VACTE Inquiry Initiative

A Collaborative Research and Practice Project to Understand Teacher Retention

As a follow-up to the 3-year implementation of ATE’s Inquiry Initiative, VACTE launched a 2-year edition in the Commonwealth of Virginia in October 2025. The purpose of the initiative is to:

  • Provide a focused, collaborative research structure for VACTE members to address the pressing scholarly, pedagogical, and policy issues related to teacher retention

  • Promote long-term research relationships among existing VACTE members and provide new members with opportunities to engage with the association and each other

  • Highlight VACTE as a research, practice, and policy player in the Commonwealth

Participant Information

The Inquiry Initiative is bringing together professional educators and teacher educators (scholars and practitioners - university faculty, classroom teachers, administrators, and more) to participate in this collaborative work. Individuals are intentionally grouped across institutions, roles, and inquiry/practice traditions to collectively examine our shared focus: teacher retention. Participants have been welcomed from all roles and organizations and represent 17 of Virginia’s 36 educator preparation programs.

  • Inquiry Initiative participants must maintain their membership in VACTE across the two-year plus span of the project. Participants will engage in Inquiry Initiative events in at least three required forms:

    • With all participants in the project and their small groups: At the Fall 2025 (@ William & Mary), Spring 2026 (@ George Mason), Fall 2026 (@ James Madison University), and Spring 2027 (@ the University of Lynchburg) conferences; face-to-face attendance is required for the Fall 2025 conference and for at least two of the following three conferences during the planned two-year life of the Initiative.

    • With their small groups: Monthly via virtual and/or face-to-face meetings between November 2025 (following the Fall 2025 conference) and May 2027 (following the Spring 2027 conference).

    • Individually: To help VACTE best understand the impact of the Initiative, complete all evaluation components as requested by the Inquiry Initiative planning committee.

  • Over this two-year plus span, Inquiry Initiative participants will engage in dialogue and collaborative research toward pedagogical tool development, presentations, policy creation and advocacy, and publications. Initiative participants will have preferred presentation/publication status for VACTE conferences, the VACTE journal (The Teacher Educators' Journal), and select other products.

  • While participants have been formed into small teams of 5-7 based on shared interests in aspects of teacher retention, they are also choosing to meet for the monthly sessions in smaller - and even shifting - configurations, likely based on the products/projects on which they are working. 

Participant Benefits

  • Enhanced academic community

  • Opportunities for research, publishing, presenting, and grant awards

  • Guaranteed research, practice, and policy presentations at conferences

  • Participation officially recognized for annual review

VACTE Benefits

  • Enhanced profile as an association in the Commonwealth and nationally

  • Increased, more sustainable, and more intentional membership

If you have questions or suggestions, reach out to VACTE President Kristien Zenkov and VACTE Secretary Audra Parker.