The critical shortages districts were experiencing in specialized fields such as math, science, special education and foreign languages prior to the pandemic are now being seen across all subjects.
Enrollment in colleges of education has also taken a significant hit during COVID as students experiencing financial hardships during the pandemic are choosing to study more lucrative career fields, says Jacqueline Rodriguez, vice president for research, policy and advocacy at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
This trend began during the Great Recession in 2008, but that’s not the only reason the educator pipeline is drying up, she adds. “We can recruit diverse and qualified candidates but right now we have major retention issues due to the almost impossible levels of responsibilities and stresses that go into teaching.”
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The recent politicization of education, including efforts in several states to restrict discussions of race and LGBTQ topics, is making college students increasingly reluctant to study education. In response, Rodriguez’s organization has just released a Racial and Social Justice Resource Hub to guide K-12 educators in supporting intellectual freedom.
AACTE also offers a toolkit that covers how to use ESSER COVID relief to reverse the teacher shortage. Districts, first instance, can use the funds to support clinical placements of college teaching candidates in their classrooms. ESSER can also be used to hire these teaching candidates as substitutes.
One state’s shortage solutions
Kansas provides one example of how state education agencies are helping districts cope with labor constraints:
- Prior to the pandemic, Kansas’ Department of Education instituted a two-year mentoring program for new teachers, which has increased retention from 88% to almost 93%.
- Another program allows candidates with bachelor’s degrees and special education paraprofessionals to begin teaching in their final year of certification.
- During the pandemic, the agency implemented a temporary emergency authorization for substitutes that allows individuals who have a relationship with a school district to work in classrooms for the rest of the 2021-22 school year as long as they pass a background check.
- With high school math an area of need, Kansas is now offering two levels of certifications. All some candidates need are basic math while others also need higher-level certifications. The state is developing similar tiers for science teachers, Miller says.
Districts are also using relief funds to put their paraprofessionals on full-time teaching pathways by paying the tuition for evening education classes. High school juniors and seniors have also been invited to attend these classes in dual enrollment “grow your own” programs. “We can use federal dollars that exist right now so that we’re not facing the same shortage issues in two to three years,” she says.
Another source of federal money comes from the U.S. Department of Labor, which recently made teaching an “apprentice-able occupation.” This means schools can tap into these funds to create teacher residency and grow-your-own programs and help teaching students pay college costs.
Some districts are also jazzing up recruitment materials by, for instance, emphasizing how professions such as bus driving benefit students and the community. They are also experimenting with “Á la carte” schedules that allow classified staff to drive a bus in the morning and then work the next four hours in the cafeteria.
“We need policymakers and the public to rally around educators and support them as much as they did at the beginning of the pandemic,” Rodriguez says. “Educators are feeling undervalued for what they’re giving to every student. They have become mentors, coaches, guidance counselors and advisors—they have become the support mechanism for students beyond the delivery of instruction and class management.”
Signs of hope?
A recent AACTE survey examined both positive trends and lingering impacts of COVID on teacher preparation programs.
On the bright side:
- In both fall 2020 and 2021, the majority of educator preparation programs reported the pandemic had either no or minimal impact on enrollment.
- The share of respondents reporting staffing reductions declined from 49% in 2020 to 32% in 2021.
- This fall, 58% of respondents held classes completely or primarily in-person and 34% operated under a hybrid model. This is a dramatic change from fall 2020, when 56% were using a hybrid model and 31% were still completely virtual.
- Members reported that state licensing requirements have largely been reinstated—including policies for coursework, observation, clinical experience, and performance assessment.
Ongoing concerns:
- In both fall 2020 and fall 2021, 20% of institutions reported that the pandemic resulted in a decline in new undergraduate enrollment of 11% or more.
- At the graduate level, 13% of fall 2021 respondents reported significant declines in the number of new graduate students.
- In 2021, one-third of educator preparation programs reported continued staff cuts.
