Bram Pitoyo
There is no question teacher shortages are widespread and growing around the country. What is less certain is why.
In Michigan, I work with teacher candidates as a professor in a university program. While they are excited to enter a profession so desperately needing their energy and passion, they are aware of a shifting landscape.
There are now 5,000 fewer certified teachers in this state than fourteen years ago, and enrollments in the state’s teacher education programs have declined alarmingly in the past few years.
“Since 2008,” reports The Center for Michigan, “the total number of Michigan college students studying to become a teacher is down more than 50 percent.”
The situation in urban schools is in full-blown crisis. The Detroit Public Schools Community District began the 2017-18 school year with about 340 vacancies, up from some 200 the previous year.
But this shortage is a manufactured crisis—the conditions of which have presaged teacher strikes around the country.
First, consider declining or stagnant teacher salaries. In Michigan, the average teacher salary fell for the sixth straight year.
Add to that the sorry state of our schools. Lawmakers cut more than a billion dollars from Michigan’s education budget seven years ago in order to provide a tax cut for businesses. Our schools never recovered, and lack of funding has left many in deplorable shape.
The state legislature has also threatened teachers’ benefit programs, including pensions and health insurance. Michigan teachers complain that their health insurance premiums increase faster than their salaries. And news outlets report that instead of more stable state-managed pension and retirement plans, Senate Majority leader Arlan Meekhoff “has been attempting to force teachers into a 401(k) only plan, and has said that if they leave the profession after only a few years, that’s fine with him.”
Given these trends, is it any wonder there’s a growing teacher shortage in the state?
Instead of addressing these issues, Michigan lawmakers advocate following the path of Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah, and increasing the teaching workforce by granting them emergency or alternative certificates to people without professional training.
Traditional teacher preparation programs in Michigan take up to five years to complete and include at least a semester of full-time student teaching. Several universities in the state are ranked in the top tier of U.S. teacher education programs, and offer innovative classes with a strong emphasis on merging subject matter and pedagogical knowledge, along with robust student teaching requirements.
The result is a set of dueling initiatives within the Michigan Department of Education.
The department is in the midst of an initiative to improve the quality of the state’s teacher preparation schools (disclosure: I have participated in this project). This program, “Top 10 in 10 Years,” focuses on “ongoing efforts to develop the educator pipeline to ensure that quality individuals are entering the profession, and that they are developing the appropriate competencies to support their practice in the field.”
If the teacher shortage represents a “leaking bucket,” then the solution isn’t to open up the spigot; it’s to plug the hole.
On the other hand, the department recently approved an “Alternate Route to Certification” provider with questionable qualifications. This Houston-based organization, Teachers of Tomorrow, claims to have already certified over 100 teachers in the state’s schools. Its advertising emphasizes immediacy and affordability, promising new teacher recruits they can “become certified to teach this year. . . . There is no need for a traditional 4-year teaching degree. There’s no cost to apply online.”
Alternative certification programs can be successful. But they need to have robust partnerships with school districts, a curriculum that includes strong supervision and mentoring as well as coursework in classroom basics and teaching methods. And student teachers need to have sufficient training and coursework before they become full time teachers.
Michigan Teachers of Tomorrow’s online materials, however, offer little information on mentoring or how student teachers will gain in-class experience before they teach.
If the teacher shortage represents a “leaking bucket,” then the solution isn’t to open up the spigot; it’s to plug the hole.
Let’s focus on recognized strategies for attracting talented people to the profession. This means increasing salaries for beginning teachers, who currently earn about 20 percent less than individuals with college degrees in other fields, a wage gap that can widen to 30 percent for mid-career educators.
Teachers also deserve better working conditions—the major reason teachers identify for leaving the profession—including a voice in making policy decisions and more autonomy over classroom practice. Teachers are also fed up with the relentless attacks on their profession from politicians who have never taught, and don’t understand the specific challenges of the job.
Educators also need adequate resources for their students and classrooms, and don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars out of pocket for necessary items like books and tissues.
My students have dedicated themselves to a comprehensive and thorough course of study that includes theory, practice, and authentic field experiences over an extended period of time. Let’s give them the sustainable, rewarding profession they deserve.
Mitchell Robinson is associate professor and chair of music education at Michigan State University. He has held previous collegiate appointments at the University of Connecticut and Eastman School of Music. Dr. Robinson served as Editor of the Music Educators Journal, and is on the editorial boards of several research and professional journals.