Some Rural Districts Seeking To Hire More Home-Grown Teachers

The AP (9/29, Zagier) reports, "Faced with chronic teacher shortages and unable to compete with the higher salaries and greater social opportunities found in big cities and suburban districts, a growing number of rural school systems are turning to familiar faces to teach their students. They know teachers with rural backgrounds are more likely to stick around and not leave after a year or two." According to the AP, rural districts can count on teachers with rural backgrounds to be "more in touch with their students' home lives, whether their parents are Indiana farmers, Mississippi factory workers or Northern California grape pickers."