Recruitment and Retention of Agriculture Teachers in the Southeast: An Empirical Analysis of the STAR Program

Abstract

This article describes the collaborative efforts of various state and national agencies working together to recruit and retain agriculture teachers in the states of Kentucky, South Carolina, and Ohio. We contrast multiple measures of recruitment and retention in these states with those from the comparator states of Arkansas, West Virginia, and Alabama. The strategies outlined market to new agriculture teachers and maintain current teachers in the profession targeting work-life balance, emotional, physical and social health. These have been a focal point in the federal State Teach Ag Results (STAR) program, but the effects of participation in STAR on recruitment and retention require additional investigation. Using a difference-in-differences regression model, we assume parallel trends and no spillovers (SUTVA) between participating and non-participating states in the Southeastern US and Ohio Valley regions to model changes in multiple measures of recruitment and retention of agriculture teachers. We find a positive and significant effect of STAR participation on recruitment, an insignificantly positive effect of participation on retention, and an insignificantly negative impact of participation on creation of new agricultural positions in public schools. Our results suggest that recruitment is lagged behind existing positions, which necessitates further work investigating new policy aimed at filling those positions before creating any new ones.

The Effectiveness of Interventions to Increase Employment in Education and Healthcare: A Systematic Literature Review

“…A total of 11 studies could not be distinctly grouped into one of the preceding categories and will therefore be summarized individually. Retrieved studies addressing teacher turnover cover various types of schools (Barrett et al, 2022;Hensvik, 2012;Roch & Montague, 2021), the extension of the probationary period (Goldhaber et al, 2016), a strategy for alternative teacher preparation (Curran, 2017;Hansen et al, 2016), and recruitment and retention initiatives (Guffey & Young, 2020). In the healthcare context, we retrieved isolated studies on a parental leave program (Friedrich & Hackmann, 2021), staffing requirements (Chen & Grabowski, 2015;Han et al, 2021), and insurance reimbursement policies (He et al, 2020).…”

“…The STAR program explored by Guffey and Young (2020) Effects on retention as well as the placement of fewer new vacancies were insignificant. compensation of 80 percent of unemployment benefits.…”

Personal resilience of first-year, alternatively certified agriscience teachers

“…The recruitment and retention of agriculture teachers has been a long-standing issue (Guffey & Young, 2020). Data collected in 2019 from state agricultural education supervisors nationwide indicated more than 25% of new hires were either alternatively certified or not currently licensed (Foster et al, 2020).…”

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A wide range of challenges continues to exist in delivering school-based agricultural education (SBAE) programs. Among the most pressing challenges are the recruitment and retention of high-quality agriculture teachers (Guffey & Young, 2020). Teacher educators and researchers in SBAE are tasked with meeting the nationwide demand for teachers, while also better understanding the status of alternatively certified agriculture teachers (Foster et al, 2020).

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