Fifty-five percent of K12 educators now indicate they are ready to leave the profession earlier than planned, according to a 2022 survey from the National Education Association. Why are so many teachers who previously considered themselves career educators leaving?
Many feel it is a lack of support from school leadership, overloading teachers due to the shortages in their schools and no letup in the amount of work they do. More recently, student behavior has become a major concern since returning from the pandemic years. Some of the main reasons reported by teachers follow:
- Schools are short-staffed and staffed with many teachers lacking certification.
- Three-fourths (74%) reported having to fill in for colleagues or absorbing other duties due to staff shortages.
- Feeling burned out was checked by 90% of the reporting teachers and 67% considered it a very serious problem.
- Raising teacher salaries had 96% support with 81% strongly in support. With an average salary across the country at $66,000 and with no significant increase in nearly a decade when adjusted for inflation, pay remains one of the most significant reasons teachers leave.
- Some 50% of the teachers reported expecting to leave education sooner than originally planned. The already underrepresented Black and Hispanic/Latino teachers expressed this sentiment at 62% and 59%.
One report found that the age of the teacher or the years in service of being a teacher did not matter. All ages and years of service categories had a high percentage of teachers now planning to leave the profession earlier, per the survey.
Teacher shortages across the country: A sample of 10 states
The following information shows the number of teacher shortages being filled by non-certified teachers and positions left unfilled during the 2021-22 school year:
- Teacher shortages: California, 27,475; Texas, 49,346; Florida, 22,538; Pennsylvania,13,337; Virginia, 11,212; Oklahoma, 6,263; North Carolina, 6,207; Michigan, 5,936; and Ohio, 3,932
- Unfilled teacher positions: Seven of these 10 states reported having nearly 13,000 ‘unfilled’ positions even after filling as many openings as they could with non-certified teachers. The other three states did not report their unfilled positions.
Solutions needed now
Teacher shortages in every state have continued to grow over the past several years. Legislative solutions have been difficult to identify. The previous pipelines for preparing teachers have not been able to keep up and have experienced declines in enrollment.
A few have even closed out their programs due to a lack of enrollment. The state of Michigan’s teacher retention rate in 2021-22 stood at 73%, Bridge Michigan reports. The Black teacher retention rate was at 59% that same year. (Dellinger, 2024).
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There are other major concerns that need to be dealt with by school boards and administrators across the country. Teacher pay, working conditions and other concerns have been identified in numerous research studies over the past few years.
A number of community colleges in each of the above states need to be drawn upon to help produce the baccalaureate degree teachers necessary to overcome and/or reduce their teacher shortages and non-certified teachers.
Proposing community colleges as a new and important pipeline
Community and two-year technical colleges have been proposed as a new pipeline for preparing new teachers. Florida has provided an example of the kinds of teacher preparation programs that community and technical colleges can provide.
Additionally, community colleges can contribute to increasing the number and diversity of a future cohort of K12 educators. The solutions for teacher shortages, via community and technical colleges, are available throughout the country in the backyards of all American school districts.
Teaching programs in Florida community colleges
The following is a sample of large and smaller Florida community colleges out of a total of 27 offering baccalaureate degrees in education:
Broward College
- BS Teacher Education in Exceptional Student Education
- BS Teacher Education in Middle Grades Science and Mathematics
- BS Teacher Education in Secondary Biology and Mathematics
Daytona State College
- BS Elementary Education
- BS Exceptional Education
- BS Secondary positions in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics Education
- BS Secondary Earth/Space Science Education
Miami Dade College
- BS Early Childhood Education
- BS Exceptional Student Education K-12
- BS Secondary Science and Mathematics Education
Chipola College
- BS Teacher Education in Elementary Education K-6
- BS Teacher Education in English Education
- Bachelor of Science in Teacher Education in Exceptional Student Education
- BS Teacher Education in Middle School Math Education (grades 5- 9) and Mathematics Education (grades 6-12)
- BS Teacher Education in Middle School Science Education (grades 5-9) and Biology Education (grades 6-12)
South Florida State College
- BS Elementary Education
St. Johns River State College
- Early Childhood Education
The Maricopa Community College District in Arizona and the Ivy Tech Community Colleges in Indiana are two other states that have started approving their community colleges to prepare Baccalaureate Degree teachers to help overcome the severe teacher shortages in both states.
This is now the time to move into solutions beyond current facts on the teacher shortages in the U.S. The previous pipelines for preparing teachers have proven unable to keep up and have experienced major enrollment declines, resulting in some university programs being discontinued.
Community and technical colleges are proposed in this article as a practical and common-sense solution for the future. Community colleges as an expanding new pipeline can also increase the number and diversity of a future cohort of K-12 educators by serving as a central cohesive component.
