An educational crisis has been growing for over a decade in the United States. The once reliable university pipeline of educating future teachers has declined by 50% in the last decade.
From 2010 to 2019, 340,000 fewer students were preparing to become teachers. A 50% decline is documented in nine states: Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and California. Oklahoma reported that the University of Central Oklahoma teacher preparation enrollments had dropped from 1,800 to 856 in seven years.
Diversity also continues to decline. Studies have found that 15,000 fewer Black students enrolled in teacher preparation programs in 2018 compared to 2010. Latino and Black student enrollments in these programs stood at 9% and 7%, respectively.
Over 60 universities and colleges across the country have dropped their teacher preparation programs. Many of other1,300 education programs have experienced enrollment losses similar to those mentioned above, and many are hanging on by a thread.
Teacher shortage legislation in 2021-2022
Recent legislation has resulted in what may be called putting ‘bandages’ on the problem rather than developing new pipelines. Some of the ‘bandages’ have included assigning larger workloads to already overworked teachers and using more paraprofessionals who are not fully credentialed as teachers. Other examples of these are as follows:
- Michigan: In late 2021, janitors, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and others in the school systems were allowed to serve as substitutes.
- Arizona: Since adequate government legislation wasn’t forthcoming, more entrepreneurial school leaders were left to develop their own ‘pipelines’ to fill their classrooms.
- Colorado: Lawmakers are working on bills to make it easier for retired teachers to return to the classrooms.
- New Mexico: The National Guard was ordered to serve as substitutes in fall 2021. The state legislature this spring approved allowing newly retired teachers to return to the classrooms for a three-year period.
- Illinois: The newly approved state budget year includes a two-year, $400,000 investment in Educators Rising, a program that encourages high school students to consider pursuing teaching careers.
Other issues of great concern
These poor working conditions have been lingering and expanding for a long time and include:
- Lower pay than in most other professions with comparable education.
- The pandemic has caused significant stress for overworked teachers and support staff.
- Political clamor for installation of microphones and cameras into the classroom to ‘monitor’ teachers.
- Weeks and months taken away from teaching to prepare students to ‘pass the high stakes tests’ that state and federal governments now demand.
- Removing (firing) teachers if their students don’t test high enough.
- Being evaluated on these test scores rather than evaluated for their teaching.
Building an expanded teacher pipeline
Over 1,200 community and technical colleges could quickly provide a new and more robust expanded teacher pipeline. Also, high school students can get an “early start” on college work if their school has a dual-credit partnership with its local community college
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Another contribution community colleges can make is developing partnerships that create pathways for teacher preparation. It would involve taking introductory education classes for dual-credit as a high school student, enrolling in their community college to complete an associate degree, and then transferring to a senior college or university partner to complete their teacher preparation.
Florida has established models of teacher preparation programs most community and technical colleges can follow. Additionally, community colleges can contribute to increasing the number and diversity of a future cohort of K -12 educators. The solutions for teacher shortages via community and technical colleges are available throughout the country in the back yards of all American school districts! Time to get to work!
Hans Andrews is a distinguished fellow in Community College Leadership and former president of Olney Central College in Illinois.
William “Bill” Marzano is an adjunct faculty member in management for Aurora University in Illinois and a former academic administrator at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
Greg Rockhold has served on the board of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, president of the New Mexico Coalition of School Administrators and executive director of the New Mexico Association of Secondary School Principals.
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