October 2017 Making Connections Indicators of successful teacher recruitment and retention in Oklahoma rural school districts Valeriy Lazarev Megan Toby Jenna Zacamy Li Lin Denis Newman Empirical Education Inc. Key fndings • Teachers in Oklahoma rural school districts have a 70 percent chance of achieving tenure (this study’s defnition of successful teacher recruitment); this rate is slightly lower than the rate for teachers in nonrural school districts. • From 2006/07 to 2011/12 rural school districts had consistently lower rates of success in recruiting teachers than did nonrural school districts. • Teachers who are male, those who have a higher postsecondary degree, and those with more teaching experience are harder than others to recruit and retain in rural school districts. • For teachers in rural school districts, higher total compensation and increased responsibilities in job assignment are positively associated with successful recruitment and retention. At SEDL U.S. Department of Education