Dive Brief:
- In an editorial for The Hechinger Report, Julie Kasper, a National Board Certified Teacher who left the classroom after 14 years, writes there are important ways those in the education and policy fields, as well as others, can support teachers.
- Kasper now works with K-12 refugee students and English learners in Tucson, AZ, and she says it’s important to have people supporting students from outside the classroom as well — including with calls to elected and appointed officials about education policy and donations to classrooms.
- Kasper writes that it is important for individuals to help teachers they know manage stress, and on a bigger scale, it is important to acknowledge, celebrate and compensate teachers as we do first responders, professional athletes, actors and pop stars.
Dive Insight:
Administrators all over the country are no strangers to consequences of the teacher shortage. Some states have become more lenient about who can teach in schools in recent years as shortages have become more dire. There are fewer students choosing to major in education, and the undersupply in special education, bilingual education and some STEM fields is extreme.
The Learning Policy Institute released a report last fall that drew attention to one important lever in the solution: retention. If fewer teachers leave the profession every year, there will be less demand for new teachers to fill open positions. Even without raising salaries, teachers report greater autonomy in their classrooms and a say in school-wide decision-making could improve their working conditions and entice them to stay put.