ERIC Number: ED579892
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Jan
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Idaho's Educator Landscape: How Is the State's Teacher Workforce Responding to Its Students' Needs?
Hanson, Havala; Yoon, Sun Young
Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest
Many school districts in the United States are facing severe teacher shortages (Bordonaro, 2017; Palmer, 2017; Seattle Pacific University, 2017; Whaley, 2017). In several states--including Idaho--the difficulty of hiring qualified candidates has expanded beyond historical high-need content areas such as special education and mathematics to include English language arts and elementary education (Cross, 2017). Several factors are contributing to these shortages, including an aging workforce, decreased enrollment in teacher preparation programs, and persistently high attrition from the profession (Goldring, Taie, & Riddles, 2014). In Idaho, schools struggling to fill vacancies increasingly hire less experienced and unlicensed teachers (Wootton, 2017). Meanwhile, local and state education agencies are exploring policies to support teacher recruitment and retention, such as a four-day school week or more robust salaries and a well-defined career ladder. Understanding how and where Idaho's teacher workforce has changed relative to the size and characteristics of its student population can inform state and local efforts to support teacher recruitment, development, and retention. To that end, this report describes statewide data from the 2011/12 through 2016/17 school years on changes in student enrollment and demographics, teacher preparation, the composition of the teacher workforce, and teacher turnover.
Descriptors: School Districts, Teacher Shortage, Teacher Qualifications, Teacher Persistence, Faculty Mobility, Teaching Experience, Teacher Recruitment, Teacher Salaries, Career Development, Enrollment Trends, Trend Analysis, Student Needs, English Language Learners, Teacher Education Programs, Disadvantaged Schools, Elementary School Students, Secondary School Students, Elementary School Teachers, Secondary School Teachers, Economically Disadvantaged, Beginning Teachers, Institutional Characteristics, Alternative Teacher Certification, Educational Policy, Language Arts, Mathematics Achievement, Teaching Conditions, Statistical Data, Special Education, Data Analysis, Teacher Certification, State Boards of Education, Educational Trends
Regional Educational Laboratory at Education Northwest. 101 SW Main Street Suite 500, Portland, OR 97204-3213. Tel: 503-275-9519; Fax: 503-275-0458; e-mail: products@nwrel.org; Web site: http://educationnorthwest.org
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest (ED); Education Northwest
Identifiers - Location: Idaho
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: EDIES17C0009