Dive Brief:
- Only 4% of ACT test takers who graduated in 2015 are interested in becoming teachers, counselors or administrators, down from 5% in 2014 and 7% in 2010, according to an ACT report.
- The Condition of Future Educators 2015 also shows that academic achievement levels of would-be future educators are lower, on average, and fewer of them than average meet college readiness benchmarks in math, science, and reading.
- Fewer boys reported interest in teaching than girls, especially for early childhood and elementary education, and a disproportionately low number of black and Latino students listed education as a career interest.
Dive Insight:
Teachers have been attacked from nearly all sides in the push for educational reform. It is no surprise an often thankless job is becoming less attractive to the next generation. With strict reform agendas, teachers have often been stripped of freedom that comes with respect for their professional judgment in favor of top-down strategies that arguably well-intentioned administrators and policy makers believe are the most likely to improve student achievement. Teachers are striking all across the country for better pay and working conditions, all while schools — and society — continue to ask more of them.
With teacher effectiveness clearly tied to student achievement, however, it is critical that the public education system figure out how to attract a high-quality teaching force. And one that is diverse enough to reflect the nation’s future.