Ashland University Faculty Member Writes Book on Minority Teacher Issues

A new book written by an Ashland University associate professor of education is being touted as a resource for school districts facing minority teacher recruitment and retention issues.

Dr. Janet Kearney-Gissendaner, associate professor of Education Administration at Ashland University’s Columbus Center, said she wrote the book, “Minority Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategies,” to provide an overview of the compelling challenges facing school districts to develop minority teacher recruitment and retention strategies.

“The challenge of providing quality minority teachers each decade continues to be the number one issue for all school districts across this nation,” Kearney-Gissendaner said. “It is time to implement program plans for minority teacher recruitment and retention that will work in schools or districts and produce results over time.”

Kearney-Gissendaner said the tools and resources in this book will help school leaders seamlessly incorporate minority teacher recruitment and retention programs into current human-resources activities.

“There is no easy path to achieving success in building a minority teacher recruitment model that will produce immediate results for a school district or organization. As all stakeholders work on component parts to make the circle complete, the positive results of their efforts will be quality teachers serving the nation’s students,” she said. “This information is provided as an impetus for districts to create a model to meet students’ needs, enhance one already in operation, and share successes, failures, and future endeavors to make a profound difference for our nation’s students.”

The book, published by Eye on Education in Larchmont , N.Y., will be released at the end of October.

Chapter titles in the book include:

• A Critical Examination of Teacher Shortages: Thoughts on Needed Change
• Identification of Recruitment Models Focused on Minority Teachers: A Theoretical Concept and Survey
• Introduction and Information on Five Exemplary Minority Teacher Recruitment Models
• Pipeline Programs for Minority Teacher Recruitment
• Prepare for Action

A former school administrator and teacher, Kearney-Gissendaner has managed personnel administration services for a large urban district and has served as a middle and high school teacher and assistant principal. She has also held special assignment positions in evaluation and research services and pupil/community relations.

Kearney-Gissendaner, who has been a faculty member at Ashland University since 2003, has received numerous awards, recognitions and citations, most recently the Ashland University Mentor Award. Honorary membership awards were presented to Kearney-Gissendaner from the Ohio and national associations of school personnel administrators for her contributions to the field. The Bill Hunter Award was presented to her for outstanding work in personnel administration in the state of Ohio.

She is a former president of the Ohio Association of School Personnel Administrators where she remains active as a liaison on the board for the Ohio minority teacher recruitment consortium (OMRC). She presently chairs the Council Attracting Prospective Educators (CAPE) for the state of Ohio, which promotes a development of a pipeline of future teachers for Ohio schools.

Kearney-Gissendaner’s publications, presentations, and workshops focus on providing school districts and organizations with information to build and sustain programs for addressing the issues of shortages focused on minority teachers and other teachers needed in our classrooms. Her scholarly work has appeared in the Best Practices of the American Association of School Personnel Administrators publications, The Ohio ASCD Journal, Education and Urban Society Journal, and the Mid-Western Educational Research Association (MWERA). She is a member of the Ohio Council of Education Professors Association (OCPEA) and remains active in numerous associations related to her research and teaching.

Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students.