Teacher Shortages in Texas
by Katie Floyd, Madeline Haynes, Heather Henry, Jaclyn Le, Thomas Trinh
October 2016
Definition
It is difficult to set a standard definition of teacher shortages because data availability, credentialing, and hiring practices can vary significantly between states. [1] States have the discretion to define teacher shortages in different ways, but shortages are most commonly described in terms of academic subject areas or geographic regions.
Suggested definition from the U.S. Department of Education
The U.S. Department of Education provides a suggested methodology for defining teacher shortages based on federal regulation cited below. The federal regulation specifies that calculations of teacher shortages should account for the following as a percent age of all teaching positions in a state: [2]
(A) Teaching positions that are unfilled;
(B) Teaching positions that are filled by teachers who are certified by irregular, provisional, temporary, or emergency certification; and
(C) Teaching positions that are filled by teachers who are certified, but who are teaching in academic subject areas other than their area of preparation.
Alternative definitions of teacher shortage areas
Researchers have also used other definitions of teacher shortages that focus on the overall supply of teachers entering or re-entering the workforce [3], the supply of qualified teachers with appropriate credentials for certain teaching positions [4], and the underproduction of teachers in specific subjects and grade levels [5].
During a time of teacher shortage, school districts lean on substitute teachers to fill vacant teaching positions. Louis Malfaro, president of the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, recalls a teacher shortage in the 1990s that resulted in Houston and Dallas districts hiring “300 to 500 substitute teachers in the classroom" to start the school year. [6] Since Texas does not have any statewide exemplary programs or certification standards for substitute teachers, a school board of a district can change the qualifications required to teach in order to appease the teacher shortage. [7]
Another aspect of the teacher shortage is the racial diversity among the teacher workforce. In a 2011 issue brief by the Center for American Progress, minority teachers or teachers of color were “only 17 percent of the teaching force,” below the percent age of racial minorities in the U.S. [8] Studies assume a connection between teachers understanding students' lives to their success in class instruction; thus, minority teachers can provide insights on racial minority backgrounds that "teacher candidates from dominant groups are less likely to possess." [9] Furthermore, in key shortage areas such as secondary mathematics and science, Texas school districts have experienced an additional shortage of minority teachers. [10] The lack of diversity in the teacher workforce results in an unbalance representation of the communities served.
Teacher shortage areas in Texas
Historically, Texas defines teacher shortage areas by academic discipline or subject matter. For the 2016-2017 school year, the teacher shortage areas in Texas are: [11]
- Bilingual/ESL (elementary and secondary levels)
- Career and technical education
- Computer science/technology applications
- Mathematics
- Science
- Special Education (elementary and secondary levels)
Potential causes of teacher shortages
Teacher shortages are the result of teacher turnover, low salaries, and increased professional opportunities for women outside of teaching.
Teacher turnover is very high and likely for teachers entering the workforce, especially when compared to nationwide employee turnover benchmarks. National levels of employee departure are steady around 11 percent, whereas teaching's turnover rate is closer to 15 percent. [12] High turnover rates are often attributed to high rates of teacher retirement, but these rates are minor when juxtaposed with turnover due to teacher job satisfaction and teachers pursuing better jobs as reasons for leaving. Teacher retirement usually accounts for about 24 percent of turnover, but turnover is much more dramatic for new teachers who leave the profession early, for example, in one year over 400,000 out of 3 million teachers left their jobs. [13] Standard rates for teachers’ salaries are low in both the short term and the long term, and they fail to incentivize teachers to stay when they could leave the profession and earn higher wages in fields requiring similar training and responsibilities. [14]
The history of gender in teaching also plays an important role in understanding teacher shortages. In the past it was very common that female college graduates at the top of their class would go on to become teachers because there were not many other career options that were open to women. As the workforce has become more open to women, the most talented women are no longer going into teaching, and instead they are going into other fields previously occupied by men. [15] This change has caused there to not only be decreased interest in teaching, but also less talent entering teaching as a career.
