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In the context of an ongoing national conversation about teacher shortages, we build on prior literature on the efficacy of teacher certification pathways by comparing entry and exit patterns based on age at the time of certification. All trainees who complete a state certification process have invested substantial time and resources into entering teaching. Competing employment opportunities and expectations might vary with age. We use both linear regression and discrete-time hazard models to examine employment and subsequent exit of newly certified teacher trainees in Michigan from 2011 to 2023. We find that while mid-career entrants in their 30s and 40s compose a small share of new certificates, they are more likely to enter a teaching position and no more likely to subsequently exit than counterparts who were certified in their early 20s. Mid-career pathways also contribute to teacher diversity by attracting more Black and male teachers who enter and persist.

There's a rise in the employment of uncertified teachers, driven by acute staffing shortages and the flexibility offered by Texas' District of Innovation plans. This reliance on uncertified educators is raising alarms among educators and policymakers alike. Concerns are mounting over whether these teachers, often entering the classroom having never worked in public schools, are equipped to meet the demands of today's classrooms. This brief presents new evidence showing that uncertified teachers are linked to declines in student achievement. The study examines the prevalence, backgrounds, and impacts of uncertified teachers on student achievement and draws attention to significant differences within this diverse group of educators. As schools continue to hire uncertified teachers to address staffing shortages, knowing the backgrounds of these teachers and how they shape student achievement helps stakeholders prioritize transition points, such as hiring individuals with previous classroom experience in non-teaching roles. This brief outlines findings from the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years and provides recommendations for policymakers and stakeholder groups.

We use frame analysis to analyze the first iteration of the Texas District of Innovation policy, which allows districts to take exemption from state education requirements mandating the hiring of a state certified teacher. We analyzed 451 district policies and find the plans use very similar, and sometimes identical, language to frame both the problem of teacher shortage and their proposed solutions, even though the districts may be geographically and demographically different. The districts most often propose two solutions to the certified teacher shortage, 1) flexibility and 2) local control over teacher certification decisions, including hiring unlicensed teachers and locally certified teachers.

There were 42 Teach for America (TFA) members who had student schedules in both the October 2022 and February 2023 periods. Of those, 33 teachers instructed grades and subjects where students participated in the statewide assessment. The goal of this Research Brief is to estimate the instructional effectiveness of the TFA members in 2022-2023 as compared to that of other teachers in the District by examining how well students who were taught by TFA members performed academically compared to other Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) students.

Ensuring that teaching candidates are well prepared to enter the classroom is a critical mission for teacher preparation programs and state agencies that approve programs and set teacher licensure standards. Teaching performance assessments (TPAs) can be used to assess the readiness of potential teachers because they require candidates to provide evidence of their teaching knowledge and skills through classroom videos, lesson plans, student work, and analysis of teaching and learning. TPAs have been adopted in at least 16 states as a requirement of either teacher preparation program completion or initial licensure. California, the focus of this study, was one of the first states to adopt a TPA as a licensure requirement for beginning teachers. The state has since adopted three TPA models: the California Teaching Performing Assessment (CalTPA), the educative Teaching Performance Assessment (edTPA), and the Fresno Assessment of Student Teachers (FAST). Unlike multiple-choice licensure exams measuring the basic skills or content knowledge of teaching candidates, TPAs are classroom-based assessments capturing direct evaluation of teaching skills. This evaluation process creates opportunities for candidates (and their preparation programs) to identify their strengths and weaknesses. TPAs typically occur when preservice candidates are in student teaching placements (referred to here as clinical practice) or, for those participating in in-service preparation like internships, in their own classrooms. Multiple studies have found that TPA scores predict effectiveness once candidates enter the classroom as licensed teachers, and proponents argue that TPAs serve as a valuable professional standard set to ensure a teaching candidate is ready to enter the classroom. On the other hand, critics have questioned whether a TPA requirement, along with other tests, serves as an unnecessary gatekeeper to the profession and whether the fees and time investment required by a TPA can be a cumbersome barrier for potential teachers, particularly teaching candidates of color and candidates with fewer financial resources. While TPA passing rates among California teaching candidates were quite high prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, variability in performance on TPAs has increased in California as the pandemic has rocked every aspect of the education system, including the training of teachers. Focusing on the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years, this study explored whether certain preparation experiences predicted TPA success. Understanding these relationships can inform programmatic and policy decisions about how to support teaching candidates in entering the workforce with strong preparation and minimal barriers. Using data provided by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, this analysis focused on 18,455 California teaching candidates who took either the CalTPA or edTPA--the two widely available TPAs used across California teacher preparation programs--between September 1, 2021, and August 31, 2023.

