We’ve spent decades trying to alleviate teacher shortages. Our attempts have dramatically changed the teacher workforce, but the shortages remain.



 




Who wants to be a teacher?
by Alex Baumhardt, Will Craft, Chris Julin and Sabby Robinson


Many schools around the country are struggling to find enough teachers. Large numbers quit after a short time on the job and schools are constantly struggling to replace them. The problem is particularly acute at rural schools and urban schools.

The most common level of experience among teachers in the United States now is one year on the job. At the same time, enrollment in teacher training programs at colleges and universities is plummeting, and schools are looking to other sources to fill classrooms. In Nevada, a desperate need for teachers this year led to allowing people with just a high school diploma to fill in as substitutes. Oklahoma recently changed its law to allow people with a bachelor's degree — in anything — to teach indefinitely on emergency teaching certificates.

All four episodes of our new series are available on the Educate podcast feed.

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Texas company fuels rise of for-profit teacher training programs


Texas Teachers of Tomorrow has become the largest teacher training program in the nation, offering a low-cost online program. While it's lowered barriers and helped diversify the workforce, this approach to training hasn't solved chronic teacher shortages.

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