As K-12 schools across the country welcome students back to the classroom, a twin crisis weighs on school administrators – how to recruit enough teachers to meet their classroom requirements and how to entice the hundreds of thousands of students that have apparently gone AWOL since the covid pandemic to return to school.
As the 2023-2024 School Year Begins, K-12 Education Administrators are Scrambling to Hire Enough Teachers for their Classrooms
As students return to school in the fall of 2023, the lack of classroom teachers has become a nationwide problem.
School districts are trying their best to retain their existing teachers and recruit new ones.
Of course, teacher staffing shortages have been a perennial problem for school administrators, who often face difficulties in offering competitive pay.
But in this post-COVID period, the number of teachers entirely quitting the profession is making the situation more dire.
How are schools responding?
There are not many good options. With fewer teachers available, the teachers on staff need to pick up the slack, either by taking on more classes or teaching classrooms packed tight with more students – a recipe for long-term burnout and the potential for creating a vicious circle.
In response, many schools are cutting back on class offerings, canceling non-essential enrichment classes to move teachers into core studies, or allowing trainee teachers to run the classroom. In some cases, there are reports that school districts are calling in school bus drivers to be substitute teachers after their morning transportation runs.
Teacher Shortages are Especially Problematic in Florida
Florida’s education system has been especially hard hit. According to the Florida Education Association, the state has come up short in hiring 8,000 teachers and 6,000 support staff.
One reason for the shortfall could be the divisive new legislation that has put teachers in the cross-hairs of the current political debates over what gets taught in K-12 schools.
In quite a few cases, Florida teachers are leaving the state or leaving the profession to pursue other careers rather than be subject to firing over what they teach in school or, worse, legal action directed against them.
The nation’s large teacher’s union, the National Education Association, has launched a campaign to counter these new laws targeting teachers, but many fear it is too little too late.
Indeed, there is the potential that the political landscape could become even more radical in the future, with conservative activists calling for the elimination of the federal Department of Education and calling a halt to basic sex education in schools.
How Can We Solve the Teacher Shortage Problem?
So, how can we solve the teacher shortage problem?
The first step is to understand the problem.
According to the 2023 Merrimack College Teacher Survey, there is a major risk the problem is going to get worse. According to their survey, thirty percent of teachers say they will likely quit and find another job in the next two years.
One insight from the survey caught our eye. Teacher satisfaction rates in 2023 are on the rise, particularly among male instructors.
However, millennial teachers (particularly females) are the least satisfied with the teaching profession (only 14% are satisfied). Researchers speculate that the economic pressures of trying to start a family under difficult economic conditions could be the reason for this low satisfaction level compared to older Boomers, Gen X teachers, and younger Gen Z teachers.
In the past, teacher pay was the go-to explanation for problems in recruiting teachers to the field of education.
Here, the situation is mixed. In many cases, teachers are taking on extra summer work to pay the bills, while in six states, the salaries paid to teachers have increased (with more states considering the same). To find the pay rates for teachers in your state, follow this link.
But there may be newer factors at work, such as the dramatic increase in violence and shootings in schools, which is giving teachers pause and leading them to reconsider their career choice.
Take a poignant “love letter” written by a teacher in Baltimore to her students announcing she was leaving the profession. A follow-up interview by Education Week found this teacher had lost more than one of her students to gun violence, and this had taken a serious toll on her mental health.
Another factor could be the perceived lack of respect given to teachers.
At a recent meeting of the National Education Association, the federal Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardona, called it as he saw it – that today’s teachers are facing “intentional toxic disrespect” and should not be cast as the villains for political purposes.
Disrespect is one of the most powerful emotions, and many teachers are finding evidence of it in their everyday jobs, from long hours teaching too many students to attacks coming from state and local politicians, inadequate professional development programs and career advancement opportunities, to limits on their input on student curriculum and assessments.
What can be done to improve the situation?