AB 471 requires that the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing report to the Governor and the Legislature each year on the number of teachers who received credentials, certificates, permits and waivers. This report provides data collected by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (Commission) and addresses several questions regarding the supply of teachers newly available to teach in California classrooms.

Who ends up in the teacher workforce is greatly influenced by who is admitted into teacher education programs (TEPs). To better understand how the preferences of teacher education faculty might shape admissions of STEM teacher candidates, we surveyed faculty who teach content or methods courses to STEM teacher candidates across five universities. Faculty reported that they most value information collected from individual interviews with applicants and data on the number of STEM courses taken in college and their performance in these courses, and least value data on university admissions tests, high school GPA, and teacher licensure test scores. When we investigate faculty members' revealed preferences through a conjoint analysis, we find that faculty most value applicants who have worked with students from diverse backgrounds and applicants from a marginalized racial or ethnic community, and least value whether they received high grades in math and/or science courses. Finally, we find significant variation in these perceptions across respondents in different faculty roles, who teach different courses, and from different institutions: for example, Arts and Sciences faculty tend to value TEP applicants' performance in college STEM courses relatively more than STEM education faculty, while STEM education faculty tend to value applicants' race and ethnicity relatively more than Arts and Sciences faculty.

The Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (BASE) project aims to increase knowledge and understanding in child care and early education (CCEE) by documenting factors that drive workforce turnover and by building evidence on current initiatives to recruit, advance, and retain a stable and qualified CCEE workforce. As part of the BASE project, the study team completed a literature review and an environmental scan designed to identify and document existing knowledge about the CCEE workforce and strategies to strengthen it. The team also completed a data scan that documented and assessed the strengths and weaknesses of a range of potential data sources for examining workforce dynamics and addressing key gaps in the research identified by the literature review and environmental scan. This brief uses data from one of the sources identified in the data scan: state CCEE workforce registries. Using data from Montana's Early Care and Education (ECE) Workforce Registry, the brief addresses the following research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of the Montana ECE workforce? (2) What are retention rates in the ECE field, and how are they associated with teacher, job, and provider characteristics? and (3) How many teachers earn credentials over time, and how is credential attainment associated with teacher, job, and provider characteristics? This analysis illustrates the potential use of this type of data source for the broader field and how similar data sources might be improved to provide further insights.

Graduates of special education teacher education programs can teach in a range of special education settings, raising the potential that their training can occur in very different settings than where they find their first jobs. We follow 263 completers of Moderate Disabilities programs in Massachusetts from their field placements to their early-career teaching positions and study the characteristics of their field placements and the degree to which these are aligned with their early-career teaching positions. We also assess the degree to which alignment is associated with early-career teacher turnover. We found that many of these teachers student-taught in an inclusive setting but were hired into a self-contained special education setting and vice versa, and teachers who experienced this misalignment were more likely to leave the workforce early in their careers. Teachers who student taught with a supervising practitioner without a special education license were also more likely to leave early. Findings suggest that teachers training to educate students with learning disabilities should student teach in a setting that is aligned with where they are likely to be hired, and with a supervising practitioner who is trained in special education.

This is the third in a series of annual reports about teacher shortages in Michigan that the state legislature requested in December 2020 (2020 PA 316). Although the state data on this topic is limited, these analyses still help to paint a picture of teacher shortages across Michigan, assist policymakers to target policies and programs in ways that can best support the state and local communities in growing their teacher workforces, and highlight ways that new or better data may provide a deeper understanding of local and statewide teacher shortages. In addition to updating the analyses from EPIC's first comprehensive report, we continue to adjust and expand on our past analyses based on the results from prior reports and any additions or improvements to the data available each year.

