We have a serious issue in the US: Teachers are leaving the profession by the thousands. To fill the gaps, school districts are being forced to increase classroom size, curtail the number of courses offered, and provide emergency certification to underqualified personnel.

From Education Week:

Over the last two years, teacher vacancies seem to have been increasing substantially since the onset of the pandemic. Last year, when we first put out the report and the website, compared with now – it’s increased to 55,000 vacant positions from 36,000 before. That’s a substantial increase.

And then we also learned that the number of underqualified positions is around 270,000 nationally, which is a substantial portion of teachers – about 9 or 10 percent of teachers in the United States. There seems to be a substantial number of vacant positions and positions that are filled by teachers who don’t have a standard license or who are under emergency certification or [who teach] out of subject expertise.

This article identifies a secondary issue that is leading to higher shortages in the teaching profession: Less people are going to school to become teachers, and of those who do go (there are around 600,000 prospective teachers each year), only 159,000 are actually completing the program and entering the profession.

Teacher Attrition Has a Domino Effect

The more teachers who leave, the more teachers leave. When the losses to the teaching profession are so high, the teachers who remain are impacted. Either they see their colleagues giving up and they follow suit, or they choose to remain and end up with larger class sizes and more pressure. Consequently, the remaining teachers end up leaving anyway. And schools that bring in underqualified personnel may only be exacerbating the issue, since the teachers who have worked hard to become certified and level up with master’s degrees are now teaching next to someone who was granted emergency certification with no pedagogical training.

How Can We Reverse the Crisis?

Attracting and retaining teachers is a high priority for many schools. We believe there are things that can be done, however, at the school and district levels. There are also federal initiatives that can help attract teachers back to the profession.

With fewer students choosing to go into the teaching profession, there are systemic issues that can only be addressed through community and congressional actions to ensure higher teacher pay and improved teacher support systems. At the district level, administrators can retain and attract educators by offering four things:

• A seat at the table when decisions are being made about curriculum
• A pathway to career development
• Support in and out of the classroom
• Tools that make managing education easier

At the federal level, an ideal solution would be to make the teacher certification process the same for every state. This would standardize the professional requirements for teachers and allow them to continue teaching even if they relocate. Additional pathways to certification, as well as increased pay, can all make a difference.

How is your district handling teacher shortages?