Two faculty members in the College of Education and Health Professions will conduct research focused on K-12 teacher recruitment and retention as part of a five-year, multi-state effort funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

The Department of Education Reform's Gema Zamarro, professor of education reform and economics and Endowed Chair in Teacher Quality, and Josh McGee, associate professor and Endowed Chair in Education Accountability and Transparency, were awarded $850,000 to advance their ongoing research in Arkansas for a new IES National Research and Development (R&D) Center focusing on K-12 teacher recruitment and retention policy.

IES created this National R&D Center to examine policies addressing teacher shortages and their impact on teachers, student learning, and equity. In a collaborative effort among teams from nine different states, the R&D Center will study the impact of policies intended to improve teacher recruitment and retention, including: 

• Grow-your-own initiatives
• Financial support and incentives
• Providing enhanced labor market information to teacher candidates
• Licensure reforms
• Policies affecting working conditions.

"As part of this effort, we will complete several research projects in Arkansas that look at the impact of compensation reforms, teacher licensure reforms, the use of reduced academic calendars, and information interventions with aspiring teachers," Zamarro said. 

Researchers in the Department of Education Reform and the associated Office for Education Policy (OEP) collaborate with the Arkansas Department of Education on various education policy and practice issues, including strengthening the teacher pipeline. 

The new R&D Center will enhance the Department of Education Reform's in-state and cross-state partnerships. As part of the project, the department will work with education preparation programs across Arkansas, including the college's Department of Curriculum and Instruction, while facilitating collaboration with several other states nationwide.

 "Being part of this multi-state research effort not only gives Arkansas the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from other states but also allows other states to benefit from the innovative approaches Arkansas is pursuing to enhance its teacher pipeline," McGee said.

IES is the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education and runs several competitive research grant programs. Its mission is to build and disseminate scientific evidence on education practice and policy that support learning and improve academic achievement and access to educational opportunities for all learners. 

Zamarro teaches empirical methods and education economics as it relates to teacher quality and teacher labor markets at the U of A. She previously worked as a senior economist at the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR), as an economist at the RAND Corporation, as a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School of Public Policy, and as an assistant professor at the Department of Econometrics at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

McGee is a faculty affiliate of the Office for Education Policy, where much of his research focuses on improving education in Arkansas. He previously served as the State of Arkansas's chief data officer and brings extensive experience in leadership roles in education, government, nonprofits, and philanthropy. He strives to help governments and nonprofits use data and evidence to make better decisions.

To learn more about the Department of Education Reform's work, visit its website.