Prior research has found that economic downturns have positive effects on new teacher quality, but has not been able to determine the extent to which this relationship arises from a supply response (increased quantity or positive selection of teaching candidates) vs. a demand response (selection in hiring enabled by falling demand). In this paper, I use longitudinal data on students and teachers in Massachusetts to describe the effects of higher unemployment rates on both supply and demand for teachers. I show that students who graduate from college when unemployment rates are higher are more likely to take a teacher certification test, and that this effect is stronger among students who were higher achieving while in high school. On the demand side of the market, higher unemployment reduces new teacher hiring and the overall number of teachers employed, but I find no evidence that schools differentially employ higher achieving teaching candidates during economic downturns. While I cannot definitively rule out changes in demand-side selection, I show that much of the positive relationship between unemployment rates and teacher quality can be explained by positively selected supply. My results suggest that economic incentives impact both the quantity and the quality of new teaching candidates, with implications for attracting and retaining high-quality teachers outside of economic downturns.

In 2022, after increasing pressures from the COVID pandemic and a shifting political climate, the nation's largest teachers' union warned that over half of teachers were considering exiting the teaching profession. More recent national and local work suggests that such evidence in the media is often not supported by administrative data and that reports of a teacher exodus are often exaggerated or incorrect. There is no public data on teacher vacancies in Maryland, so in this study the supply of teachers in Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools) was examined, with a particular focus on sources of potential teacher shortages that emerged during the COVID-19 era. Data for this study was provided by the Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center (MLDSC), an independent state agency that supports research on education and workforce outcomes in Maryland. Through descriptive evidence on teacher entry and exit from 2016 to 2022, it was shown that teacher retention rates in City Schools actually improved over pre-COVID levels. However, the post-COVID period also saw an increase in the number of new teachers hired with temporary teaching certificates. This suggests that City Schools faces new challenges to recruit and develop the next generation of teachers for Baltimore students.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted teacher candidates' capacity to complete licensure requirements. In response, many states temporarily reduced professional entry requirements to prevent a pandemic-induced teacher shortage. Using mixed methods, we examine the role of the emergency teaching license in Massachusetts, which provided an opportunity for individuals to enter the public school teacher workforce with only a bachelor's degree. Our results show that emergency licenses increased the supply of teachers in two ways by: 1) providing an entry point for individuals who previously wanted to become teachers but could not meet traditional licensure requirements and 2) expanding the pool of individuals interested in the profession. Among those teachers hired with an emergency license, we find that they were substantially more ethnoracially diverse than their peers with traditional licenses, and they overwhelmingly intend to obtain permanent licensure and remain in the profession. These results suggest that rethinking initial entry requirements may be an effective policy tool to increase the supply of teachers, particularly among teachers of color.

This Data Point examines the prevalence of public school teachers who did not hold a teaching certificate or held only provisional or emergency teaching certificates in the state where they were teaching, as opposed to regular, standard, advanced, or probationary certificates. It looks at the prevalence over time, by selected teacher and school characteristics, and by state.

This study analyzes how the availability of Black and Hispanic teachers within schools in the Houston Independent School District is related to Hispanic and Black students' academic and behavioral outcomes during the 2018--19 and 2019--20 school years. The analyses found that Hispanic and Black students' test scores, attendance and discipline referrals are shaped by the demographics of their fellow students and faculty. Specifically, Hispanic students attending schools where the majority of both teachers and students were also Hispanic had higher test scores, lower absenteeism and lower disciplinary referrals. In contrast, the opposite was found to be the case for Black students: When they attended schools with lower proportions of Black students and teachers, these students tended to have better reading scores, less absenteeism and fewer disciplinary referrals. These results may be due to systemic disadvantages facing some schools in predominantly Black communities. [For the second brief, "Campus Teacher Characteristics and Outcomes for Black and Hispanic Students. Research Brief for the Houston Independent School District," see ED630801.]

