This section includes documents about the recruitment of individuals into special education programs and the support of students through their program. Particular attention is given to supporting nontraditional students. Strategies and approaches, as well as their outcomes, are described.

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American Association of Colleges and Universities. (Diversity Web Website.)
A comprehensive compendium of campus practices and resources about diversity in higher education. The site serves campus practitioners seeking to place diversity at the center of the institution's educational and societal mission. Tools, papers, and links to related sites are shown. The periodical called Diversity Digest may be downloaded.
http://www.diversityweb.org/diversity_innovations/ student_development/recruitment_retention_mentoring/index.cfm

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association . (Undated).
Minority Student Recruitment, Retention, and Career Transition Practices: A Review of the Literature. Reviews changing demographics in the U.S. and the impact of diversity; barriers to entering and completing professional preparation; and strategies for recruiting and retaining diverse candidates for careers in audiology and speech-language pathology. Examples of effective programs and practices are included.
http://www.asha.org/about/leadership-projects/multicultural/recruit/litreview.htm

ASPIRA Program Website
A nonprofit organization dedicated to the education and leadership development of Puerto Rican and other Latino youth. The national and State-based ASPIRA organizations address dropout rates, readiness for elementary school, readiness for postsecondary education, and leadership opportunities.
http://www.aspira.org 
 
Attrition of Beginning Teachers: Does Teacher Preparation Matter? (2006)
Erling Boe, Lynne Cook, & Robert Sunderland (No. Report No. 2006-TSDQ2): Center for Research and Evaluation in Social Policy, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
This research examines whether the attrition of beginning public school teachers from teaching employment is related to the amount of teacher preparation completed in pedagogy and practice teaching. Using national data for teachers in their first five years of teaching employment, the authors found that attrition from teaching employment was substantially greater among beginning teachers with only some or no teacher preparation than among those with extensive preparation), even after controlling for confounding variables. Contrary to current USDE policy that de-emphasizes the importance of teacher preparation in pedagogy and practice teaching, the results of this study show that extensive teacher preparation contributes to a more stable and qualified teaching force and to a reduction in the demand for a fresh supply of novice teachers to replace those who would otherwise have left teaching employment.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/attritionboe_06.pdf

Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) Website
A multicultural organization committed to full participation of persons with disabilities in higher education through training programs, workshops, publications, and conferences. Reports, booklets, topical brochures, handbooks, and a video are offered for sale.
http://www.ahead.org

Betraying the College Dream: How Disconnected K-12 and Postsecondary Education Systems Undermine Student Aspirations. (2003).
Andrea Venezia, Michael W. Kirst, & Anthony L. Antonio. Bridge Project of Stanford University.
Reports a study of the disconnects between K-12 and postsecondary education, which undermine student aspirations (particularly the college participation of students of color). The authors discuss K-16 programs and other connections between public schools, community colleges, and four-year institutions and offer recommendations for solving the disconnects.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/bridgeproject/betrayingthecollegedream.pdf

Cultivating and Keeping Committed Special Education Teachers: What Principals and District Administrators Can Do (2005)
Bonnie Billingsley. Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA.
In this book, Billingsley examines the issues behind the startling statistics and suggests ways to improve teacher quality and reduce attrition by understanding why teachers leave and working to make positive changes that will make them stay, finding and cultivating high-quality teachers and developing them across their careers, creating positive work environments through reasonable assignments and support, and developing strategic plans.
Available at Amazon

Enlarging the Pool: How Higher Education Partnerships are Recruiting and Supporting Future Special Educators from Under-Represented Groups. (2003)
National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education: CEC.
Discusses a variety of strategies for recruiting and retaining trainees in special education pre-service programs, with examples from higher education institutions around the country.
http://www.special-ed-careers.org/pdf/enlargingthepool.pdf

Focus on an Untapped Classroom Resource: Helping Paraprofessionals Become Teachers. (2003)
Christine Smith. Southern Regional Education Board.
This paper (a) reviews the many reasons that paraprofessionals are a national resource for increasing the supply of qualified teachers; (b) summarizes initiatives taken by States in the southern region; and (c) makes recommendations.
http://www.sreb.org/scripts/Focus/Reports/Focus-Paraprofessionals.pdf

GEAR UP: Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs
(U.S. Department of Education)
A discretionary grant program to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. Provides grants to States and partnerships to provide services at high-poverty middle and high schools. Grantees serve an entire cohort of students beginning no later than 7th grade and follow the cohort through high school.
http://www.ed.gov/programs/gearup/index.html

