24 Tackling Teacher Shortages in America

Teachers are a crucial part to the success of students in their educational career. Without quality teachers, students may have a hard time learning, and may not learn the material they need to. This impacts them not just in the moment, but long term.

This essay was composed in December 2024 and uses MLA documentation.

When I told my sister and mother, who are currently teachers, that I wanted to be one, they responded with the same message that emulates into this question, “Are you sure you want to do this?” It seems ironic, but they wanted me to know what I was getting myself into. Being a teacher means more than just sitting in a classroom teaching; it includes going to meetings, disciplining students, spending hours grading, preparing class materials, etc. Not only that, but my salary would be significantly less than some other jobs. When they shared their experiences with me, it was interesting to see how they were personally affected by the teacher shortages in America. This led me to ask the following two questions: what is causing the teacher shortages in K-12 education and which cause do policymakers and citizens need to address first?

Teacher shortages are “the insufficient production of new teachers, given the size of student enrollments and teacher retirements” (Sutcher 4). They are created from a complicated interaction between supply and demand, where the demand is significantly more than the supply. There is a constant interplay between the number of teachers entering into the field versus the number of teachers leaving or retiring. In a survey completed by Pew Research, seventy percent of the surveyed teachers say their school is understaffed (Lin). Eliza Fawcett and Jacey Fortin, from the New York Times, shared that three-fours of the principals and district officials did not have enough applicants to fill open positions in 2022. The problem with the current American teacher shortage is that more people are leaving than staying. When this happens, principals and officials must use uncertified and unqualified teachers to fill in the gaps. In the 2020-2021 school year, thirty-four percent of newly entering teachers were unqualified (Darling-Hammond 28). After this, if there are still gaps, the teachers who are there have to do more work, and are more likely to leave due to the added stress. This creates a positive feedback cycle where an increased number of teachers are leaving an already understaffed field. This loss leads not only to less teachers, but less quality teachers since there is a smaller pool of applicants to choose from. Quality teachers are a crucial part of effective learning.

The current teacher shortage in America is partially caused by the significant increase in those who leave the profession early in their careers. One of the reasons as to why they are leaving is the heavy workloads and the stress that accompanies the job. According to a survey by Pew Research, seventy-seven percent of teachers say that teaching is stressful (Lin). That’s because teachers have to do so much more than just teach; they have to attend meetings, prepare lesson plans, and print and grade papers. For Judith Spencer, a high school Spanish teacher I interviewed, she estimated she works nearly fifty hours a week when she typically has about thirty-seven hours in the school week. The work that is not done during the school day has to be done on the teacher’s personal time. Laura Johnson, an elementary educator I also interviewed, shared this analogy; “Imagine telling a new business manager that they have back-to-back meetings every single day, with only about an hour a day to prepare for all their meetings, and will probably have to work extra unpaid hours on the weekends to make sure they’re prepped for those meetings.”

Part of the problem is not only are teachers given a long list of things to do just to prepare to teach, they aren’t given the adequate time to complete them during their scheduled work hours. In addition, teachers have to ensure that the students are understanding the material. They have to help students one-on-one through the information and ensure that students are able to learn during lectures. This can be very mentally and emotionally taxing, especially if any number of the students are disruptive or violent. Betsy Sumner, a previous educator, described teaching as preparing and performing a show, one that is not “sustainable” (Barnum). The amount of energy that teachers need to give to perform their duties is part of what made Sumner and others leave the profession.

Not only are teachers working more time than they contracted for, they aren’t paid for those extra hours. According to a survey, only fifteen percent of teachers are satisfied with their pay (Lin). This is because they are working a lot for poor pay. For Laura Johnson, her salary is $59,000 while other comparable jobs in the San Francisco Bay area are paying $73,000 a year. Even though she only has to care for herself financially, she is still living paycheck to paycheck. She says it’s even worse for those who have to provide for loved ones. Private school teachers typically make less than those in public schools. Judith Spencer, who lives in Iowa, started teaching seven years ago with a salary of $36,000. Now, she makes $47,000 a year, but it is still less than the $60,000 teachers are making at the public schools in her city.

The teacher salary is in part affected by inflation. Although inflation has caused the cost of living to go up, the average teacher salary hasn’t risen much in decades. There has been an increase in educational spending, but officials haven’t been putting it towards teachers’ pay (Barnum). The pay is one of the reasons for the teacher shortages. Educators are leaving the industry, or others are choosing not to go into it, because they are able to make more money with the same degree in a different career (Braga).

