Teacher Shortage

The growing shortage of teachers has been on mind lately.  I and a pair of my colleagues were interviewed by the Lancaster, PA paper (here) about the reasons for the local shortage.  And the matter has been discussed in the national press (here, for example) and in the context of national meetings and conferences like this one. 

There are many theories and ideas suggesting reasons for the shortage – disillusionment based on the way teachers have been portrayed in the media, frustration about the over-testing of K-12 students, concern about how teacher evaluations have evolved under Race to the Top, perceptions that the Great Recession would mean no jobs would be available after graduation, the list goes on.

I received an email from a member of the faculty in my college last week.  The content of the email made me realize that in at least one way, we may be ourselves creating a barrier to the classroom for new teachers that exacerbates the teacher shortage.  Before I share the email, some background.

In Pennsylvania, teacher candidates need to pass two rounds of high stakes, standardized tests to become certificated.  One tests their basic skills in reading, mathematics, and writing, and is ostensibly aligned with the 11^th grade high school curriculum.  The other (PECT or PRAXIS depending on major) is a more advanced round of exams that test content and pedagogical knowledge more closely related to teachers' specific responsibilities in the classroom.

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of movement in the basic skills testing program.  New tests have replaced old ones and even newer ones have been added.  One test, the Pre-service Academic Performance Assessment (PAPA), has been particularly problematic over the past few years.  Otherwise intelligent teacher candidates are struggling to pass this basic gateway test and statewide pass rates have reflected those struggles.

Now to the essence of the email.

Just a venting this morning about the basic skills testing: I have a student teacher, who has been my advisee since freshman year, she is outstanding in the classroom, a real natural, she has a 3.66 GPA; participated in the (local special education) Internship; is in the Professional Development School program, completed approximately 55 hours of additional field time during her professional bloc and passed all PECT exams in Early Childhood and Special education.

However, she cannot pass the basic skills testing requirement, she has taken the reading 6 times and the writing 3 times.  It just seems so crazy that a student like this cannot pass the PAPA!

There are plenty of measures suggesting that this candidate possesses basic skills, right?  But if she doesn’t pass the basic skills tests required by the state, she cannot gain PA teaching certification and she cannot take her place in the classroom.  By the way, special education is one of the areas in which we are facing a shortage.

See what I mean when I ponder the idea that we are creating ourselves some of the barriers our candidates face on their quest to become teachers.

Until next time…