This paper examines the extent of current or future shortages of qualified U.S. elementary and secondary teachers. Data come from the 1987-1988 and 1990-1991 waves of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), a nationally representative study by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The SASS includes four sets of integrated…

Contemporary educational thought holds that one of the pivotal causes of inadequate school performance is the inability of schools to adequately staff classrooms with qualified teachers. It is widely believed that schools are plagued by shortages of teachers, primarily due to recent increases in teacher retirements and student enrollments. This…

Contemporary educational thought holds that one of the pivotal causes of inadequate student achievement is the inability of schools to staff classrooms with qualified teachers. The primary sources of the problem of underqualified teachers are, most assume, deficits in the quantity of prospective teachers recruited and in the quality of preparation…

This report examines the status of elementary and secondary teaching as a profession in the United States. The primary data source is the 1990-91 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. The sample used contains data from 11,589 schools. This report assesses levels of teacher professionalization…

This report investigated the extent to which students in public secondary schools are taught by teachers without basic qualifications in their assigned teaching fields--i.e., at least a college minor in the fields they teach--focusing on core academic subjects (mathematics, English, social studies, science). Analysis of the study data revealed…

Few educational problems have received more attention than has the failure to ensure that the nation's classrooms are staffed by qualified teachers. Many states have pushed for more-rigorous preservice teacher education, training, and certification standards. Moreover, a host of recruitment initiatives have attempted to increase the supply of…

This report deals with the supply of and demand for elementary and secondary school teachers in the United States, using data from the Schools and Staffing Survey of the National Center for Education Statistics. There is considerable concern over whether the United States will experience shortages of teachers in the coming years as student…

This paper presents national data on the extent to which public secondary students are taught core academics by teachers without basic qualifications in their assigned teaching fields, examining whether there are inequalities in the distribution of adequately qualified teachers across and within different U.S. schools. Data came from the 1990-1991…

Few educational issues have received more attention in recent times than the problem of ensuring that the U.S.'s elementary and secondary classrooms are all staffed with quality teachers. Although ensuring that the nation's classrooms are all staffed with quality teachers is a perennially important issue in schools, it is also among the most…