Teacher Preparation Influences on New Teachers’ Decisions to Teach Rural: Insights from a Multi-Institutional Study

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: From Preparation to Leadership: Supporting Rural Teachers Through Identity, Networks, and Community

Abstract

Despite persistent STEM teacher shortages in rural areas, most teacher preparation programs (TPPs) remain place-neutral, offering little targeted preparation for rural teaching contexts. This study examines how rural-specific features are embedded across STEM-focused TPPs from 14 institutions across the US and the relationship, if any, of those features to new teachers’ employment in rural STEM teaching jobs during the first years of teaching. program data revealed that rural features were rarely integrated into curriculum, coursework, or institutional mission, and when present, were often peripheral or dependent on grant funding. Of ~220 new teachers surveyed in this study, 65% reported working in rural or small-town schools and 42% reported that rural field experiences influenced their decision to teach rural.

Authors

• Devon G. Brenner, Mississippi State University

• Diana Cumings Outlaw, Mississippi State University

• Dana P. Franz, Mississippi State University