Opportunities to Improve Teacher Quality

America needs talented, committed, well-prepared new teachers — lots of them. And, to meet the needs of today’s classrooms, they will need to be the most talented, diverse, and well-prepared generation of teachers America has ever known. While student enrollments are rising at record rates, more teachers than ever before are retiring. As a result, teacher shortages are reaching crisis proportions. In addition, other professional opportunities have opened up for college graduates that may be more lucrative and desirable than teaching.
Will all districts experience teacher shortages? Some regions of the country will not feel the demographic double whammy — escalating enrollments coinciding with increasing teacher retirements — quite as keenly as others. High-wealth districts more than likely will continue to have a glut of applicants. However, states on the front lines of America’s demographic change, such as California, Texas, Nevada, North Carolina, and Florida, and most major urban areas, are already experiencing heavy demand for teachers.
Which subject areas will be in highest demand? In many school districts across the country, there are critical shortages of qualified teachers in several subject areas, including math, science, bilingual education, ESL, and special education. There also is a high demand for male teachers in the elementary grades.
What about teacher quality?
The most critical aspect of the teacher shortage crisis is the need for qualified teachers.
There has been increasing national concern about educational quality and student performance. A recent public opinion poll revealed that Americans across all socioeconomic strata agree with prominent education experts that teacher quality must become the top priority of education reform.

Nearly one-quarter of all secondary teachers do not even have a college minor in their main teaching field, including 31% of mathematics teachers and 54% of physical science teachers.
The least qualified teachers are most likely to be placed in high-poverty schools and in lower-track classes.
Students in urban secondary schools have less than a 50% chance of getting a math or science teacher who has at least a minor in that subject.
How do these issues affect you?
Like many districts unable to find and hire licensed teachers, you might be forced to resort to hiring unprepared new teachers via waivers or emergency permits on condition that they earn a license within a stated number of years. You also might encounter teacher candidates who have participated in one of the alternative teacher licensure programs now being offered. These states often offer time shortened means of meeting rigorous standards of teaching knowledge and ability, but in many cases reduce or waive licensure requirements for eligible applicants. Many districts are finding the need to use creative tactics to attract teachers from a shrinking pool of qualified candidates, including offering incentives and creating special recruitment programs.
What does the future hold? Although recruitment challenges may seem daunting, there are seemingly more opportunities for success today than ever before. This is a good time to be involved in school recruitment for the following reasons:
Growing importance of recruitment. There is a growing awareness on the part of state and federal agencies of the scope and seriousness of teacher shortages and the need to respond to changing demographics.
Professionalization of teaching. New teacher candidates are being exposed to evolving state and local standards in subject areas and in pedagogy that are turning teaching into a profession with the prestige, standards, and professional development opportunities that other professions—law, medicine, etc.—enjoy.
More method in management. Greater emphasis on school accountability and desire for more data-driven improvement across management functions are supporting better school personnel policies.
Better communication. There has been increasing demand for improved communication between central office staff and site administrators, and greater cooperation among districts and between school districts and institutions of higher education. This communication is leading to better coordinated policies for teacher recruitment, selection, and hiring.
Increased interest in teaching. Since the late 2000s, interest in teaching as a career option has grown. While this increase will not meet the nation’s shortages any time soon, the trend is encouraging.
Development of methods to identify new pools of teachers. Increasingly, school districts are improving their recruitment practices and exploring longer-term solutions to teacher shortages.
Many states and districts are creating innovative programs to “grow” their own teachers, through precollegiate programs designed to interest middle and high school students in teaching careers, and career development programs that enable paraeducators (teacher aides) to become licensed to teach.
Public demand for quality. The public is paying attention to the fact that schoolchildren deserve a caring, competent, qualified teacher in every classroom. Federal and state policymakers’ efforts to improve the recruitment of teachers are increasing as well.
Several states have implemented or expanded initiatives to alleviate teacher shortages, improve the quality of the teacher supply pool, and centralize teacher recruitment efforts.
Hopefully, more states will follow suit.
The American Public Cares about Teaching
The best way to improve schools is to ensure a qualified teacher in every classroom.
Teaching is the profession that provides the most benefit to society.
Teaching ranks second only to medicine as a career to recommend to a family member.
Teachers are second only to parents in their influence on individual career choices.
Policies should be funded that support quality teaching, such as those that allow more time for teachers to keep up with developments in their fields.
State teacher licensing standards should be strengthened.
Teacher salaries should be raised over the next 10 years to encourage more qualified teachers to teach.
Teaching takes special training and skills, not simply a good education.
Ten Steps to Solving Teacher Shortages Without Lowering Standards