Madeline Wells, writing in Education Week, calls for seven changes that school administrators can follow to turn things around:
- Listen to teachers
- Give teachers a place at the table when making decisions
- Encourage a healthy work-life balance
- Be an empathetic leader
- Avoid overloading teachers with work
- Sit in to observe classroom dynamics firsthand
- Create a supportive, collegial environment
Student Surveys Indicate that Since the Covid Pandemic, Millions of K-12 Students have been Chronically Absent from the Education System
COVID-related education shortfalls have become a serious problem, as we discussed in a previous article on disappointing NAEP national achievement test scores. Since we wrote that article, the Wall Street Journal reports that many states are implementing laws that would require third-graders who are not proficient in reading to repeat their third year before moving to fourth grade.
But what about the hundreds of thousands of students who dropped out of school entirely during the pandemic or are perennially absent?
These students could create a long-term problem nationwide – without a basic education, these young people will have limited job opportunities and potentially become a burden to society, which will suffer from their lack of economic contribution.
The problem of missing students is especially problematic in poorer communities, among racial minorities (such as Blacks and Latinos) and/or students where English is not their native language.
How Can Schools “Find” Millions of AWOL Students?
Stanford University Education Professor Thomas Dee has been investigating the problem in a joint project with The Associated Press.
According to the research, about 6.5 million students became chronically absent during the pandemic (defined as missing school more than 18 days) – placing them at higher risk of not learning to read and eventually dropping out of school. (Percentagewise, Alaska and New Mexico (along with the District of Columbia) have experienced the worst chronic absentee rates.)
How many students have dropped out entirely?
Professor Dee and his team of researchers estimate that student enrollment at public schools dropped by 700,000 during the two school years of the pandemic.
During this period, private and home schooling surged. Families moved out of state. Birthrates also declined.
But when these factors are taken into account, there remain 230,000 students in 21 states who cannot be accounted for and are thus declared “missing.”
What can be done to bring students back to the classroom?
The Stanford / AP study outlines some possible solutions to help bring these students back.
For example, in many cases, families lack the kind of permanent housing that would allow their school-age children to attend a local school. The Los Angeles school district has offered housing assistance, even laundry services, to help these students get back to their studies.
Other education experts point to the importance of creating a strong bond between students and their teachers and school administrators. Much work needs to be done here; one survey found that less than 25% of students feel their teachers try to understand what their life is like outside of the classroom.
There are also practical complications that hinder students from getting to school. For example, this year, many school districts are caught up in a national shortage of school bus drivers, which is making it difficult for even those students who want to go to class, particularly among students who don’t have parents with cars who can drive them to school.
Some researchers point to steps taken in Connecticut as a template for bringing students back to the classroom for good.
Connecticut developed its Learning Engagement and Attendance Program (LEAP) with $10.7 million in federal funding set aside to help school districts recover from the pandemic.
The LEAP program focuses on developing connections with individual families with chronically absent students. Trained staff began visiting homes in 2021 to help families deal with problems ranging from immigration issues to mental and physical healthcare to employment and housing.
The results have been promising. Chronic absenteeism has dropped on average by 15% — with some districts such as Hartford seeing nearly 30% improvement.
The LEAP program administrators point to six key aspects of the program that have helped accelerate its success:
- Offer personalized, dynamic support that is tailored to individual family needs
- Provide ongoing training and support for the staff visiting families
- Collaborate to balance and prioritize the caseload assignments
- Utilize staff that are fluent in the language used in the homes they visit
- Work to establish strong connections with families
- Work collaboratively with parents and staff to advocate for students
Hopefully, Connecticut’s LEAP program can serve as an important template for other school systems to develop and implement their own programs to help students return to the classroom.
Formaspace is your Education Partner
If you can imagine it, we can build it, here at the Formaspace factory headquarters in Austin, Texas.
Talk to your Formaspace representative to find out how we can make your next education facility’s new construction or renovation project a success.