This study investigates how teacher qualifications at the campus level were related to achievement, absenteeism, and discipline outcomes for Black and Hispanic students in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years. Campus-level teacher qualifications included shares of advanced degrees, formal backgrounds in education, certifications in special education (SPED), certifications in English as a Second Language/Bilingual Education (ESL), and above-district-average years of teaching experience. Some qualifications were related to different outcomes for Black and Hispanic students, but overall, campus-level teacher qualifications were related to higher achievement, lower absenteeism, and lower disciplinary referrals for both racial/ethnic groups in HISD. [For the first brief, "Achieving Equity in Access to Qualified Teachers in HISD. Research Brief for the Houston Independent School District," see ED630780.]

This study analyzed the equitable distribution of qualified teachers across schools in the Houston Independent School District (HISD) in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years. It examined how the characteristics of teachers were distributed in schools relative to the characteristics of the students attending those schools. For each HISD campus, the study assessed the percentage of teachers who have advanced degrees; the percentage of teachers with certifications in special education (SPED), English as a Second Language (ESL) or Bilingual Education; the percentage of teachers who have a background in education; and the average years of teaching experience. Findings showed that HISD teachers with certifications in SPED and ESL/Bilingual Education were equitably distributed across the campuses where students needed them most. However, HISD can improve the distribution of teachers with a formal background in education, advanced degrees, and more years of teaching experience. Given the racial/ethnic diversity of HISD students and teachers, this study also examined the extent to which the racial/ethnic makeup of students resembled that of the teachers in their schools. The study found that schools with the highest proportions of Black or Hispanic students also had the highest proportions of Black or Hispanic teachers respectively, meaning that Black or Hispanic students attending schools where they are the majority were more likely to be taught by teachers who looked like them.

The onset of the pandemic in spring 2020 substantially disrupted routes into teaching and offered a unique opportunity to study this process with different requirements for initial entry into the classroom. We examine the impacts of the Temporary Certificate of Eligibility (Temporary CE), which allowed teacher candidates in New Jersey to enter the workforce before completing assessment and performance requirements. Relative to the novice teacher workforce before the pandemic, Temporary CE teachers were substantially more diverse without any significant effects on teacher performance or student test scores. However, Temporary CE holders were less likely to remain in the same school or in the New Jersey teaching workforce between 2020-21 and 2021-22. Although Temporary CE holders disproportionately entered through alternate routes into teaching, these patterns hold for both traditional- and alternate-route entrants.

The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) Office of Federal Programs conducted a routine monitoring of Upshur County in December of 2022. This resulted in a report of findings which was completed February 10, 2023. Per Federal Program protocols, counties are provided 60 days to respond to findings; establishing Upshur County's deadline for response as May 8, 2023. The State Superintendent of Schools notified the Office of Accountability the week of May 8, 2023, of his intent to commence a Special Circumstance Review of Upshur County Schools. This put into motion planning phases inclusive of team members from the Offices of Accountability, Federal Programs, and Finance. The team began its Special Circumstance Review of Upshur County Schools on May 22, 2023. The review process, consisting of interviews and document review, is being conducted as outlined in West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) Policy 2322: West Virginia System of Support and Accountability. The review team compiled the information gathered thus far during the onsite review. This report will be presented to the West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) at the June 2023 meeting. The Review is on-going.

AB 471 requires that the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing report to the Governor and the Legislature each year on the number of teachers who received credentials, certificates, permits and waivers. This report provides data collected by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (Commission) and addresses several questions regarding the supply of teachers newly available to teach in California classrooms. [For the 2020-21 report, see ED622353.]

