REL Southwest Ask A REL Response
Teacher Workforce:
Characteristics of Returning Teachers
October 2019
Question:
What are the characteristics of certified teachers who re-enter the teaching profession after resigning?
Response:
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Thank you for the question you submitted to our REL Reference Desk. We have prepared the following memo with research references to help answer your question. For each reference, we provide an abstract, excerpt, or summary written by the study’s author or publisher. Following an established Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southwest research protocol, we conducted a search for research reports as well as descriptive study articles on characteristics of certified teachers who re-enter the teaching profession after resigning.
We have not evaluated the quality of references and the resources provided in this response. We offer them only for your reference. Also, we searched the references in the response from the most commonly used resources of research, but they are not comprehensive, and other relevant references and resources may exist. References provided are listed in alphabetical order, not necessarily in order of relevance. We do not include sources that are not freely available to the requestor.
Research References
DeAngelis, K. J. (2013). A look at returning teachers. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 21(13), 1–34. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1015333
Grissom, J. A., & Reininger, M. (2012). Who comes back? A longitudinal analysis of the reentry behavior of exiting teachers. Education Finance and Policy, 7(4), 425–454. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ999971 Retrieved from https://cepa.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/EDFP_a_00075.pdf
Kersaint, G., Lewis, J., Potter, R., & Meisels, G. (2007). Why teachers leave: Factors that influence retention and resignation. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 23(6), 775–794. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ769453. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/14414453/Why_teachers_leave_Factors_that_influence_retent ion_and_resignation
Warner-Griffin, C., Noel, A., & Tadler, C. (2016). Sources of newly hired teachers in the United States: Results from the Schools and Staffing Survey, 1987-88 to 2011-12 (NCES 2016876). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED569202
Methods
Keywords and Search Strings
The following keywords and search strings were used to search the reference databases and other sources:
- Recruiting former teachers
- Getting teachers to return to teaching
- [(“returning teachers”) OR (“reentrants”)]
- [(“returning teachers”) OR (“reentrants”) OR (“reentry workers”)]
- [(“teachers”) AND (“return to teaching”)]
- Teachers who interrupt their careers
Databases and Resources
We searched ERIC for relevant, peer-reviewed research references. ERIC is a free online library of more than 1.7 million citations of education research sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Additionally, we searched the What Works Clearinghouse.
Reference Search and Selection Criteria
When we were searching and reviewing resources, we considered the following criteria:
- Date of the publication: References and resources published from 2004 to present, were include in the search and review.
- Search priorities of reference sources: Search priority is given to study reports, briefs, and other documents that are published and/or reviewed by IES and other federal or federally funded organizations, academic databases, including ERIC, EBSCO databases, JSTOR database, PsychInfo, PsychArticle, and Google Scholar.
- Methodology: The following methodological priorities/considerations were given in the review and selection of the references: (a) study types—randomized control trials, quasi-experiments, surveys, descriptive data analyses, literature reviews, policy briefs, and so forth, generally in this order; (b) target population, samples (representativeness of the target population, sample size, volunteered or randomly selected, and so forth), study duration, and so forth; and (c) limitations, generalizability of the findings and conclusions, and so forth.