Last week, the American Institutes for Reasearch (AIR) shared an analysis of 17 state ESSA plans looking specifically at how states intend to address teacher shortages.
According to Education Dive, "Connecticut and New Jersey intend to incorporate new marketing pushes into their attempts to attract talent, while 11 of the 17 states that have submitted plans thus far intend to strengthen the data and processes available for teacher recruitment, including online pipelines that make applying for teaching jobs simpler." They add that six of the states intend to address their shortages, in part, through increased teacher pay.
AIR found 10 common themes throughout the 17 state plans that were analyzed, including:
- Marketing the teaching profession.
- Strengthening the Pre-College Teacher Pipeline.
- Supporting Strategic, Purposeful Teacher Recruitment.
- Collaborating with teacher preparation programs.
- Supporting New Teachers.
- Increasing Teacher Compensation.
- Promoting Teacher Leadership.
- Thinking Systemically.
- Supporting local education agencies.
- Incorporating the 2015 educator equity plans.
As we've noted, the processes supporting teacher hiring can have a tremendous affect on school districts' success in attracting and retaining teachers. However, with so many other factors influencing teacher engagement, it's easy to overlook how inefficient hiring practices can result in teacher shortages.
We look forward to seeing what other state plans have in store to address this issue.
