National Teacher Shortage
A historic turnover in the teaching profession is on the way. More than a million veteran teachers are nearing retirement. America will need two million new teachers in the next decade, and experts predict that half the teachers who will be in public school classrooms 10 years from now have not yet been hired.
The Search for Qualified Teachers
- Nationwide, some 2.2 million teachers will be needed in the next 10 years because of teacher attrition and retirement and increased student enrollment.
- By 2008, national public school enrollment will exceed 54 million, an increase of nearly 2 million children over today. Enrollment in elementary schools is expected to increase by 17 percent and in high schools by 26 percent.
- In high-poverty urban and rural districts alone, more than 700,000 new teachers will be needed in the next 10 years.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, The Baby Boom Echo Report, 1998
Paying for Top Talent
- Nationally, beginning teachers made $25,735 on average in the academic year 1997-98 (Beginning teachers average salary in Nebraska is $21,949). New engineering graduates earned $42,862, while new computer scientists' salaries reached $40,920.
- The national average teacher salary in the 1997-98 school year was $39,347.
Source: American Federation of Teachers, National Survey, 1999
- The national average teacher salary in the 1998-99 school year was $40,582; Nebraska's average salary for teachers was $32,880 — $7,702 below the national average.
- The national average teacher salary in the 1999-00 school year is $41,575; Nebraska's
average salary for teachers is $33,473 — $8,102 below the national average.
Source: National Education Association, National
Survey, 12-99
Teacher turnover
- In a typical year, an estimated 6 percent of the nation's teaching force leaves the profession and more than 7 percent change schools.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
- Twenty percent of all new hires leave teaching within three years.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
- In urban districts, close to 50 percent of newcomers flee the profession during their first five years of teaching.
Source: Darling-Hammond & Schlan, 1996
Greatest Needs
- The greatest teaching shortages are in bilingual and special education, mathematics, science (particularly the physical sciences), computer science, English-as-a-Second-Language and foreign languages.
Source: Amer. Assoc. for Employment in Education
Teachers Supply and Demand in the U.S., 1998
- About 42 percent of all public schools in the United States have no minority teachers. Minority students make up 33 percent of enrollment in U.S. public schools, while the total of minority teachers reaches just 13.5 percent. By the early 21st century, the percentage of minority teachers is expected to shrink to an all-time low of 5 percent, while 41 percent of American students will be minorities.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 1998
- Teachers in high-poverty urban districts are the most likely to be under-qualified. Between one-third and one-half of all secondary math teachers in these districts have neither a college major nor minor in math.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Condition of Education, 1998
- About 50,000 special education positions either remained vacant or were newly filled in 1997 by teachers who lacked full state certification.
Source: Council for Exceptional Children
- Less than half of the teachers hired during the last nine years participated in formal induction programs during their first teaching year.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
