Topic: Teacher Workforce Policy

Overview

Teacher Workforce Policy
State Policies to Elevate the Profession and Address Shortages

The most important thing a school can do for a student’s education is ensure she has a good teacher. States need a strong teacher workforce to increase student learning ─ and also to build a stronger economy. SREB helps state leaders address teacher shortages and improve policies that affect teachers across their careers, to recruit, support and retain great teachers.

Publication April 2022 | 16 pages
report cover

A Blueprint to Solve Teacher Shortages

Imagine a world where more great people enter teaching, stay in the profession, and get better and better. How do we achieve this?

This report offers insight on how to elevate the profession by renovating policies that affect the teacher workforce. With lessons from SREB states that have forged comprehensive plans, it covers pathways and preparation, licensing, mentoring and support, and compensation structures. The report also includes data on shortages, what causes them and how they hurt our economy.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL BLUEPRINT  |  SEE A SUMMARY

Blog post Megan Boren, SREB
Salaries 2014 to 2020 Health benefits 2019 to 2020 Retirement benefits 2019 to 2020 Take-home pay 2019 and 2020

To See Teacher Compensation, Look at More Than Salaries
Teacher Pay Is Increasing. So Is the Cost of Benefits

This spring, the National Education Association released its annual teacher pay analysis a bit earlier than usual. This data is widely used across the nation as the main source for average teacher salaries by state. The headline for 2021: Teacher salaries are going up by an average of 1.5% across the nation, and average spending per pupil is up 5%.

This is fantastic news ─ no bones about it.

It’s also not the whole story.

Blog post Megan Boren, SREB

How States Can Elevate the Teaching Profession
Restoring respect and value

Good schools depend on excellent teachers, in every classroom. SREB is helping states examine and redesign state policies to elevate the profession and end teacher shortages.   

I want my daughter to have the best teachers every school year. What parent doesn’t? Yet in too many schools, the only teachers available are uncertified or brand new, with no experience.  

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State Education Human Capital Roundtable Reports

Education human capital roundtables in several states are having challenging conversations on how to improve the quality of their teaching workforce through targeted recruitment, preparation, retention and professional growth strategies. To support them, SREB: 

  • tracks policies, actions and research across the continuum to help policymakers with decisions 
  • convenes leaders to examine promising policies and decide together what will work in their own states
  • provides assistance with planning as states put policies into action