Teacher Workforce Data by State

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Use the tabs below to explore state-by-state teacher workforce data, as well as national and regional highlights.

QUANTITY

A tab that says "National & Regional Highlights"

Teacher turnover in the region continues to trend upward. And despite the expensive costs associated with teacher turnover, national data indicates that these trends could continue.

An infographic showing various aspects of teacher quantity, including the total number of teachers and students in the region and teacher turnover statistics.

 

SEE STATE-BY STATE DATA

Sources: NCES, State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey, 2019-20 v.1.a. Attrition or Turnover rates are collected via state teacher workforce reports; NCES 2019-20 and 2020-21; TNTP 2022; NEA 2022; RAND 2021; Educators for Excellence 2022.

STATE SPOTLIGHT: TEACHER RETENTION & MOBILITY DATA

Delaware and North Carolina examine data about teacher turnover using more specific measures.

An infographic spotlighting the way Delaware and North Carolina collect data about teacher retention, mobility, and turnover.

   

PREPARATION

A tab that says "Regional Highlights"

The 2020-21 school year marked the first time in nearly a decade in which the total number of people completing teacher preparation programs increased in the region. However, program completions remain lower than in 2012-13. The proportion of candidates completing alternative certification programs has increased. 

An infographic showing various aspects of teacher preparation data, including the number of program completions and the proportion that were alternative vs. traditional preparation programs.

SEE STATE-BY-STATE DATA

Sources: U.S. Department of Education. “2021 Title II Reports.”

   

DEMOGRAPHICS

A tab that says "Regional Highlights"

Consistent with national demographics, the majority of teachers in the SREB region are female. Although the proportion of teachers of color increased in 2020-21, the racial and ethnic diversity of the teacher workforce in SREB states doesn’t represent the demographics of the student population. More teachers have completed master’s degrees than any other level of education.

An infographic showing various aspects of teacher demographic data, including gender, race/ethnicity, and education level.

 

SEE STATE-BY-STATE DATA

TEACHER GENDER

Sources: State School Report Cards, Teacher Workforce reports or other published data reports

TEACHER RACE & ETHNICITY

Sources: State School Report Cards, Teacher Workforce reports or other published data reports

TEACHER EDUCATION LEVEL

Sources: State School Report Cards, Teacher Workforce reports or other published data reports

   

SHORTAGE AREAS

A tab that says "National & Regional Highlights"

Although teacher shortages are being felt across the nation, the majority of known teacher vacancies in the U.S. are in the South. Fewer states had shortages in 2020-21 than in 2019-20 — particularly in English as a Second Language — but it’s unclear if this is due to the positions being filled or eliminated.

An infographic showing that the majority of teacher vacancies in the U.S. are in the South. The infographic also shows how many areas each state in the SREB region had teacher shortages in during the 2020-21 school year.

 

SEE STATE-BY-STATE DATA

Sources: K-12 Dive/Annenberg Institute at Brown University 2022; 
U.S. Department of Education, Teacher Shortage Area report

   

QUALITY

A tab that says "Regional Highlights"

One in three teachers in the SREB region are inexperienced, teaching out-of-field or uncertified. The percentage of teachers in the region who have achieved National Board Certification exceeds the national average.

An infographic showing various aspects of teacher quality data, such as the percentage of teachers who are inexperienced, teaching out-of-field, uncertified, National Board Certified and more.

SEE STATE-BY-STATE DATA

INEXPERIENCED, OUT-OF-FIELD, UNCERTIFIED

Sources: State school report cards, teacher workforce reports or other published reports

AVERAGE YEARS OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Sources: State school report cards, teacher workforce reports or other published reports

NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFIED TEACHERS

Sources: State school report cards, teacher workforce reports or other published reports

 

 

DISTRIBUTION

A tab that says "Regional Highlights"

On average across the region, higher-poverty Title I schools were more likely to have inexperienced, out-of-field and uncertified teachers than more affluent schools. 

An infographic showing data about the distribution of teachers in the SREB region, highlighting that higher-poverty schools are more likely to have inexperienced, out-of-field, and uncertified teachers than more affluent schools.

SEE STATE-BY-STATE DATA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources: State school report cards of teacher equity reports

 

STATE SPOTLIGHT: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER RETENTION & DISTRIBUTION

South Carolina distills teacher retention data by school poverty level at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Lower retention rates — and therefore less continuity — in schools with higher levels of poverty may exacerbate some of the challenges these schools, staff, and students face.

A grouped column chart showing teacher retention levels at schools with lower, moderate, and higher rates of poverty at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in South Carolina.

   

SOURCES, DEFINITIONS & MORE INFO

While teacher workforce data is currently a collection of imperfect and sometimes proxy measures, it does provide a glimpse of information about the status of the profession related to quantity, quality, demographics, distribution of talent and more. 

For state reported data, SREB has pulled the most comparable data available. Certain states do not report all data points and sometimes states define certain data points differently. These are noted by state in the list below. Some percentage totals do not equal 100 percent due to inconsistencies in data reporting or due to rounding. 

DEFINITIONS

Uncertified Teachers: Teachers who have not met full credentialing requirements as set by the state. This includes emergency, provisional, and limited certifications.

Out-of-Field Teachers: Teachers who are teaching courses outside of their certified subject areas.

Inexperienced Teachers: This generally is defined as teachers who have less than three years of experience. Certain states have a different definition — see state-by-state footnotes below.

Attrition or Turnover Rate: The percentage of teachers not retained from the previous year in the state’s education system.

 

FEDERAL/NATIONAL DATA

National Center for Education Statistics. Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey 2020-21.

U.S. Department of Education. Teacher Shortage Area Reports.

U.S. Department of Education. 2021 Title II Reports.

