With school districts in some parts of the country feeling the pain of teacher shortages, states have tried to tackle the problem with a patchwork of policies that expand who can run a classroom: from undergraduate teacher trainees in Arizona to accelerated certifications for military veterans in Nebraska.
Kansas State University researchers delved into education workforce data to find not just where the teacher shortage is taking root, but to what extent states are dependent on “low-qualified” teachers.
That is defined by the report as teaching positions held by people who have an “irregular, provisional, temporary or emergency certification” to teach. It also includes certified teachers who fill positions outside their area of expertise, such as a history teacher assigned to a math class.
Tuan D. Nguyen, an assistant professor in the Kansas State University College of Education, and colleagues found that at least 163,000 teaching positions across the country are filled by low-qualified teachers. Another 36,500 teaching jobs are vacant, according to its 2022 report.
The consequences for students in those districts can vary, Nguyen says, as schools facing teacher shortages may merge classes, up to 34 or 35 students, in some cases, or cancel others altogether.
“They can say, ‘We’re not going to be able to offer physics classes,’” Nguyen explains, “or use substitutes just to have someone in that class and keep the class under control. [Or they might] put someone who is not qualified to be there, like an English teacher teaching biology.”
Particularly for STEM courses, Nguyen says it’s important to have an instructor who not only has the pedagogical knowledge but also the content knowledge to teach the class effectively.
Teachers who don’t have standard certifications, such as provisional or emergency certificates, are also more likely to drop out of school or the profession, according to the report.
“You get this cycle of abandonment, and it’s expensive for the district,” says Nguyen. “Those are the two main problems. Are these the best teachers for this subject so students don’t get hurt by a teacher who has no content? [expertise]? And then the school doesn’t have to replace them?
hot spots
New Hampshire topped the list of states with about 349 low-qualified teachers for every 10,000 students. Looking at the number in terms of staffing, that’s 40 low-qualified teachers for every 100 teachers in the state.
The state’s top education official points to New Hampshire’s five alternative teacher certification programs, each requiring a bachelor’s degree, as a factor explaining this ratio.
“New Hampshire has a rigorous alternative pathway to the licensing program that [has] been successful in providing competent, qualified, knowledgeable and professional educators,” said Frank Edelblut, commissioner of the state department of education, in an emailed statement. “Because of our strong alternative certification pathway, we are able to attract highly qualified individuals from outside the education profession to enrich the lives of students in New Hampshire.”
Although New Hampshire has trouble finding teachers in certain subject areas — upper-level math and middle-school science, for example — officials told ABC News that the state as a whole was not dealing with a shortage in a national analysis published in February.
Washington, DC, was a distant second with 237 unqualified teachers per 10,000 students, or about 29 unqualified teachers per 100 teachers. The nation’s capital and surrounding suburbs were hit by a increase in teacher resignations last summer.
But a spokesman from Washington, DC, Office of the State Superintendent of Education he questioned the accuracy of the data, noting that the figures on the city’s schools come from a federal report dating back to 2018.
“This ranking may not necessarily reflect the current landscape of the educator workforce across the country,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement, adding that more than 90 percent of Washington, D.C., teachers They are considered “in the countryside” from 2022.
The term recognizes teachers who “have a bachelor’s degree in their field of teaching, active certification in their field of teaching, and/or at least one year of effective teaching in their field, as measured by the [local education agency] teacher evaluation system”.
North Carolina, Massachusetts and New Jersey rounded out the top five.
Meanwhile, the problem is less severe in Iowa. That doesn’t mean the outlook is rosy in the Hawkeye state, where many districts started the school year. without a complete roster of teachers and substitutes.
When does the proportion of underqualified teachers become a problem? That depends on each community, says Nguyen.
“Does that seem high or low to you? This is subjective to what you are willing to accept,” she says. “In a high school, I don’t want 30 underqualified teachers serving there.”
The reasons for both teacher shortages and the use of low-qualified teachers vary by state, he explains. Some states don’t have enough people enrolled in teacher preparation programs, while others are seeing more teachers retire and higher turnover. It’s a topic that Kansas State University researchers will continue to investigate.
When it comes to shoring up the teaching workforce for the long term, Nguyen says the field of education will need to not only attract more people to university teacher programs, but also incentivize people to stay. But, he adds, it’s about more than the numbers.
“In the long term, we need to think about changing the narrative of what it means to be a teacher in this country,” he says. “Teachers must be respected and the salary must match the level of experience they have. If we don’t, it’s hard to see how we change the big picture. If we can increase salary, prestige and respect, if we can increase production and reduce turnover, that would help vacancy rates and low-qualified teachers.”
