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Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Report: Schools increasingly turn to ‘underprepared’ teachers to fill vacancies | EdSource

Report: Schools increasingly turn to ‘underprepared’ teachers to fill vacancies | EdSource:

Report: Schools increasingly turn to 'underprepared' teachers to fill vacancies

To cope with a widening shortage of teachers, California school districts are hiring an increasing number of teachers with “substandard” permits and credentials, as well as relying on short-term substitute teachers, according to a new report.
Teachers with these permits and credentials make up a small percentage of California’s nearly 300,000-strong teaching force, but the number of them has nearly doubled over the past two years, to more than 7,700. They made up a third of all new teaching credentials issued in the state last year.
Titled “Addressing California’s Emerging Teacher Shortage,” the report by the Learning Policy Institute, a Palo Alto-based research and policy organization, points to numerous studies that it says have found that the use of underprepared or substitute teachers can “harm student achievement.”
“It may be necessary in the short run, but it is not a preferred strategy in the long run,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the Learning Policy Institute, who co-authored the report with Roberta Furger, Patrick Shields and Leib Sutcher.
She said that if not addressed the shortage “will seriously hamper the state’s effort to implement more challenging new learning standards.” The state is introducing new Common Core standards in English and math, and the Next Generation Science Standards which demand new approaches to teaching, as well as new learning strategies on the part of students.
“Teaching is an extraordinarily difficult task, even when people get thorough preparation in teaching and the right kinds of coursework,” she Report: Schools increasingly turn to ‘underprepared’ teachers to fill vacancies | EdSource: