Rural Schools Growing Their Own Teachers Atop the Llano Estacado

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Unearthing the Cultural Nature of Clinical Practice in Teacher Education (Table 10)

Abstract

Rural schools have long faced difficulty attracting and retaining certified teachers, particularly in licensure areas such as bilingual education. To lend insight into possible solutions, the current study is a phenomenological analysis of the reports of 16 Teacher Candidates enrolled in a grow-your-own model teacher education program serving the rural West Texas panhandle. Findings indicate that the most common reasons held by participants for wanting to teach in rural schools were having personally attended rural schools, having already worked in rural schools, and already living in the area. Further, findings suggest that the driving resource these Teacher Candidates identify is Rural Familialism, defined as the inter-generational wisdom and resources passed down in rural communities.

Authors

• Catherine A. Lammert, Texas Tech University

• Janie Ramos, Texas Tech University