https://doi.org/10.1177/8756870520912996 Rural Special Education Quarterly 1–14 © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/8756870520912996 journals.sagepub.com/home/rsq Research Reports Rural school principals continue to have unique difficulty hiring and retaining fully licensed teachers across the ele- mentary, middle, and high school settings (Brenner et al., 2015; Espinoza et al., 2018; Showalter et al., 2017). A major- ity of states (48) and the District of Columbia experience the ongoing impact of the teacher shortage in the area of special education in both rural and urban areas (Sutcher et al., 2016). Teacher shortages in rural areas occur for a variety of rea- sons, such as lack of available qualified teacher candidates (Brief, 2018), a lack of understanding of rural communities, low compensation, tough working conditions, and the cost of training programs (Espinoza et al., 2018; Showalter et al., 2017; Sutcher et al., 2016). Because not all rural districts and schools will have the same barriers to hiring and retaining teachers (Espinoza et al., 2018), it is important to understand the preferences and perspectives of a variety of rural school principals. One way to understand the needs of principals is to foster partnerships between teacher preparation programs and building level principals (Espinoza et al., 2018) in rural areas who are responsible for hiring teachers. These partner- ships may provide opportunities to distribute feedback sur- veys and engage in rich conversations or interviews necessary for preparation program faculty to truly under- stand the unique needs of a rural area. Therefore, to further understand the current hiring preferences in rural school set- tings, this study investigated the perspectives of current rural school principals regarding various factors that might affect the selection of potential teacher candidates. Gaining an awareness of the specific needs and prefer- ences will provide teacher preparation programs with the knowledge to revise and adjust current preparation pro- grams to ensure candidates are prepared for these unique locations. Although multiple programming options (e.g., online, traditional, hybrid) are currently available and accessible in some rural areas, the needs of those pursuing teacher licensure have expanded beyond the traditional undergraduate student. Thus, to meet the needs of both tra- ditional and nontraditional teacher candidates, many col- leges and universities have implemented programming options for those who wish to complete a teacher 912996RSQ XX X 10.1177/8756870520912996Rural Special Education QuarterlyDiamond et al. research-article 2020 1 University of Nevada, Reno, USA Corresponding Author: Lindsay L. Diamond, Professional Specialized Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, 1664 N. Virginia St. MS 0299, Reno, NV 89557-0299, USA. Email: ldiamond@unr.edu A Survey of Rural Principals: Preferences Regarding Teacher Candidates Lindsay L. Diamond, PhD 1 , MaryAnn Demchak, PhD 1 , and Tammy V. Abernathy, PhD 1 Abstract Rural school principals continue to have difficulty hiring and retaining qualified teachers. Researchers have sought to determine the preferred type of preparation programs and the specific characteristics of teacher candidates, but few have specifically focused on the perceptions of the rural principal. The purpose of this study was to understand current rural school principals’ perceptions regarding various factors affecting the selection of teacher candidates. Using an online, cross-sectional survey of rural school principals, data were collected to understand their perspectives regarding various factors that may affect the selection of potential teacher candidates. Results indicate that rural principals prefer to hire applicants who have completed a traditional 4-year college/university preparation program. In addition, when reviewing applicant materials they look for specific factors such as experience, those who are known in the community, cooperating/ lead teacher evaluations, and areas of licenses held among teacher candidates. Rural school principals specifically reported a preference toward hiring applicants who hold a dual license in elementary and special education. Keywords in-service program, personnel preparation, preservice programs, rural special education