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. State Rankings by Total Number of National Board Certified Teachers.

National Center for Education Statistics. Racial/Ethnic Enrollment in Public Schools. 

McKinsey & Company. K-12 teachers are quitting. What would make them stay?

 

STATE-BY-STATE FOOTNOTES & SOURCES

ALABAMA

Alabama Department of Education Report Card. Educator Demographics.

Alabama Commission on the Evaluation of Services. Teacher Workforce: Recruitment & Retention Evaluation. 

 

ARKANSAS

Arkansas Department of Education Data Center. 2021 School Report Card.

Arkansas Department of Education Data Center. State Profile.

Arkansas Department of Education Data Center. 2020-21 Report.

Notes:

  • Arkansas reports the total count of teachers differently between different state data sets.
  • The percent of specialist degrees includes all advanced degrees above master’s.

 

DELAWARE

Delaware Department of Education. State Report Card – Educator Retention.

Delaware Open Data. Education Level.

Delaware Open Data. Educator Characteristics.

Notes:

  • Delaware reports the percentage of teachers with “less than a bachelor’s degree.” This percentage is recorded in the associate’s degree column.
  • Delaware defines inexperienced (early career) teachers as less than four years of experience.

 

FLORIDA

Florida Department of Education. PK-12 Public School Data Publications and Reports – Instructional Staff Reports.

Florida Department of Education. Performance Evaluation. 

Florida Department of Education. State Report Card.

Note: Florida reports out-of-field teachers as the percent of classes taught by an out-of-field educator.

 

GEORGIA

The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. Georgia K-12 Teacher and Leader Workforce Report.

The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. State Report Card and Data Dashboards. 

Note: Georgia reports inexperienced teachers as those who have one year of experience or less.

 

KENTUCKY

Kentucky Department of Education. School Report Card; Data Sets – 2020. 

Kentucky Department of Education. School Report Card; Data Sets – 2021.

Kentucky Department of Education. School Report Card; Faculty, Staff and Community – 2020.

Kentucky Department of Education. School Report Card; Faculty Staff and Community – 2021.

 

LOUISIANA

Louisiana Department of Education. State Report Card 2020-21. 

Louisiana Department of Education. Workforce Attributes. 

Louisiana Department of Education. State Profile: Educator Workforce Snapshot.

Louisiana Department of Education – Report to the House and Senate Committees on Education of the Louisiana Legislature. 2020-21 Teacher Exit Survey Report.

Notes:

  • Louisiana’s data is incomplete due to the state receiving a 2020-21 ESSA waiver. See more here.
  • Louisiana calculates attrition rate for teachers and staff together.

 

MARYLAND

Maryland State Department of Education. Educator Qualifications (2021). 

Maryland State Department of Education. Maryland’s Teacher Workforce: Supply, Demand, and Diversity. 

Maryland State Department of Education. Professional Staff by Type of Degree and Years of Experience. 

Maryland State Department of Education. Professional Staff by Assignment, Race/Ethnicity and Gender.

 

MISSISSIPPI

Mississippi Department of Education. Accountability Data: 2020-21.

Mississippi Department of Education. Teachers and School Leaders: 2020-21.

Note: The Mississippi Department of Education shared additional teacher data per SREB’s public data request.

 

NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina School Report Cards. State Report: 2021.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Highlights of the North Carolina Public School Budget: 2021. 

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and State Board of Education – Report to the North Carolina General Assembly. 2020-21 State of the Teaching Profession in North Carolina. 

NC.Gov – North Carolina Public Schools Statistical Profile. Public School Full-Time Personnel; State Summary 2020-21. 

National Center for Education Statistics. Characteristics of 2020-21 Public and Private K-12 School Teachers in the United States.

Note: North Carolina separates public school teachers and charter school teachers. SREB recorded the data for public school teachers only in this report.

 

OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma State Department of Education. Emergency Certifications. 

Oklahoma School Report Cards. Teachers.

Oklahoma State Department of Education. 2021 Oklahoma Educator Supply & Demand Report. 

 

SOUTH CAROLINA

South Carolina School Report Card. Overview 2020-21. 

South Carolina Department of Education. Teacher Data. 

South Carolina School Report Card. Classroom Environment 2020-21.

Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement. South Carolina Annual Educator Supply & Demand Report 2021. 

SC Teacher. South Carolina Teacher Retention Rates for the 2020-21 Academic Year: One-Year and Three-Year Averages. 

Notes:

  • The percent of inexperience and out-of-field teachers are for core classes only; South Carolina does not report the total in all classes. 
  • South Carolina did not have emergency or provisional licenses available in the 2020-21 school year.

 

TENNESSEE

Tennessee Department of Education. Data Downloads & Requests. 

Note: Spreadsheets are missing for the 2020-21 school year. The Tennessee Department of Education did not respond to SREB’s request for data.

 

TEXAS

Texas Education Agency. Educator Reports and Data.

Texas Public Education Information Resource (TPEIR). Teacher Certification.

Texas Education Agency. Teacher Retention Demographics by 2015-16 through 2020-21. 

Texas Equity Toolkit. Frequently Asked Questions.

Texas Education Agency. 2021 Federal Report Card.

Texas Education Agency. Teacher Retention by Preparation Route 2015-16 through 2020-21. 

Texas Education Agency. Employed Teacher Demographics 2015-16 through 2021-22.

 

VIRGINIA

Virginia Department of Education – School Quality Profiles. Teacher Quality.

Virginia Department of Education. Statistics & Reports.

Virginia Department of Education. Education Workforce Data & Reports.

Virginia Department of Education. 2020-21 Number of Educators by Division, Race, and Ethnicity. (downloads automatically)

 

WEST VIRGINIA

West Virginia Department of Education. ZOOMWV PK-12 Data Dashboard.