Topic: Teacher Shortages
Teacher Workforce Shortages
Every state in the SREB region is struggling to find qualified and certified candidates to teach the next generation. Emergency certifications – temporary licenses issued to people with little to no teacher training – are at an all-time high. Enrollment in college and university teacher preparation programs is down in most states. And only 5% of high school students expressed intent to pursue a career in education, ACT reported in 2017.
The tables below show the extent of the crisis in each SREB state.
How can states reverse these trends?
Consider the big picture rather than individual policies in isolation. Today, a host of different state, district and federal requirements act on steps along the career continuum. Aligning policies from preparation through classroom teaching and leadership could keep teachers in the profession and attract a new generation of educators. Explore strategies on our Teacher Workforce pages.
Teacher Preparation Program Completion
Total by State, 2012-13 and 2016-17
In the SREB region, 9,000 fewer candidates completed teacher preparation programs in 2017 than in 2013, and 14 of 16 states saw declines in completion.
Top blue bar: 2016-17 (the most recent available
data)
Bottom gray bar: 2012-13
Includes teacher candidates who completed traditional teacher preparation programs and university-based and private alternative teacher preparation programs.
Teacher Shortage by Subject & Grade Span
2019-20
Almost all states in the SREB region have shortages in mathematics, science and special education.
Teacher Characteristics by State
2015-16
Percentage of each state’s teachers with one or two years experience, with emergency or provisional certificate, who plan to leave the profession, and who are teachers of color.
| Inexperienced | Uncertified | Plan to Leave the Profession |
Teachers of Color |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL | 12.0% | 1.4% | 4.6% | 16% |
| AR | 13.8% | 4.0% | 6.0% | 15% |
| DE | 12.3% | 2.1% | 5.8% | 8% |
| FL | 14.1% | 4.7% | 10.4% | 35% |
| GA | 9.5% | 3.1% | 8.0% | 25% |
| KY | 10.0% | 0.8% | 3.6% | 3% |
| LA | 12.9% | 8.1% | 6.0% | 35% |
| MD | 15.7% | 3.4% | 10.1% | 29% |
| MS | 13.2% | 3.2% | 7.1% | 30% |
| NC | 8.4% | 2.7% | 10.0% | 17% |
| OK | 12.2% | 0.9% | 6.7% | 17% |
| SC | 11.4% | 1.5% | 8.6% | 18% |
| TN | 19.2% | 4.1% | 8.7% | 15% |
| TX | 15.4% | 2.9% | 9.6% | 40% |
| VA | 12.4% | 3.2% | 11.0% | 15% |
| WV | 11.2% | 3.4% | 9.4% | 2% |
| national average | 12.7% | 2.6% | 9.4% | 20% |
Inexperienced: Defined as teachers with one or two years of experience.
Uncertified: Defined as those teachers practicing under an emergency or provisional certificate.
Plan to leave the profession: Defined as teachers planning to leave teaching as soon as possible or as soon as a more desirable job opportunity arises.
Teachers of color: Defined as all teachers except those who identify as non-Hispanic white.
Sources: Learning Policy Institute (2018). Understanding Teacher Shortages: 2018 Update. Primary data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Civil Rights Data Collection, Public-Use Data File 2015-16. Planning to leave the profession primary data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Public School Teacher File 2016, National Teacher and Principal Survey.