{"id":713909,"date":"2023-08-29T17:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T21:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/?post_type=article&p=713909"},"modified":"2023-08-29T16:50:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T20:50:58","slug":"how-many-start-teacher-training-how-many-finish-the-numbers-are-disturbing","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/article\/how-many-start-teacher-training-how-many-finish-the-numbers-are-disturbing\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many Start Teacher Training \u2014 & How Many Finish? The Numbers Are Disturbing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last year\u2019s back-to-school headlines<\/a> were<\/a> dominated<\/a> by concerns<\/a> about<\/a> teacher shortages<\/a>. It doesn\u2019t take a crystal ball to predict that, without meaningful policy changes, staffing challenges will continue to undermine U.S. education and shortchange the country\u2019s students. A growing number of states are seeing increased teacher turnover<\/a>, and a new national scan<\/a> of 2020-22 state-level data by the Learning Policy Institute estimates more than 300,000 teaching positions<\/a> in the United States were either unfilled or held by people who were not fully qualified \u2014 meaning they lacked credentials, held an emergency or temporary credential, were teaching while they completed their credential or were working in a subject or grade not covered by their current credential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As pressing as it is to get qualified teachers in classrooms immediately to address shortages, effective policy must also focus on recruiting a well-prepared and diverse pool of candidates, along with retaining effective educators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, interest in teaching<\/a> among high school and college students is at the lowest level it\u2019s been in decades. Nationally, enrollment in preparation programs never quite rebounded after the Great Recession. National data<\/a>, collected by the U.S. Department of Education under Title II of the Higher Education Act since 1999-2000, show that enrollment dropped by about 100,000 candidates between 2012-13 and 2014-15 \u2014 a 15% decline. Forty states experienced declines in enrollment during this two-year period. From 2015-16 to 2020-21, total enrollment has remained fairly steady at just under 600,000 nationally, with a dip of about 45,000 candidates in 2018-19 that quickly rebounded in the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But enrollment figures don\u2019t tell the whole story, and, importantly, the number of people completing teacher preparation programs nationwide declined by 20% \u2014 about 40,000 \u2014 between 2012-13 and 2018-19, with modest increases of about 15,000 between 2018-19 and 2020-21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the national picture on enrollment and completion is still concerning, national trends hide considerable differences across states. Our recently published analysis<\/a> on the state of the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

teacher workforce includes recent data on candidate enrollment and completion in teacher preparation programs by state. The Title II data from the most recent five years (2016-17 through 2020-21) show that 27 states have seen ongoing enrollment declines of 5% or more, seven states had relatively flat enrollment numbers and 17 states plus the District of Columbia saw increases of 5% or more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n