Encouraging Teachers to Work in Hard-to-Staff Assignments

By Sahar D. Sattarzadeh

In order to help bolster teacher retention rates and fill subject-specific teacher shortages, some states are offering incentives to teachers who agree to work in targeted teaching-assignment areas. Quality Counts 2008 reports that 16 states offered such teachers incentives during the 2007-08 school year. Further analysis by the EPE Research Center shows that those states have enacted such policies in a variety of subjects and assignment areas, including: mathematics, science, special education, instruction of English-language learners, and foreign language courses. Four states – Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, and Virginia – offer incentives in at least five different areas.

For more information on teacher incentives and other state-by-state data, search the EPE Research Center's Education Counts database.

Incentives for Targeted Teaching-Assignments
by Subject Area 2007-08

6935 Arlington Road, Bethesda MD 20814 301-280-3100 1-800-346-1834

Encouraging Teachers to Work in Hard-to-Staff Assignments

Access selected articles, e-newsletters and more!