Eric Scroggins

Eric Scroggins
May 12, 2015

As California lawmakers in Sacramento motion to tackle major issues affecting public instruction, the "impending teacher shortage" has become a new buzz issue. But information technology is notwithstanding largely framed as something "even so to come" – a problem brewing in the time to come.

The urgent truth is that the shortage is already having an impact on California'southward classrooms and some of its most vulnerable students, and we must deed to prevent the crisis from worsening.

In San Jose Unified, many schools began the 2014-15 school twelvemonth with substitute teachers leading classrooms. In Oakland, schools are still trying to fill open teaching positions – more than halfway through the school year.

The issue is not bars to urban areas, with school districts in rural communities from Stanislaus County to Kern County experiencing shortages as well.

Over the next 10 years, more than 100,000 California teachers are expected to retire, and too few new teachers accept stepped up to supersede them: According to data from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, enrollment in our country'due south teacher-grooming programs brutal most 53% from 2008 to 2013 – ane of the biggest declines in the nation. As nosotros continue to work to reduce Grand-3 class sizes and equally our state's population grows, the number of teachers needed in California classrooms will continue to increase.

The time to answer is now. We applaud country Sen. Fran Pavley for introducing Senate Bill 62, which would crave the state to take a difficult look at the effectiveness of its student loan relief plan for new teachers – a tool which has traditionally served as an incentive to recruit teachers to work in high-needs schools and underserved regions.

But more needs to be done to ensure that California is attracting strong candidates who will serve as quality teachers. As our lawmakers respond to this crunch, they have a significant opportunity to build a stronger and amend educational system for California students by leveraging two of our land'southward strengths: our diversity and our spirit of innovation.

Statewide, currently only 29% of educators identify as nonwhite, while the majority of California students are children of color. Addressing our state'southward teacher shortage provides an opportunity to ensure that our educators and school leaders brainstorm to more closely reflect our communities.

Some districts have taken the pb with robust diversity recruitment strategies – like Oakland Unified, which targets recruiting at historically black colleges and universities and those serving pregnant Hispanic populations. It besides engages new local candidates who reverberate pupil populations through its Teach Tomorrow in Oakland initiative.

At Teach For America, we've seen an intensive focus on recruiting people of color and those from low-income backgrounds consequence in an effective new pipeline for teacher diverseness, with almost two out of 3 of the near 360 new California teachers recruited past Teach For America this twelvemonth identifying as people of colour.

Responding to the shortage also provides the opportunity to unleash our country's innovative spirit. Nosotros must find new sources of quality teacher talent, and proven alternative pathways to the classroom are a critical strategy to do this. Programs similar the Aspire Instructor Residency and High Tech High'due south Instructor Intern Plan accept proven effective at drawing out and catalyzing new sources of committed teachers.

Nosotros've seen the same hither at Teach For America, where only a quarter of the teachers nosotros recruit to the field study having considered teaching prior to their engagement with us. These are new sources of pedagogy talent who remain committed to education for the long term, with nearly ii out of three California teachers recruited by TFA remaining in pedagogy subsequently their initial two-yr commitment.

Alternative pathways can also open opportunities for mid-career professionals who cannot afford to spend several years obtaining a degree in teaching but nevertheless take relevant professional and educational experience in other fields. (Nearly a 3rd of educators recruited past TFA nationally applied every bit graduate students or professionals.)

The teacher shortage is fifty-fifty more pronounced when it comes to teachers specializing in critical Stem disciplines, but innovative, alternative pathways have also proven critical for attracting educators with these backgrounds to the classroom. One out of every 3 California educators Teach For America has recruited and trained is teaching STEM subjects, for example. And, nationally, initiatives like 100Kin10 – an ambitious effort to recruit 100,000 new STEM educators by 2022 – are demonstrating that cross-sector collaboration will be primal to engaging new talent pools in the profession, no matter the path they accept to the classroom.

Innovating to address this shortage while building a instructor workforce that more closely reflects our state's diversity will require cooperation from education stakeholders at every level – including the state Legislature, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, local districts and schools, traditional and alternative credentialing programs, and teacher unions.

As this legislative session moves forrard, information technology is critical that our state's policymakers not only support steps in the correct direction like Sen. Pavley's bill, only besides start a meaningful dialogue about how to address our existing and impending teacher shortage crunch in a style that draws diverse new talent to the field and leverages our land'south spirit of innovation to expand proven alternative pathways to the classroom. Our kids deserve it.

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Eric Scroggins is Executive Managing director of  Teach For America – San Francisco Bay Area.

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