Policies to alleviate teacher shortages
There are myriad policies that have been and still are employed to ameliorate teacher shortages. Many focus on recruiting and incentivizing new teachers to pursue teaching as a profession. These strategies can include making certification more accessible through alternative certification programs or creating attractive financial mechanisms like loan forgiveness programs, stipends or bonuses. Other potential policy solutions for teacher shortages focus on retaining current teachers in the education system. These strategies can include increasing teacher satisfaction levels (of both experienced and new teachers) through induction and mentoring or making it possible for retired veteran teachers to return to the classroom.
Alternative certification and credentialing
Texas has three basic routes for obtaining a teacher certification: alternative, post-baccalaureate, and university-based programs. Alternative certification programs for educator preparation has produced the largest number of teachers since 2004-2005. [16] Additionally, in 2010–2011, almost 48 percent of initial, standard teaching certificates were distributed through alternative teaching certifications, while university-based programs experienced a 7 percent decrease in enrollment. Alternative teacher certification programs have been examined as a possible solution to teacher shortages in “urban, low-income, and high-poverty schools.” [17]
On the national scale, the executive branch focused on alternative education providers by distributing funds to two programs in 2010. With a competitive allocation of $263 million for innovation in education, the Obama administration’s education department gave Teach for America $50 million and The New Teacher Project $20 million, but did not fund programs by university or college educator programs. [18]
Financial incentives
Offering stipends in shortage areas
Some districts offer extra pay (stipends) to teachers in high-need areas. In a 2015 TASB survey of Texas districts, eighty percent of respondents (489 districts) reported paying at least one form of shortage stipend, which is a slight increase from 2014. [19] The most frequently reported stipend is for math teachers, with 54 percent of respondents offering an average stipend of $2,650. This is a 2.8 percent increase from 2014. The second most frequent stipend is science, and the average science stipend increased 3.3 percent to $2,556. The average bilingual stipend increased 6.3 percent to $2,784.
Loan forgiveness
To qualify for federal loan forgiveness programs, states must submit a list of their teacher shortages, the methodology used to calculate teacher shortages, and other supporting documents to the U.S. Department of Education for approval. States may use the suggested methodology outlined in federal regulation 34 C.F.R § 682.210 or propose alternative methodology more suited to their specific contexts (F. Cross, personal communication, September 30, 2016). [20]
According to the Texas Education Agency, teachers at certain hard-to-staff schools are eligible for the Federal Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program. [21] Texas offers its own student loan forgiveness programs to teachers in the following areas: Bilingual/English as a Second Language (Elementary and Secondary), Career and Technical Education, Computer Science/Technology Applications, Mathematics, Science, and Special Education (Elementary and Secondary).
There are several other loan forgiveness programs as well:
- TEACH for Texas Loan Repayment Assistance (outside source)
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness (outside source)
- Federal Perkins Loan Teacher Cancellation (outside source)
Changing the salary structure
Many districts do not offer high starting teacher salaries, and increase teacher pay very gradually with years of experience. A strategy proposed to attract and retain teachers is to adopt a "concave" salary schedule with a higher starting salary, larger salary increases in the early years, and smaller salary increases in the later years [21a]. This salary schedule mirrors growth in teacher effectiveness, which also improves faster during the early years than during the later years of teaching. [22]
Teacher retention efforts
Induction and mentoring
One method that has been used to mitigate teacher shortages by way of addressing teacher attrition rates is induction. [23] Induction refers to the professional support provided to beginning teachers. Induction programs almost always incorporate mentoring, or the practice of matching a beginning teacher with an experienced veteran teacher to provide personal guidance during their first years in the classroom. [24] Induction can also include collaboration among beginning teachers and their colleagues and professional development activities designed to strengthen teachers’ skills and ultimately improve student outcomes. [25]
In 2015, The Institute for Education Sciences released a longitudinal five-year study that aimed to determine teacher attrition, retention, and mobility. It suggests that induction and mentorship programs significantly reduce rates of teacher attrition; of the new teacher test group, 86 percent with first-year mentors were still teaching in year two, compared with 71 percent without mentors. [26] In addition, a recent survey by the National Network of State Teachers of the Year and the American Institutes for Research found that mentors provided the most value to new teachers of any form of assistance. [27]
Texas’s first comprehensive induction program, the Texas Beginning Educator Support System (TxBESS), was successful in keeping new teachers in the classroom. According to an external evaluation, 88 percent of beginning teachers who participated in the program continued to teach the following year, compared to a return rate of 81 percent among non-TxBESS participants. [28] This retention effect was even greater for non-white beginning teachers. [29] However, despite its effectiveness, TxBESS ceased to exist in 2003 after its administrative funding stopped.
