Teacher Recruitment, Retention, and Shortages Resources

This conference, co-sponsored by the Learning Policy Institute, Policy Analysis for California Education, and the Education Policy Center at AIR, featured new evidence on the scale of California’s teacher shortage, with a particular focus on already critical shortages of teachers in specific fields and regions. Policymakers, researchers, and educators participated in panel discussions on teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention.

Across the nation, teacher shortages are causing districts to scramble to find qualified teachers in math, science, special education, bilingual education, and other fields—with the most severe shortages in the highest-need schools. On September 15, the Learning Policy Institute convened leaders from government, education, business, and parent and community organizations for a timely discussion of this critical issue.

On October 26, 2016, the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) joined with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to host a webinar on Building a Strong, Sustainable Teacher Workforce. Developed for state policymakers and their staff, the webinar focused on evidence-based policies and practices to recruit and retain high-quality teachers, especially in hard-to-staff subjects, schools, and regions. The recorded webinar is available for viewing.

On Thursday, January 26 the Learning Policy Institute and the California School Boards Association hosted a legislative briefing on the teacher shortage and its implications for California schools and students. The program included a research presentation on findings from a recent LPI-CSBA survey, comments by local stakeholders, and recommendations for state-level policies to build a strong and sustainable teacher workforce.

In 2015–16, districts around the nation struggled to get enough qualified teachers in classrooms and fell short by approximately 60,000. In this Twitter chat, LPI, the Center for Teaching Quality, and our colleagues in the Twittersphere discussed the shortages and evidence-based approaches to solving them. Use the hashtag: #teachershortage

During this forum, new data on the extent, nature, and cost of teacher turnover was presented and recommendations offered for addressing the issue, including evidence-based policies at the federal, state, and local levels to create a strong pipeline into the profession and provide ongoing support to increase retention.