New Report on Teacher Shortages

FutureEd and EducationCounsel released a report analyzing the current teacher shortage and offers policy recommendations to help states and schools address the human capital needs. The report, “In Demand: The Real Teacher Shortages and How To Solve Them” argues that despite recent headlines indicating a national shortage, the real teacher shortages lie within key subject areas, geographic locations, and the diversity of the teacher workforce.

Nationwide, states identify shortages in math, special education, foreign languages, and science and only 20% of public-school educators identify as Black, Hispanic or other non-white ethnicities.  Additionally, rural and urban districts that serve a large number of high-need students face significant challenges in attracting and retaining quality teachers.

The report breaks down the reasons for the shortages and provides targeted strategies to address these issues including different models of financial incentives to both teacher candidates during training and teachers working in high-need subjects and geographic areas, and improvements to teacher preparation programs. 

Instead of focusing on increasing the overall number of teachers, the report states, policymakers should have a more nuanced response to the problem to avoid exacerbating the existing inequities of access to effective educators.