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Is there a teacher shortage?
Most educators along with many laymen, without even thinking twice, would answer with a resounding “Yes!”. Yet a current and detailed study, commissioned through Arizona’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy and summarized below, would have us draw very different and far more specific conclusions. That report (Is There A Teacher Shortage? Demand and Supply in Arizona) is summarized below and will be the subject of an in-depth article in the second edition of the NCSC Review, which will be available online in April. We are including this information because, even though the data is state-specific, clearly the implications have national significance, importance and relevance. Here’s some food for thought …
New Report Challenges Conventional Wisdom on Arizona’s Teacher Shortage
For years, Arizona educators and policy leaders have decried a shortage of K-12 teachers. However, according to a report being released by ASU’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy, Arizona may actually have a very small overall teacher surplus between now and the year 2010. However, the numbers point to a very tight labor market, indeed.
The new study – Is There A Teacher Shortage? Demand And Supply in Arizona – is the first comprehensive analysis of supply and demand for certified teachers in Arizona. The study’s researchers “did the numbers.” They examined the projected output of Arizona’s teacher training institutions, analyzed the prospects for certified teachers moving into the state, interviewed hundreds of currently certified but inactive teachers and projected Arizona’s student population to the year 2010. In the end, the study corroborates recent national evidence that the dire overall teacher shortage that was predicted is not materializing per se. Rather than an across the board crisis, researchers found an overall tight labor market and shortages in targeted areas. “This means that rather than a knee jerk reaction to calls of a crisis, Arizona needs a sane, targeted response to the problem,” said Morrison Institute Policy Analyst Rebecca Gau, who is the primary author of the report.
The Morrison Institute study shows that shortages are both present and expected in certain situations. For example, teaching positions in some fast growing and rural areas of the state and in some specialty fields such as special education and Limited English Proficiency are not being filled.
“One of the reasons that a comprehensive study like this has not been done before is the difficulty in collecting data for the different components of teacher demand and supply,” said Gau. "The assistance from several state agencies, school districts and Arizona's teacher training institutions was vital."
A new, statewide survey presented in the report focused on why certified but inactive teachers in Arizona left (or never entered) the classroom. Surprisingly, while salary is a factor in such decisions, the “conditions of education” turned out to be even more important. This survey also found that as much as one-third of this pool would seriously consider teaching again if conditions, especially in the classroom, were changed.
“There’s strong agreement among Arizona policy leaders and residents alike that improving the quality of public education should be the state’s number one priority. And, there’s no surer way to reach that goal than by having a sufficient number of well qualified teachers,” said Rob Melnick, director of the Morrison Institute and a co-author of the report.
The report also points out—
Morrison Institute for Public Policy is a part of the School of Public Affairs (College of Public Programs) at Arizona State University. Is There A Teacher Shortage?, along with other Morrison Institute reports, can be viewed online at www.morrisoninstitute.org. The above report summary was prepared by the Morrison Researcher and principal author, Rebecca Gau, whose in-depth analysis of this study and its implications may be found in the April Edition of the NCSC Review.
