Recruiting and retaining a well-prepared, stable, and diverse teacher workforce is a critical endeavor to advance student learning and development. However, the persistent teacher shortages across the nation's schools challenge this mission. The teaching profession has been characterized by relatively lower levels of compensation compared to other…

Systemic challenges for the Texas teacher workforce result from a large yearly demand for new teachers, exacerbated by high and climbing teacher attrition rates. As a result of these challenges, a large majority of new teachers are now hired before they complete preparation. Assigned disproportionately to students from low-income families and…

This brief draws on a study of teacher working conditions and their relationship to teacher retention and school performance in North Carolina. It is part of a series of studies conducted by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI)--in collaboration with WestEd and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University--as…

This report summarizes teacher workforce challenges and recent initiatives in Texas that are shaping the state of the educator workforce in important ways. Ongoing teacher shortages have led to the creation of a wide range of pathways into the profession, featuring varying types and amounts of training. A growing body of research demonstrates that…

A highly competent teacher workforce is a necessary foundation for improving children's educational outcomes, especially for those who rely most on schools for their success. Yet a survey of over 200 California school districts reveals that three out of four districts report having a shortage of qualified teachers and that this shortage has gotten…

This brief summarizes a 2019 study of educator supply, demand, and quality in North Carolina conducted by the Learning Policy Institute in collaboration with the Education Policy Initiative at Carolina and WestEd. That study supported the state's ongoing efforts to meet the standard set in the North Carolina Supreme Court's decision in…

In "Leandro v. the State of North Carolina" ("Leandro"), the Supreme Court of North Carolina found that children have a right to qualified teachers and principals who can prepare students for college and careers and meet the needs of those placed at risk. Providing such high-quality educators for each child demands an adequate…

Teacher shortages that most severely affect schools serving the least advantaged children have been part of the California education landscape for the last half decade. This brief describes how key teacher supply and demand factors vary across the state, and it provides potential policy solutions to mitigate ongoing shortages. The brief also…

When California students returned to school in fall 2019, hundreds of thousands returned to classrooms staffed by substitutes and teachers who were not fully prepared to teach. In recent years, California has experienced widespread shortages of elementary and secondary teachers as districts and schools seek to restore class sizes and course…

To determine whether teachers, on average, improve in their effectiveness as they gain experience in the teaching profession, this brief summarizes the key findings from a critical review of the relevant research. A renewed look at this research is warranted due to advances in research methods and data systems that match student data with…

A highly competent teacher workforce is a necessary foundation for improving children's educational outcomes, especially for those who rely most on schools for their success. Yet in the United States, shortages in the teaching force have been growing across the country, reaching crisis proportions in some teaching fields--such as mathematics,…

One of the most pressing issues facing policymakers is how to staff classrooms with a stable teaching force responsive to complex student needs and the growing demands of the knowledge economy. Recurrent teacher shortages are a function of both declines in entrants to teaching and high rates of teacher attrition, especially in low-income schools.…

This research review analyzes studies on the recruitment and retention of teachers of color in order to examine the current state of teachers of color in the workforce; understand the factors that affect their recruitment, hiring, and retention; and highlight opportunities for policymakers to grow a stable workforce of teachers of color in their…

In a January 2016 report on teacher shortages in California, "Addressing California's Emerging Teacher Shortage: An Analysis of Sources and Solutions," the Learning Policy Institute found that there were too few qualified California teachers to meet the growing demand of school districts across the state. A fall 2016 survey of more than…

This study examines and compares the recruitment, employment, and retention of minority and nonminority school teachers over the past quarter century. The objective of the study is to empirically ground the debate over minority teacher shortages. The data analyzed are from the National Center for Education Statistics' nationally representative…