Where Do We Teach? Factors Affecting the Workplace Choices of Diverse Teacher Candidates

• In Event: 45.049 - Understanding and Addressing the Teachers of Color Shortage for and From Diverse Communities

Abstract

While we know about challenges of hard-to-staff schools and retaining TOCs, less is known about diverse teacher candidates’ decision making processes related to potential workplaces. Previous work has explored how wages, geographic proximity and student diversity factors (e.g. race and poverty) impact teacher preference when choosing schools (Boyd, Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2005), however the links between teacher candidate (TC) racial demographics and potential workplace preferences have remained largely unexplored. This mixed-methods study of a large, urban, diverse teacher credentialing program draws from survey data to identify school-site factors important for diverse teacher candidates, and interview data to unpack how TCs and teachers from various racial groups negotiate their workplace preferences.

Authors

• Alejandra Priede Schubert, California State University - Long Beach

• Betina Hsieh, California State University - Long Beach