Raise teaching standards while equalizing teacher salaries, as Vermont did when it solved its teacher shortages (Source: https://www.devlinpeck.com/content/teacher-shortage-by-state).
Establish licensing reciprocity across states to allow teachers to move more easily to states with shortages, as California is about to do to deal with its problems of teacher supply.
Grant a license to out-of-state entrants who have achieved National Board certification — awarded to highly accomplished teachers who have demonstrated their ability on rigorous assessments — as more states have agreed to do over the past few years.
Create national recruitment initiatives, streamline hiring procedures, and develop online information technologies that can speed up the hiring process, as districts in California have done to reduce shortages and hire a well-qualified teaching force. The state of Florida and districts in New York City have taken such steps as well.
Create service scholarship programs and forgivable loans to prepare high-ability candidates in shortage fields, as North Carolina has done to ensure a steady flow of top-quality recruits.
Expand teacher education programs and recruitment in high-need fields such as mathematics, physical science, special education, and English as a second language.
Provide incentives for the establishment of more extended (five-year) teacher education programs since a higher percentage of their graduates enter and remain in the classroom.
Provide incentives for community college/college pathways that prepare paraprofessionals (teacher aides) for certification, since they often live in the communities where they work, are committed to teaching, and share students’ languages and cultures.
Create high-quality induction programs for beginning teachers that include intensive mentoring, as at least a dozen states and many districts (e.g., Seattle, Washington; Cincinnati, Columbus, and Toledo, Ohio; and Rochester, New York) have done in recent years.
“Just say no” to hiring unqualified teachers and eliminate disincentives to hiring qualified teachers, as states like Minnesota, Missouri, Indiana, and others have been doing with recent reforms.
Why is there a need to diversify the teacher workforce?
There is increasing cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity in the nation’s student population. In California alone, nearly 100 different languages are spoken! Yet, there is little diversity in America’s teacher workforce.
While the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) reports increasing enrollments for Hispanic, Native American, Asian/Pacific Islander, and black/African American students in teacher education programs, the numbers are not keeping pace with the demographic changes in K-12 enrollments.
The Importance of Teacher Diversity

