Abstract

The demand for agriculture teachers far exceeds the supply in the United States. When teacher retention is low and school districts cannot find qualified applicants to replace them, the decision is often made to close the program and absorb the budget elsewhere or hire an unqualified teacher to fill a vacant position. This study identified the factors current agriculture teachers use when they have considered leaving the teaching profession and assessed if differences existed between traditional versus alternatively certified teachers. Of the 114 agriculture teachers that responded to the survey, 78.1% indicated that they had seriously considered leaving the teaching profession. Many stated that they had considered employment in agriculture business, other educational content areas, or production farming. There were no statistically significant differences between tradition- ally and alternatively certified teachers when considering leaving the teaching profession, but some practical differences existed. Traditionally certified teachers agreed that the amount of stress related to the job was one of the reasons when considering leaving the profession. Interestingly, alternatively certified teachers indicated that it was low salary.