Examining Teacher Attrition and Other Related Issues: A Conversation with Dr. D. Ray Reutzel

Teacher educators work diligently to prepare future teachers while navigating the surrounding political realities that challenge our schools. Demands placed on teacher educators are growing and are increasingly more complex. Well-prepared and successful teachers are exiting the profession at alarming rates in several places in the world, including the United States, Canada, and Australia (Borman & Dowling, 2008; Clandinin et al., 2015; Mason & Matas, 2015). These concerns have fueled a renewed focus on teacher preparation programs by state and federal policy makers as well as scholars who have spent their entire careers studying the state of teacher education. Scholars across different educational fields remain concerned and continue to examine teacher attrition issues that encompass school communities as well as the role higher education institutions need to play in preparing and supporting teachers in practice. In this article, Dr. D. Ray Reutzel, a well-known scholar in the field of Reading and Elementary Education, responds to questions posed in a conversational interview to help illuminate his perspective on these issues. Reutzel has authored approximately 225 published research reports, articles, books, book chapters, and monographs and has received more than $16,000,000 in research/professional development funding. Additionally, Reutzel is an elected member of the Reading Hall of Fame. Most recently, he accepted a position at the University of Wyoming as Dean of the College of Education.