The challenge of recruiting good teachers

Table of Contents: October 2001	Next: States try innovative strategies to enchance quality of teachers
Link to: October 2001 Issue pdf. file format (best for printing)
Home Library Email

Kids need good teachers to learn. It should come as no surprise to parents that research shows a school’s quality can be directly linked to quality of its teachers. Statistics show that students with teachers who were math or math education majors score the highest on national assessments. Research also shows that teacher effectiveness is more important than any other factor in determining how a child will perform. Helping you make sense of schooling today October 2001 • Vol. 3 • Issue 6 P arents agree that the current debate over recruiting, preparing, and keeping quality teachers is a high national priority. TEACHER NEED Some suggest that two million teachers will be needed in the next decade to staff our schools. The demand for teachers follows a swell in student enrollment, as the children of baby boomers fill the classrooms. And the teacher workforce is aging with a large number of retire- ments expected in the coming years. The push for smaller classrooms has also prompted the need to hire more teachers. Yet, many states still produce more teachers than the state can possibly hire. A 1999 Pennsylvania study found 20,000 certified teachers graduating in that state each year – even though there were only about 5,000 teacher openings. Not all areas of the country are facing teacher shortages. The demand varies, and teachers are particularly needed in low-income, urban areas and in subject areas, such as math, science and special education. This has forced many schools to become innovative. “It is no longer possible to just recruit in traditional ways,” says Dr. Mildred Hudson, chief executive officer of Recruiting New Teachers Inc. Schools are looking to attract people making career changes. Many are finding paraprofessionals, such as teacher aids, who are already in the school, are good prospects for the profession. But career-changers are discouraged by state laws that require certification, which means a professional with knowledge in, say, history may still have to endure another two years of full-time education – even if they have had successful teaching expe- riences in college, private, or charter schools (most of which don’t require state certification). For example, despite the growing evidence that they are as effective as regular teachers, those in the “Teach for America” program (a sort of domestic “Peace Corps” in which college graduates teach in urban schools for two years) continue to be resisted in many quarters. RETENTION BATTLE Once hired, the battle is not over. Indeed, retention – not recruitment – seems to be the more pressing issue. Consider this: 40 percent of teachers leave the profession in the first five years. “The problem is turnover. There are too many able and trained teachers prematurely leaving,” says Dr. Richard Ingersoll, associate professor of sociology and education at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who conducted an extensive, nationwide study on teacher retention in the mid-1990s. Of those surveyed, most teachers (42%) resigned because of job dissatisfaction or to get a better job. Just 12 percent of teachers left because of retirement, the research revealed. What leads to job dissatis- faction? One reason is uniform salaries. In the tradi- tional public school system, a mediocre teacher makes as much as an outstanding teacher and there is little incentive to improve. And the antiquated top- down management system in which even principals have less and less say over how to lead their schools is one more suited to bureaucratic structure than one seeking excellence. When quality teachers have no input, have no incentive, The challenge of recruiting and retaining good teachers CONTINUED ON BOTTOM OF NEXT PAGE