Just as states require anyone interested in operating a motor vehicle to meet specific driver's license requirements, state policies dictate that any individual interested in teaching in a public school must first fulfill a series of requirements to obtain a teaching credential. As schools increasingly struggle to find an adequate number of diverse, well-qualified teachers to fill their staffing needs, states are under pressure to open up new pathways for becoming a teacher or to modify existing ones. To help teacher preparation and credentialing leaders, policymakers, researchers, and even prospective teachers, gain a clearer view of the state and national landscapes for earning a first-time teaching credential, we have created a first-of-its-kind public database detailing the attributes and requirements of each available state pathway into teaching. The database shows how state teacher preparation policies intersect with policies that determine who can obtain employment as a lead classroom teacher--an often overlooked but critical aspect influencing the quantity, diversity, and quality of the novice teacher workforce. This resource can guide reflection and innovation as states seek to balance the inherent tensions between quantity, quality, and diversity that are present when shaping pathways into teaching and determining if and how teachers entering via these pathways can progress once in the profession.

The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must follow to ensure all children have the best start in life and are prepared for school. This includes the requirements for staff: child ratios for all providers delivering the EYFS and the qualification levels that practitioners must hold in order to count within the ratios. The EYFS framework was updated in 2021, the main focus of the changes were on learning and development and assessment requirements with the primary aim of improving outcomes for children. This consultation asked for views about the suitability of the proposed revisions to the Early Years Educator Level 3 qualifications criteria and any cost implications of changing the criteria on businesses. The Early Years Educator Level 3 criteria set out the minimum expected standards for what a practitioner qualified to Level 3 should know, understand, and be able to do when delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS). The consultation was conducted online over an 8-week period from Monday 28 November 2022 to Monday 23 January 2023, with the option to respond by email. All responses were received via the online form. The consultation questions requested yes/no/not sure answers, as well as free text, allowing respondents to express views on the proposed criteria. This review contributes to the Early Years Recovery Programme (EYRP) by updating and improving the Early Years Educator Level 3 criteria, responding directly to sector feedback on the need for improving the quality of Early Years Educator Level 3 qualifications.

School is a place where childhood happens. Ohio's public educators teach children of all races and backgrounds basic skills, but also challenge and inspire them to follow their dreams. For many students, school is a safe place to learn, develop and grow. This report describes how the state funds public K-12 education and some key investments proposed in the 2024-25 Executive Budget, the legacy of unconstitutional funding, the role private school vouchers play in harming public schools, and how the Fair School Funding Plan -- when fully funded and fully implemented, including weights and cost corrections -- can provide districts with more resources to prepare Ohio's children to succeed. [For the executive summary, see ED628215.]

To better support districts and preschool program providers, the Ohio Department of Education's Office of Early Learning and School Readiness is providing answers to the following frequently asked questions pertaining to Ohio Administrative Code 3301-51-11. This document is divided into sections aligning with each section of the rule. This document will continue to be updated based on additional questions and concerns from the field. Red text indicates revisions since previous version. [For the 2021 report, see ED619735.]

The decision to close schools in March 2020 was a massive disruption to public education. But pandemic-related closures did more than put in-person instruction on hold. School closures also meant that teacher candidates could not complete their student teaching experiences. Three years later, the negative consequences of school closures for students are well known: learning declined and pre-existing inequities grew. But how (if at all) changes to licensure requirements affected teachers and students is less clear. To provide an initial picture of what happened, this research brief describes the nature of pandemic-era licensure modifications, how many teachers they might have affected, and why we should care. The rough estimate suggests that around 100,000 graduates of traditional preparation programs might have entered the profession under changed licensure rules in 2020-2021. Most of these teachers likely would have entered the teacher workforce, regardless of the changes to licensure rules. Still, under normal circumstances, some of them might have failed their licensure test or balked at the costs of entering the profession; virtually all of them would, absent the changes, have completed student teaching before being hired.

In February 2023, the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) convened a technical working group (TWG) panel of experts on the K-12 special education teacher workforce, including state- and district-level education leaders, teacher educators, researchers, and technical assistance providers. The goal of the TWG was to identify ways research can be used to better prepare, support, and retain an effective K-12 special education teacher workforce and how IES can best support this research. The discussion was centered around pressing problems, research needs, and data on the K-12 special education teacher workforce.