Minorities in Higher Education: Annual Status Report. (2006).
American Council on Education.
An extensive data report on the college enrollment of students from historically under-represented groups. On the one hand, more minority students are enrolling in higher education. On the other hand, major disparities in participation rates remain. A detailed summary of findings in the 2006 report is at the following site: http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=18725
(Full reports must be purchased)

National Clearinghouse on Post Secondary Education for Individuals with Disabilities: Health Resource Center (George Washington University)
Distributes information about support services, policies, procedures, adaptations, and opportunities for students with disabilities at American postsecondary institutions. Papers, fact sheets, a resource directory; a newsletter, financial aid sources,and other information may be downloaded.
http://www.heath.gwu.edu

No Dream Denied: A Pledge to America's Children. (2003).
Hon. James Hunt, Chairman & Thomas G. Carroll, Executive Director
Reviews issues associated with the shortage of fully qualified teachers, and discusses quality teacher preparation, accreditation, and licensure. Full text and summary.
http://www.nctaf.org/documents/no-dream-denied_summary_report.pdf Summary
http://www.nctaf.org/documents/no-dream-denied_full-report.pdf Full Text

Project Alianza Website
Intercultural Development Research Association--IDRA--and Arizona State University
From spring 1998 to 2003, Alianza engaged in research to support a consortium of universities in their reform efforts for admission and preparation of bilingual candidates to teach English in bilingual and multicultural environments. Research covered such topics as (a) teacher preparation in Mexico as compared with that in the U.S; (b) teacher certification, recruitment, and employment practices with regard to foreign-trained teachers; (c) tapping community resources for bilingual candidates; and other topics. Most of the reports are for sale, but those published in the IDRA newsletter are accessible at the Alianza web site, along with details about this project.
http://www.idra.org/Alianza/Alianza_Articles_from_the_IDRA_Newsletter/

Sustaining and Retaining Beginning Special Educators: It Takes a Village (2007)
Rebecca Gehrke and Kathleen McCoy. Teaching and Teacher Education (2007). Vol. 23, 490-500.
In this study, five first year special education teachers in the southwestern section of the United States provided information on the persons and activities that supplied them with much needed and valued support. The results indicate that having a strong network of support and a variety of resources positively influenced these teachers’ ability to focus on student learning and on their intent to remain in their positions.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/sustaingehrke_07.pdf

Teacher Recruitment and Retention: A Review of the Recent Empirical Literature (2006)
Cassandra Guarino, Lucrecia Santibañez, and Glenn Daley. Review of Educational Research (2006). Vol. 76, No. 2, pp.173-208.
This article critically reviews the recent empirical literature on teacher recruitment and retention published in the United States. It examines the characteristics of individuals who enter and remain in the teaching profession, the characteristics of schools and districts that successfully recruit and retain teachers, and the types of policies that show evidence of efficacy in recruiting and retaining teachers.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/recruitguarino_06.pdf

Trio Programs Summary. U.S. Department of Education
Provides educational opportunity outreach and support programs to motivate and support students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. These programs provide grants for (a) public schools to encourage graduation and college enrollment; (b) Educational Opportunity Centers to assist adults in entering higher education; (c) colleges to provide academic development to support students' completion; (d) universities to prepare participants for doctoral studies.
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/index.html

United States Department of Education. Annual Reports to Congress on the Implementation of IDEA.
The appendices contain many tables, including data on special educators and related service personnel employed, fully certified, and not fully certified. The full texts of annual reports for several years are available at the web site of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).
Under contract to OSEP, Westat disseminates the most recent State-reported data available at:
http://www.IDEAdata.org (State Reported Data)
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/osep/research.html (Annual Reports)

Urban Educator Corps Website.
This is the educational strand of the Great Cities' Universities Consortium. The mission is to improve students' academic performance and reduce achievement gaps in participating schools and districts by enhancing and supporting pipelines of high quality educators.
http://urbaneducatorcorps.net/leadership.html

Why Teachers Leave: Factors that Influence Retention and Resignation (2007)
Gladis Kersaint, Jennifer Lewis, Robert Potter, and Gerry Meisels Teaching and Teacher Education (2007). Vol. 23, 775-794.
Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior is used to examine continuing teachers’ plans to remain or resign and the likelihood of resigned teachers to return to teaching in the next 3 years. Specifically, this study examined factors that encourage or hinder resigned teachers from returning to teaching, the importance of such factors, and the importance of those factors for teachers who remained in teaching.
http://www.monarchcenter.org/pdfs/leavekersaint_07.pdf