North Carolina's statewide shortage of teachers has become critical, according to a report published in late August by the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research.
North Carolina’s statewide shortage of teachers has become critical, according to a report published in late August by the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research.
The report, “Addressing the Shortage of Teachers in North Carolina,” was published by the North Carolina-based Insight magazine and calls the teacher shortage an “impending crisis” that requires immediate state action. The report cites the growth in the school-age population, efforts to reduce class size and a high teacher turnover rate as reasons for the aggravation of the problem.
Eddie Davis, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, highlighted a particular need for more teachers in subjects such as science, math and special education.
“Shortages in these areas are typical—they always seem hardest to fill,” he said. “We sometimes have problems with foreign language teachers, especially Spanish, and with teachers of English as a foreign language.”
To staff its 117 public school districts each year, the state has to hire 10,000 teachers, or about 11 percent of its teaching pool, the report stated. However, North Carolina does not produce nearly enough potential teachers in its schools to meet that quota with in-state candidates alone.
“The state’s public and private universities combined produced about 3,100 prospective teachers in 2003,” the report noted. “Only 2,200 of these graduates were hired by local school districts.”
Fred Williams, human resources coordinator for Durham Public Schools, said DPS hired more than 300 teachers between June and August this year. Williams called the number of new hires for the period “reasonably consistent... for this district.”
The sheer number of students in the North Carolina school system has also contributed to the teaching shortage. According to the report, there were 1.4 million school-aged children in North Carolina in 2000, and this number is expected to rise to 1.6 million by 2010.
The federal government’s No Child Left Behind Act, enacted in 2001, also aggravated the need for more teachers by requiring “a fully qualified teacher in every classroom by the end of the 2005-06 school year,” the report stated.
Adding to the crunch, Gov. Mike Easley has called for class size reduction, with the objective of reaching an 18-to-1 student-teacher ratio for kindergarten, first and second grade classes. The report predicted that the NCLB Act and the governor’s efforts to lower student-teacher ratios will raise the demand for new teachers by 2,000 positions annually.
Williams suggested that the availability of a number of alternatives to teaching might be another reason for the current shortage. “Teachers feel they have more options and might want to explore more professions outside of the classroom,” he said.
To attract potential teachers to the state, the report suggested emphasizing the convenience of teacher education programs that offer night and weekend classes.
The NCAE has also attempted to increase the pool of teaching candidates by supporting programs that help high school students become involved in pre-college education courses.
“We are trying to grow our own [teachers],” Davis said.
But the report indicated that simply hiring more teachers would not solve the problem. “Producing more teachers is like pouring water into a leaky bucket if officials don’t adopt effective reforms to retain the teachers we have,” the report stated.
With almost one-third of new teachers either quitting, moving out of the state or retiring after three years and 40 percent leaving after five years, teacher turnover is also a large factor contributing to the problem, the report stated. In some urban districts, the percentage of teachers leaving their jobs each year reaches as high as 50 percent.
“Students who are already behind the learning curve must rely on inexperienced teachers to help them catch up,” the report stated.
Pointing to potential ways of retaining teachers, Davis mentioned three areas that need improvement: work conditions, salaries and teachers’ administrative power.
“Teachers have to have a more empowered voice on issues of curriculum, professional development and issues that deal with budgets and other kinds of administrative decisions,” Davis said. The report similarly stated, “[teachers] lack professional support, are frustrated by student apathy, or are exasperated by poor behavior.”
Davis said low teacher salaries are a challenge to keeping teachers satisfied with their job.
“We often lose people because they can get higher pay in other professions,” Davis said. According to the report, North Carolina ranked 22nd in the nation in teacher pay. For the 2002-03 school year, the mean teacher salary was $43,076, while the national average was $45,930.
Williams added, however, that the Triangle area generally has higher teacher salaries than other districts in North Carolina.
“This region is easier to attract teachers to,” Williams said. “Teachers look to Durham as an intriguing place to teach due to its diverse student body.”
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