NCPSSERS

To Address Teacher Shortages, Create Conditions for Educators to Thrive

Teaching Ahead Contributor, Education Week: Teacher
Originally posted by Education Week: Teacher, October 13, 2015

“Many observers see teacher shortages as a result of districts and states underpaying and overworking teachers. However, increasing teacher pay is not the entire answer to the problem. Shortages persist even in areas in which teachers are being paid adequately, and increasing pay will not begin to address the ways in which teaching often feels too challenging and, at times, unsustainable—sentiments that cause issues with both retention and recruitment.

What can states and districts do to attract and retain teachers? How can we reimagine the profession as one that is not just sustainable but desirable and engaging?

Dan Pink’s TED Talk, “The Puzzle of Motivation,” argues that humans are motivated by three things: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. As a teacher, I’d like to point out that these qualities are all too often absent from the teaching profession. If states and districts can create schools in which teachers see autonomy, mastery, and purpose clearly in their profession, they will go a long way toward solve teacher-shortage problems…”

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America’s Teaching Force, by the Numbers

By Laura McKenna, The Atlantic
Originally posted by The Atlantic, September 10, 2015

“Solutions to the teacher-shortage problem must take into account its complexities; across-the-board initiatives to increase the number of education majors are unlikely to address each state’s specific set of issues. Teacher-training programs could do a better job of providing students with concrete information about the employment realities—which subject areas need teachers and which ones don’t. Given that 14 percent of 20-somethings are unemployed, that information is certainly valuable. And greater certification portability would reduce barriers to relocation, while streamlined recertification options could help teachers who struggled to find work or were laid off during the recession return to the profession.”

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Districts Facing Teacher Shortages Look for Lifelines

By Ross Brenneman, Education Week
Originally posted by Education Week, August 6, 2015

“The most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education have in fact shown significant drops in teacher-education enrollment in many states, including in large states like Texas, New York, and California. Many experts chalk up such declines, as well as regional teacher shortages, to the Great Recession and ensuing cutbacks in public spending. Others have charged that poor teacher working conditions, such as low salaries and test-driven school cultures, are nudging existing and potential educators toward other professions, especially with the economy improving…

…Drops in education-school enrollments don’t necessarily equal shortages, though. According to data from its state education department, for instance, New York has a major surplus of certified teachers.

In shortage areas, demographic trends and school-enrollment changes tend to combine with other factors to spur greater demand for teachers…”

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Wanted: More Special Ed Teachers, Apply Everywhere

By Tom Chorneau, Cabinet Report
Originally posted by the Cabinet Report, August 4, 2015

“In what is fast becoming a national crisis, school administrators throughout the country are scrambling to fill special education positions even as some states move to create new incentives…

…A report in March from the U.S. Department of Education found few districts in the country that have not experienced some shortage of applicants for special education jobs during the past five years and put the current deficit of highly qualified instructors for students with disabilities at about 11 percent nationally…”

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School Districts Stressed By Lack Of Trained Specialists

By Jessica Bies
Originally posted by Disability Scoop on September 2, 2014.

“A shortage of school psychologists and other highly trained specialists is making state and local school districts reconsider how they fill their special education departments — and in some cases has driven administrators to new extremes when it comes to hiring staff.”

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Retired Teachers to Fill CCSD Vacancies

By Trevon Milliard
Originally posted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal on August 28, 2014.

“Teachers in math, English, science and special education have been so hard to find that the Clark County School Board approved rehiring retired teachers Thursday to help fill 269 vacancies.”

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New Mexico Faces Teacher Shortage Two Days Before School Begins

By Joseph Kolb
Originally posted by Reuters on August 11, 2014.

“Just two days before classes resume, New Mexico’s biggest school district faces a shortage of almost 200 teachers, officials say, with the majority of the unfilled positions in special education and elementary grades.”

“…The elementary and special education areas are typically problematic, King said. ‘It’s not unusual for those departments to deal with teacher shortages all year,’ the [Albuquerque Public Schools] spokeswoman said.”

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School Districts Scrambling From Teacher Shortage

By Mark Brodie
Originally posted by KJZZ-91.5 on August 8, 2014.

“School is back in session this week for many districts across the state, but not all of them have as many teachers in the classroom as they’d like. The Arizona Department of Education says 60 percent of district superintendents report openings during the school year, and that the annual average retention rate is 65 percent.”

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Metro School Districts Try ‘Grow Their Own’ Approach to Hiring Special Education Teachers

By Kim McGuire
Originally posted by the Star Tribune: West Metro on May 5, 2014.

“A first-of-its-kind master’s degree program at the University of Minnesota promises to groom education assistants into special education teachers by training them on the job in the classrooms where they already work…”

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