This blog series, Solving Teacher Shortages, highlights innovative and evidence-based initiatives and explores policy options and other approaches to building a strong and stable teacher workforce.
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States are working to close the teacher shortage gap, but a new wave of federal policy changes is likely to make it harder and more expensive to enter and stay in teaching, threatening to stall state progress when the educator workforce needs it most.
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Chronic teacher shortages drain district budgets and shortchange educators and students. But with smart investments and strategies it doesn’t have to stay this way.
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Linda Darling-Hammond and Michael Petrilli discuss why experienced teachers don’t just matter—they keep improving when schools give them the right support. Here’s what policymakers and principals can do to keep great educators in the classroom.
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LPI’s 2025 annual scan of teacher shortage data indicates that little has changed over the past year, with many schools continuing to face staffing challenges. However, with three years of data, there are some national patterns and state takeaways.
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State leaders from California, Mississippi, New York, and Texas joined LPI to discuss their states’ approaches to tackling teacher workforce issues. Their experiences may offer lessons for other states seeking to use legislative actions and financial incentives to better prepare and retain educators.
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Teacher shortages are widespread, yet layoffs occur annually. This paradox stems from converging factors such as state and local funding decisions, fluctuations in public school enrollment, and the impending expiration of federal ESSER funds.
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Each year, approximately one in six public school teachers across the United States leaves their school or leaves the profession altogether, contributing to teacher shortages and costing districts considerable time, energy, and resources to find and train new teachers. The Learning Policy Institute’s updated calculator can help educational leaders to estimate the cost of teacher turnover.
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Teacher shortages continue to impact schools and districts in all 50 states and Washington, DC, driven in part by financial barriers that prevent candidates from accessing comprehensive preparation. New AmeriCorps rules will potentially unlock a meaningful source of funding for comprehensive preparation programs and the candidates they prepare.
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Teacher shortages continue to be a huge issue in many states. Yet states differ in their education policies and in the ways that teachers are prepared, compensated, and supported. These differences can result in dramatically different levels of student access to a diverse, stable, and well-qualified educator workforce.
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Research on emergency hires of teachers during the pandemic highlights challenges in teacher effectiveness and retention. Investing in well-funded, high-retention pathways like teacher residencies can support a diverse, well-prepared teaching force, addressing teacher shortages and improving student outcomes in the long run.
