Teachers and Teaching - Teacher Shortages

Projected Number of Job Openings and Projected Number of Graduates to Fill Them, 2000-2010

The chart above shows the projected number of job openings for teachers (due to growth, retirement, and teachers leaving the profession) and the projected number of degrees conferred for the years 2000 to 2010¹¹. The chart also shows estimates of the number of graduates during this time period expected to continue teaching after one year in the profession. This last number was based on the average percentage of teachers who leave the profession after one year (14.05% in 1995) and the assumption that for each degree conferred, one person will be employed as a teacher.

If we look at the number of degrees conferred, colleges will be graduating more than enough potential elementary and special education teachers. However, after a year, many of these teachers will leave the profession, causing a shortage of teachers. Not enough students are preparing to teach at the secondary school level. The problem of teacher shortages at this level becomes worse after one year when some of those that were employed decide to leave the profession. The table on the next page lists the teacher shortfalls if the percentage of teachers leaving after the first year remains at the 1995 level.

Teacher Shortfalls, 2000-2010

Over the course of a career (25 years or more), a little over 60% of teachers leave the profession for reasons other than retirement. Why is this? One reason might be the money and benefits offered by private industry. Tracey Gunn, a fully certified teacher in California with a master's degree, admits that most of her friends who work in private industry make two or three times what she makes. "It's very difficult to say… proudly [that I'm a teacher] when I know that I don't get paid what I should be paid. …It's very seductive, a lot of money. Stock options are huge [in the private sector]. That's a long term investment that I don't necessarily have."¹²

Another problem could be general teacher dissatisfaction (dissatisfaction with salaries is a part of this). In sample surveys of public school teachers conducted by the National Education Association, teachers were asked if they would be willing to teach again. In 1961, 76.8% said that they would. In 1996, this dropped to 62.6%. The percentage of teachers who said that they would not teach nearly doubled within this time frame: from 10.9% in 1961 to 20.1% in 1996.¹³

What are school districts doing to attract and retain certified teachers? Some are offering signing bonuses, student loan forgiveness, and subsidies for low-cost day care. In the Santa Clara Unified School District in California, state-of-the-art apartments were built in 2000 to house teachers (many who left complained about lack of affordable housing). But will these measures work? Professor Richard M. Ingersoll, who analyzed teacher turnover for the Fall 2001 issue of American Educational Research Journal, doesn't think so. He states: "None of these will solve the problem because recruiting more teachers into schools will not work … if teachers then leave." He believes that the schools have to address all of the reasons for the high turnover rate, not just the financial ones. At Edison Charter School in San Francisco (a corporately run charter school), teachers were paid slightly higher than public school teachers and given stock options and other corporate perks. However, due to long work-hours, a longer school year, and a rigid, uniform teaching structure, three-quarters of the teachers left after the first year. In the next panel we'll take an in-depth look at the issue of teacher turnover.

Sources: U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. Digest of Education Statistics, 1996-2001 editions. "Wanted: Teachers." Online NewsHour, September 6, 2000. Online. Available: http://www.pbs.org. May 15, 2002. American Educational Research Association. "Teacher Shortages: Myth or Reality." AERA News, December 10, 2001. Online. Available: http://www.aera.net/communications/news/011210.htm. May 16, 2002. Joan Walsh. "The shame of San Francisco." Salon.com News, March 29, 2001. Online. Available: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/03/29/edison/index2.html. May 16, 2002.