Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Education

First Advisor

Kevin Weber

Second Advisor

Sherrie Wisdom

Third Advisor

Susan Isenberg

Abstract

This coded qualitative study examines whether military veterans as second career teachers can help address the ongoing shortage of qualified public high school teachers in the United States. Focusing on three Midwestern public high school systems with at least 10% of military veteran teachers employed in their high school. I explored veterans as second-career educators. I personally interviewed five public high school principals, to find that these five strongly favor hiring veterans, citing their discipline, teamwork, and willingness to engage with students and parents are outstanding character qualifications for the public high school to have on staff. I noted and listened to discussions during a sit-down session with traditional teachers and military veterans that became second-career teachers. While some traditional teachers initially felt uncertain about working alongside veterans, others reported professional growth from adopting the veterans’ classroom management strategies. Overall, the study found that veterans positively influence areas, such as time management, student engagement, discipline, and teacher professionalism, suggesting they could play a meaningful role in alleviating teacher shortages.

Research Highlights

  • The Problem: The researcher is addressing the ongoing national shortage of motivated, dedicated, and qualified public high school teachers in the United States.

  • The Method: The coded qualitative study used a framework incorporating John Dewey, Abraham Maslow, Jack Mezirow, and Warren Bennis to evaluate a population consisting of five Midwestern public high school principals via questionnaires, alongside classroom observations and a post-school Q&A session with traditional and second-career military veteran teachers across three selected public high schools.

  • Quantitative Finding: The three selected high school systems each maintained a faculty composed of at least 10% military veteran teachers; weekly disciplinary referrals averaged one per week for military veteran teachers across all five surveyed principals, whereas referrals for traditional teachers ranged from three to five per week; classroom observations showed traditional teachers took 7 to 10 minutes to begin a class period compared to 3 to 5 minutes for military veteran teachers at High School #1, while High School #4 recorded an average start time of 3 minutes for veterans and 10 minutes for traditional teachers.

  • Qualitative Finding: High school principals universally prefer hiring military veterans due to their discipline, teamwork, interpersonal skills, and structured time management; students demonstrate higher levels of respect and a strong positive attraction toward veteran educators; parents provide more positive feedback and show greater trust in veteran teachers; traditional educators reported professional growth from observing veteran classroom management strategies, though some initially expressed uncertainty or discomfort regarding their military backgrounds.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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