Three new papers out from the Learning Policy Institute on teacher shortages. Nothing really new – but some solid hard data on what is happening.
- During the 2015-16 school year, there was a national shortage of about 60,000 teachers, the LPI estimates. The shortage was most pronounced in special education, with 48 states and the District of Columbia reporting a shortage in that field
- Across the country, half of all schools, and 90 percent of high-poverty schools, have experienced a teacher shortage, the report concludes. If current trends persist, the group estimates that annual shortfall could grow to 112,000 teachers by 2018, with the need for more educators continuing to grow well into the 2020s.
- The shortages are being driven by both an increase in demand and a decrease in supply: Schools are beginning to lower student-teacher ratios and reinstate classes that were reduced or eliminated in the 2008 recession. But teacher attrition rates are high, and teacher-preparation program enrollments have fallen 35 percent nationwide in the last five years, the report says.
If you have seen our blog or talked to us at all – you know this is happening.
But it is truly getting much worse every year and states are not doing much to fix it.
