The teacher shortage is national news. There’s no denying that, in order to educate students, there must be a teacher at the front of every classroom. But data about the teacher workforce is not consistently clear or available, which suggests a bigger issue is at the heart of this crisis: states don’t have enough information right now to determine whether there is a teacher shortage and identify where those shortages exist. 

In her latest blog post, DQC President and CEO Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger discusses proposed federal solutions to the teacher shortage and the missed opportunity to shine a light on a critical long-term solution: supporting states to collect better teacher workforce data.