| A problem in American education is that rural schools have difficulty recruiting licensed teachers. Teacher shortages in mathematics, science, foreign language, and special education are more acute in rural areas. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive survey study was to examine specific recruiting strategies and newly hired licensed teachers' decisions to teach in rural or metropolitan Kansas. Barber and Rynes's theoretical model of recruitment suggests that 3 strategies increase attraction success: (a) improving recruitment practices; (b) altering employment inducements; and (c) targeting nontraditional applicants. Three research questions examined if there were differences in teachers' perceptions on the dependent variables of (a) financial incentives; (b) marketing materials, locale, and recruiting events; and (c) collegial networking, long-term student-focused activities, and alternative teaching options and type of newly-hired teacher, rural or metropolitan. Numeric data were collected from 278 teachers using a Teacher Recruitment Questionnaire. Data analysis strategies included descriptive statistics, means, standard deviation, frequency, z scores, normal Q-Q plots, and histograms. Analysis of variance found no significant differences in the independent variable of rural and metropolitan teachers' perceptions. The results revealed the recruitment strategies that were important to newly-hired teachers. Therefore recruitment plans should (a) make salary provisions a budgeting priority, (b) advertise the positive elements of the district and surrounding area, and (c) implement district orientation and mentoring programs to more effectively attract rural teachers. Social change will occur by providing opportunities for rural students to receive a quality education through strengthening rural districts' ability to hire licensed teachers. |
