Report: Why California’s teaching shortage could worsen — and how to reverse it
A new report says that California’s teaching shortage — the supply of new teachers is at a 12-year low even as demand is starting to rise — is likely to get worse unless targeted steps are taken to stem it.
California is just one of the many states dealing with a teacher shortage that has been growing in recent years because of a combination of several factors, including that school reform has left many teachers feeling as if they have been scapegoated for problems in public education.
The U.S. Education Department maintains an annual state-by state listshowing the subject areas in which teachers are in short supply, and this is what it says about California:
In the 1990-91 and 1991-92 school years, California had K-12 shortages in bilingual education, life science and physical science. In 2015-16, there are statewide shortages in English/Drama/Humanities, History/Social Science/ Math/Computer Education/ Science/Self-Contained Class/Special Education (including State Special schools).
A new study says that the supply of new teachers in California is at a 12-year low, with enrollment in educator preparation programs having dropped by more than 70 percent over the last decade and lower than the estimated hires by school districts around the state.
The study, titled “Addressing California’s Emerging Teacher Shortage: An Analysis of Sources and Solutions” and written by Linda Darling-Hammond, Roberta Furger, Patrick Shields and Leib Sutcher, was just published by the Learning Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that does independent research and advance solutions to improve education.
The report says that the shortage is “most acute in mathematics, science, and special education” and that “California must take purposeful steps now if the state is to avoid more acute, widespread shortages of teachers.” Here’s the Report: Why California’s teaching shortage could worsen — and how to reverse it - The Washington Post:
