New Teachers in Rural America

How do the characteristics of new teachers vary geographically? In this article, Yujia Liu, Chanh B. Lam, J. Cameron Anglum, and Tuan D. Nguyen use a novel rurality measure, the Community Assets and Relative Rurality (CARR) index, to examine trends in teachers entering the profession across different levels of rurality, focusing on teachers in Kansas and Missouri from 2010 through 2023. They highlight pandemic-era changes in the first-year teacher workforce, providing insights into the demographic characteristics and mobility patterns of new teachers, including Generation Z. These findings have implications for school districts seeking to better support and retain new teachers, with an emphasis on new-generation educators in rural contexts.