Texas schools have long had too few teachers. The pandemic made the situation worse — but issues like low pay, poor benefits and polarizing statewide politics all have an impact, too.
Rural Texas districts struggling to attract teachers are switching to four-day school weeksThe combined effect of all of the above is that educators are leaving the field in droves. Most of them are new, early-career teachers.
A major indicator that points to a shortage now is the state’s attrition rate, which tracks the number of teachers who have left the field in any given year. The rate suggests that retaining teachers has become difficult and schools are having to refill positions on a yearly basis. Teacher retirement is up as well. About 8,600 teachers retired in fiscal year 2021, an increase of about 1,000 teachers from the previous year. The data for 2022 is not yet available, so it remains to be seen if teacher retirements will level off. Texas has been averaging about 7,500 retired teachers since the 2018 fiscal year.
It is unclear why teachers who become certified through alternative programs leave the profession at higher rates — some have speculated they do not receive the same amount of support as educators who go through four-year programs — but during a State Board of Education meeting on June 15, TEA data showed that “if teachers prepared in alternative certification programs were retained at the same rate as teachers prepared in traditional programs, over 3,700 fewer new teachers would have been...
Gordon Mock, a former teacher, left the profession after just two years on the job. He taught elementary in the Spring Independent School District, near Houston, until 2018. He thought teaching was his dream job. The task force has met twice so far, Oeser said. Members of the task force have been split up into groups to tackle concerns such as educator preparation, pay, staffing and improving the teacher experience.
On the other hand, the edTPA requires prospective teachers to film themselves teaching, submit lesson plans and reflect on how they help their students grow academically. The edTPA exam has been on a pilot run for the last three years in about 40 educator preparation programs across the state.
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