To address the needs of rural and suburban schools. According to the National Education Association (NEA), the traditional teaching pool — graduates from colleges of education — is composed of predominantly white women who generally expect to teach close to home in the kinds of towns and suburban areas in which they were raised. Some of these teachers are often reluctant, unwilling, or unprepared to teach in urban areas, where there are many students from culturally diverse, linguistic-minority backgrounds, and low-income families. The recent impetus to look for “home-grown” pools of teacher candidates (e.g., paraeducators and promising middle and high school students) comes in part from the need for teachers who are dedicated and prepared to teach in culturally diverse urban settings.
To address the needs of rural schools. In rural areas, as in urban areas, finding individuals who feel comfortable living and working in an unfamiliar setting is a recruitment challenge. Like urban areas, many rural areas are developing “grow your own” programs to attract individuals from within their communities to pursue teaching careers. In addition to seeking candidates who are familiar with the particular challenges of rural communities, many all-white rural schools want to bring in teachers from different ethnic and racial groups in order to enhance students’ learning environments and add to students’ cultural understanding of and exposure to diversity.
To address the needs of suburban schools. While some may believe that lack of teacher diversity is only an urban problem, suburban areas also face challenges when seeking teacher candidates who are from cultures and ethnic groups underrepresented in their particular communities. All-white suburban school districts, for instance, need to make special efforts to recruit a diverse teacher workforce.
To enrich schools in underserved, high-poverty, multiethnic communities. Part of the thrust to increase teacher diversity stems from the belief that exposure to accomplished professional teachers who can serve as role models will benefit low-income, minority children in underserved schools, who may be at high risk of school failure. Many feel that the motivational effects on these children, derived from having teachers with whom they can easily identify, will contribute to remedying the historical disparity in educational opportunity (and educational achievement) for a large segment of this population.
Although some individuals feel that students will gain more from being taught by teachers with whom they share cultural and/or ethnic similarities, any truly qualified and talented teacher should possess the cultural sensitivity, knowledge, and style required to reach all students. Yet, there is no question that teachers who are leaders — who possess firsthand knowledge of the culture and values of the children they teach — can play a unique role as cultural translators and advocates for children.
To foster democratic principles. Teacher diversity in schools sends the message that America’s opportunities are intended to benefit all citizens. Children’s experience with teachers as authority (and influential) figures helps shape all children’s opinions about the society in which they live, and reinforces learning about justice, fairness, and opportunity in America’s democracy.
To prepare students for the future. Skills in cross-cultural communication are quickly becoming as essential as computer literacy in this era of the global marketplace. To prepare today’s students for the workplace demands of the 21st century, linguistic diversity, cultural sensitivity, and intercultural knowledge must become part of America’s definition of teacher quality.
To enrich school culture by diversifying teaching practices. In addition to the cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity in student backgrounds, changing laws in many states have resulted in requiring teachers in regular classrooms across the nation to serve children with special needs. This demands that teachers diversify their teaching practices and increase their repertoire of approaches in order to reach the growing variety of students’ needs.
What does recruiting for diversity mean? The issues involved in diversifying the teacher workforce are complex and go beyond simply making classrooms more “colorful.” There has been much written in the past decade about the nation’s changing demographics and the need to recruit a more diverse teaching workforce. Unfortunately, discussions about diversity recruitment can be confusing, and the use of labels tends to muddy rather than clarify the issues. For instance, diversity means difference. Yet, discussions about teacher diversity often center around finding teachers who have similar backgrounds and cultures to those of their students.
What makes diversity recruitment effective? A teacher recruitment expert and public education advocate identifies special leadership qualities that are necessary to successfully recruit and prepare minority teachers to teach in urban schools. Not just anybody can effectively recruit and prepare minority candidates to be successful teachers.
Effective Recruitment for Diversity
Understand their primary role as a linking agent of people, programs, communities, and resources.
Possess a strong vision and knowledge that their vision and its accompanying values are incomplete and will evolve as others get involved.
Recognize and support raw talent and potential leaders from all cultural backgrounds.
Be adept at mobilizing and utilizing a broad range of powerful advocates to support their programs.
View human differences as strengths and show a willingness to consciously seek ways to include people from all cultural backgrounds at all levels of decision making.
Express outrage at and suspicion of groups with minimum representation of more people in decision-making positions.
Understand and demonstrate a commitment to the concept of empowerment.
Value the role of conflict in changing traditional practices and trying to reach consensus on major issues.
Possess a high level of organizational expertise and ability to work to establish equitable internal procedures and policies to build and institutionalize their programs.
Have a keen awareness of their power at each stage of the process and ability to attempt to maximize it at each level.
What factors contribute to the current shortage of minority teachers? The list below will give you some possible explanations for the lack of diversity in America’s teaching force. In many instances, the reasons minority college students do not choose the teaching profession are the same as those for nonminority students; in other cases, however, the reasons are unique to those groups which are underrepresented in the teaching force.
Competing opportunities. In recent years, a considerably broadened range of career options has presented opportunities for better salaries and benefits for talented minority college graduates.
Lack of preparation for teacher education programs. Although poverty is not a problem unique to racially and ethnically diverse populations in this country, one cannot ignore the fact that almost half of the children from racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse families in America are poor. Many minority children attend underserved schools. High school and college dropout rates for students from low-income communities often are attributed to their substandard K-12 schooling, which can leave students ill prepared and unmotivated for higher education, let alone teacher preparation programs.
Financial aid policies. Colleges are becoming increasingly expensive. Even for those who have a burning desire to teach, college costs often are prohibitive, especially for students who are from low and middle-income families. Changing financial aid policies discouraged many students — including many teacher candidates who represent diverse populations — from entering college. Although today there is increased financial, governmental, and institutional support, this is largely in the form of loans, which still often present too great a burden for many students.
Retirement. One-quarter of all teachers nationwide are 50 years old or older, and the average age of public school teachers nationwide is 42 (Source: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/tables/ntps1718_fltable02_t12n.asp). With teachers (including minority teachers) retiring in record numbers (in part due to a strong economy and early retirement programs), increased teacher diversity is unlikely to occur without a concerted effort.
Challenges to affirmative action. Affirmative action policies affecting higher education have been important avenues for opening access to more students.
Challenges to these policies now threaten to undermine attempts to diversify the college student population.
Low status, low pay, poor working conditions. Teacher salaries are perceived to be low. Since many college students with the potential to enrich the diversity of the teaching workforce carry heavy loan burdens, come from poor backgrounds, and have family responsibilities, teaching careers are not compelling.
Low pay, poor working conditions, discipline problems, school violence, and lack of support from colleagues are reasons why many college graduates choose other professions.
Try these strategies to improve your diversity recruitment efforts
Reach out to churches and community associations.
Use local radio ads designed to reach a diverse group of grandparents and parents to encourage their children to become teachers.
Build relationships with banks and other local businesses to create opportunities for housing, low-interest loans, and other incentives for teacher candidates.
Build relationships with faculty and administrators at local colleges, encouraging them to recommend promising minority students for teaching careers.
Encourage liberal arts majors from local colleges to tutor in your schools. This experience might spark their interest in becoming teachers.
Present information about your school district to teacher education students and encourage prospective minority teachers to practice-teach and participate in internships.
Prepare your recruiters with techniques to effectively attract individuals from different ethnic and racial groups.
Give promising candidates VIP treatment, taking them to meet other teachers, visit classrooms, and get to know your school and community.
Send out flyers to potential candidates and offer forgiveness loans to those willing to teach in high-need areas.
If you don’t know exactly what your needs are until the summer, offer candidates open-ended contracts for employment without necessarily specifying school or classroom assignments.

Megan Wilson is a teacher, life strategist, successful entrepreneur, inspirational keynote speaker and founder of https://Ebookscheaper.com. Megan champions a radical rethink of our school systems; she calls on educators to teach both intuition and logic to cultivate creativity and create bold thinkers.