Another reason why teachers are leaving is because they feel they are not being valued or supported by those around them. When a group of 2,531 teachers were asked what they would most like the public to know, ten percent said that they need more support from the government and administration, and eight percent said they need more parent support (Braga). In regards to the administration staff, if they are rude or demanding, teachers may feel like they are not in an environment where they can get the help they need. If a school district is understaffed, the leaders may be unable to help their teachers. This is the situation at Laura Johnson’s school. The school has so few teachers that the principal and a long-term substitute are filling in for the year, in addition to the uncertified teachers in multiple grade levels. With principals teaching, they are unable to fulfill their role in helping the teachers. This feeling of being unsupported can be worsened if parents are not aiding them either. If a student misbehaves or is in need of extra help, it is important that the teacher is able to feel that the parent or guardian is working with them, not against them.

While all these issues need to be addressed, I believe that we need to start with teachers’ salaries. When teachers are not able to pay for their needs, or are barely getting by, they will likely change jobs to better meet those needs. It is important that school districts provide wages that can compete. Increasing the starting salary, for instance, will help beginning teachers feel confident that they can have the money they need right from the start. This can be done through making a law similar to the minimum wage, and creating incentives for states and districts to raise the pay (Darling-Hammond 15). In addition to raising salaries, policymakers can decrease certain expenses. Linda Darling-Hammond suggests many, such as the government offering refundable tax credits, creating housing subsidies, covering monthly loan payments, increasing grants, and funding teacher preparation. Combining any number of these things with increased salaries will help alleviate the financial burden teachers face.

Some might argue that policymakers should address the overwhelming workload or administration support before pay. If either or both of these things were to be fixed first, it would not change the fact that some teachers are not able to live on their teaching salary alone. In this scenario, they are more than likely to go to another job, even if the number of tasks decreased or the administration was more supportive. If policymakers chose to focus on increasing teacher pay first, then it is more likely that people would consider joining or staying in the field. This would help decrease workload because the more teachers there are, the more distributed the work can be. It would also be more equitable since they would be paid more for the amount of hours they work, which would make it more similar to other jobs and their salaries. In addition to workload decreasing, if more people decided to become teachers because of the increased pay, it would help with administrative support. If there are more teachers, then principals and other education leaders will be able to focus on their own jobs instead of having to fill in the gaps. If policymakers choose to start by addressing teacher pay, it will help all three issues teachers are currently facing.

Teachers are a crucial part to the success of students in their educational career. Without quality teachers, students may have a hard time learning, and may not learn the material they need to. This impacts them not just in the moment, but long term. If a child doesn’t learn to read early on, they will continue to struggle until they are properly taught how to read. It is important that citizens and policymakers change the education system, so that certified and qualified teachers will want to stay. This starts by easing their financial burdens. Raising teachers’ starting salaries will give them confidence that they will have the money they need from the beginning. Supplementing that with things like refundable tax credits, increased grants, and more will help teachers feel that working in education is a financially practical option for them. Starting with these changes, and continuing with changes in workload and administration support, are imperative for the future success of the education system in America.

Works Cited

Barnum, Matt. “Why Teachers Are Still Leaving the Profession; Turnover Is Down From Its Peak In 2022 But Remains Higher Than Normal, New Data Show.” Wall Street Journal, 4 March 2024. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/central/docview/2934217732/B0ED3357AE0F4B72PQ/1?sourcetype=Newspapers. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024.

Braga, Dana, et al. “What Public K-12 Teachers Want Americans to Know About Teaching.” Pew Research Center, 4 Apr. 2024, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/04/04/what-public-k-12-teachers-want-americans-to-know-about-teaching/. Accessed 7 Nov. 2024.

Darling-Hammond, Linda, et al. “The Federal Role in Ending Teacher Shortages.” Learning Policy Institute, 2023, pg. 1-34. https://doi.org/10.54300/649.892.

Fawcett, Eliza, and Jacey Fortin. “How Bad Is The Teacher Shortage? Depends On Where You Live.” The New York Times, 21 June 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/29/us/schools-teacher-shortages.html?register=email&auth=register-email. Accessed 13 Nov. 2024.

Johnson, Laura. Personal Interview. 10 Nov. 2024.

Lin, Luona, et al. “What’s It Like To Be a Teacher in America Today.” Pew Research Center, 4 Apr. 2024, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/04/04/whats-it-like-to-be-a-teacher-in-america-today/. Accessed 7 Nov. 2024.

Spencer, Judith. Personal Interview. 11 Nov. 2024.

Sutcher, Leib, et al. “Understanding Teacher Shortages: An Analysis of Teacher Supply and Demand in the United States.” Education Policy Analysis Archives, vol. 27, no. 35, 2019, pg. 1-28.