The successor of TxBESS, the Beginning Teacher Induction and Mentoring program (BTIM), was created through legislation in 2006 and aimed to retain beginning teachers by providing them established teacher mentors at their campus. [30] Though it gave direct funding to school campuses and districts, the program was largely underutilized and its funding was cut in the 2011 legislative session. While there have been subsequent attempts at resurrecting comprehensive induction and mentorship programs in Texas, none have come to fruition.
The potential benefits of these types of programs are twofold: 1) They can limit the attrition of new teachers, and 2) they provide veteran teacher coaches new opportunities for career growth and better pay. Induction and mentorship encourage collaboration and community-building among new and veteran teachers and, in turn, improve overall working conditions. [31] While there is undoubtedly variation in the quality and effectiveness of such programs, their potential benefits to all teachers, both new and seasoned, are multiple and merit further testing and consideration.
Retire rehire
By restructuring pension plans, many states, including Texas, have attempted to lure retirees back to the classroom and keep retirement-eligible teachers in schools for several more years. This is referred to as retire rehire.
States, including Texas, have historically barred teachers from simultaneously earning a teaching salary and drawing pension benefits. However, in 2001, Texas faced a statewide shortage of nearly 40,000 teachers; this shortage was defined as the total number of teachers in the state assigned to teach out of their field of expertise for more than 50 percent of the day. [32] In response, Texas passed legislation that let retired certified teachers go back to work full-time in acute shortage areas and maintain their retirement benefits. [33]
Four years later, Texas passed SB 1691 which amended retire rehire in response to the serious unintended consequences it had on the Teacher Retirement System (TRS). [34] Though retire rehire was created as a temporary solution for reducing an acute teacher shortage, many teachers not in shortage areas but still eligible for retirement used it to simultaneously collect pension and a salary, a practice called “double-dipping” by opponents. This trend of early retirement and subsequent return to work undermined the actuarial assumptions of the TRS pension system and proved to be costly. [35]
References
[1] Goldhaber, D. & Theobald, R. (2016, September 22). Opinion: Sorting out the issues in the teacher shortage crisis. The 74. Retrieved from https://www.the74million.org/article/opinion-why-there-always-seems-to-be-a-national-teacher-shortage-but-isnt.
[2] Federal Family Education Loan, 34 C.F.R § 682.210 (1992). Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/csso-b.pdf.
[3] Cowan, J., Goldhaber, D., Hayes, K. & Theobald, R. (2015). Missing elements in the discussion of teacher shortages. Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research. Retrieved from http://www.caldercenter.org/missing-elements-discussion-teacher-shortages.
[4] Sutcher, L., Darling-Hammond, L., & Carver-Thomas, D. (2016). A coming crisis in teaching? Teacher supply, demand, and shortages in the U.S. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. Retrieved from https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/A_Coming_Crisis_in_Teaching_REPORT.pdf.
[5] Walsh, K. (2016). The ghost of teacher shortages past. National Council on Teacher Quality. Retrieved from http://www.nctq.org/commentary/article.do?id=293.
[6] Binkovitz, L., and Mellon, E. (2015, August 23). Down to the wire, districts 'scrambling' for teachers. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/education/article/Down-to-the-wire-districts-scrambling-for-6461181.php
[7] NEA Affiliates. (200-01). Status of Substitute Teachers: A State-By-State Summary. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/14813.htm
[8] Bolser, Ulrich. (2014) Teacher Diversity Revisited: A New State-by-State Analysis. Center for American Progress.
[9] Cochran-Smith, M., and Villegas, A. Preparing Teachers for Diversity and High Poverty Schools: A Research-Base Perspective. In Teacher Education for High Poverty Schools.
