small and rural school districts, it was shown that the needs of these teachers differ significantly from the needs of teachers who begin their careers in urban and suburban districts that employ a much larger number of teachers and have greater resources (Marrs, 1983). The segment of the educational system represented by rural and small schools is sizeable, and the problems they face are real and deserve attention. There are approximately 12,000 small and rural school districts in the United States which account for approximately 67% of all schools. Approximately 500,000 students (35% of all students) attend small schools. Approximately 50,000 teachers are employed. More than 25% of all school districts enroll less than 300 students (Swift, 1984). The data reported concerning teacher attrition rates are demonstrative of serious problems: Twenty-six percent of new teachers leave the profession after their first two years, and sixty percent of all teachers leave after their first five years of teaching (Henry, 1986). The two most frequently cited reasons are that they leave to accept jobs that pay more, and they are unable to cope with the problems of teaching (Henry, 1986, p. 17). The concerns that beginning teachers share are problems with classroom management, student discipline, making the adjustment to the physical demands of teaching, and managing the instructional demands of teaching. Other problems cited include difficulties managing interpersonal relationships with parents and staff, the sacrifice of leisure time, and justification of work demands to others outside the workplace (Myton, 1984, p. 8). Muse and Thomas (1992) note, "Rural teachers have to be well-organized in their class planning and use of resources; they may have to be more innovative with fewer resources" (p. 55). Who has the power to solve these problems? Certainly teachers and prospective special educators themselves, but, also those preparing to assume administrative positions in rural and small schools share responsibility for designing solutions. In the literature, it is shown that administrators in the field find the current level of preparation for the tasks such as recruitment, orientation, and retention of teachers in rural and small schools to be inadequate. Muse, Thomas, and Newbold (1989) reported that 23% of rural principals surveyed said that what was presented in graduate programs about rural school administration was poor. Thirty-four percent reported that the special problems faced in rural and small schools were not even discussed. When surveyed (Lemke, 1991), many program directors indicated they felt the issues of recruitment, orientation, and retention in rural and small schools were important, but they did not have the resources on their campus to develop a course or module to address these issues in their programs. The information in this article will be helpful to rural and small school district administrators and school board members who are experiencing difficulties with recruitment, orientation, and retention of their teaching staff. Helge (1981) surveyed special education administrators in 22 states and found that the difficulties they had in recruiting qualified special educators was the most prevalent problem in implementing Public Law 94-142. …