[10] Stevens, Nancy, Ed. Texas Teacher Diversity and Recruitment: Teacher Supply, Demand, and Quality Policy Research Project. Texas Education Agency.
[11] Cross, F. (2016). Teacher Shortage Areas Nationwide Listing 1990–1991 through 2016–2017. Washington D.C.: Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/tsa.pdf.
[12] Ingersoll, Richard M. (2001). Teacher Turnover and Teacher Shortages: An Organizational Analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 38 (3), 499-534. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/stable/pdf/3202489.pdf
[13] Ingersoll, Richard M. (2001). Teacher Turnover and Teacher Shortages: An Organizational Analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 38 (3), 499-534. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/stable/pdf/3202489.pdf
[14] Myths and Facts About Educator Pay. National Education Association. Issues and Action: Professional Pay. http://www.nea.org/home/12661.htm
[15] Corcoran, Sean P., Evans, William N., Schwab, Robert S., (2002). Changing Labor Market Opportunities for Women and the Quality of Teachers 1957-1992). National Bureau of Economic Research, 9180. http://www.nber.org/papers/w9180
[16] Hubbard, S. (2015). Best practices for Texas rural school leaders to enable first-year alternative certification program teachers to build self-efficacy and find success in their new careers. Retrieved from TTU Libraries.
[17] Cochran-Smith, M., and Villegas, A. Preparing Teachers for Diversity and High Poverty Schools: A Research-Base Perspective. In Teacher Education for High Poverty Schools.
[18] Zeichner, K., Payne, K., and Brayko, K. (2015). Democratizing Teacher Education. Journal of Teacher Education vol. 66 no. 2 122-135. doi: 10.1177/0022487114560908
[19] https://www.tasb.org/Services/HR-Services/Salary-Surveys/documents/tchr_highlights_landing-pdf.aspx
[20] Office of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.) Enclosure A: Proposed teacher shortage area designation submission checklist. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/tsa-checklist.html#1.
[21a] Hendricks, M. D. (2015). Towards an optimal teacher salary schedule: Designing base salary to attract and retain effective teachers. Economics of Education Review, 47, 143–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.05.008
[22] Papay, J. P., & Kraft, M. A. (2015). Productivity returns to experience in the teacher labor market: Methodological challenges and new evidence on long-term career improvement. Journal of Public Economics, 130, 105–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2015.02.008
[23] ICF International (2009). Evaluation of Beginning Teacher Induction and Mentoring Program.
[24] Smith, Thomas M., and Ingersoll, Richard M. (2004). What are the Effects of Induction and Mentoring on Beginning Teacher Turnover? American Educational Research Journal, 41(3), 681-714.
[25] Wang, Jian, Odell, Sandra J., and Schwille, Sharon A. (2008). Effects of Teacher Induction on Beginning Teachers' Teaching: A Critical Review of the Literature. Journal of Teacher Education, 59( 2), 132-152.
[26] Sawchuck, Stephen (2015). Research: Teacher-Retention Rates Higher Than Previously Thought. Education Week. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2015/05/research_teacher-retentions_ra.html
[27] ibid
[28] Beginning Teacher Induction and Mentoring Program. http://www.resourcesforlearning.net/mentoring/TxBESSResearchBaseandEvaluationFindings.pdf
[29] ibid
[30] ICF International (2009). Evaluation of Beginning Teacher Induction and Mentoring Program.
[31] Alliance for Education (2005). Teacher Attrition: A Costly Loss to the Nation and to the States.
[32] Texas House of Representatives (2002). Interim Report by the Joint House Committee and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Pensions and Investments regarding “Return to Work.” http://www.house.state.tx.us/_media/pdf/committees/reports/77interim/return2work.pdf
[33] Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (2002). Texas Strategic Plan to Address the Teacher Shortage.
[34] House Research Organization (2005). SB 1691 Bill Analysis. http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/scanned/hroBillAnalyses/79-0/SB1691.PDF
[35] Sawchuck, Stephen (2011). States Curbing Double-Dipping by Teachers. Education Week. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/07/13/36doubledip_ep.h30.html