2019 in review:

• 30,000+ people applied to become a teacher through our program
• 15,000+ people enrolled in a Teachers of Tomorrow program
• 7,000+ new teachers were hired through our certification program

Like I said, a pretty incredible year and there is more exciting news coming in 2020. We have worked hard to create a very solid pipeline of great potential teacher candidates so that the number of new teachers hired through Teachers of Tomorrow  continues to grow, even as the rest of educator preparation in the United States is shrinking.

Apply Now!

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That task force first highlighted the issues –

• 30% of classrooms are being taught be teachers who are teaching out of field
• Since 2010 there has been a 40% decrease in students entering teacher education programs
• 8% of teachers leave the profession each year (compared to 7% nationwide)
• Last year on the ACT only 4% of high school juniors taking the test said they would consider a teaching career – down from 12% only four years ago
• Only 523 secondary first time teaching certificates issued in Alabama for the 2017-2018 schoo year
• Alabama has over 1700 secondary teachers on an emergency certificate

The Teacher Shortage task force knows they have to attract more people to become teachers and then have to keep the teachers they have.  They are looking at the usual ways to attract more teachers through scholarships, loan forgiveness, improved retirement and improved pay.

They are also looking at alternative teacher certification as a way to attract mid career professionals into the teaching profession. Obviously we are thrilled that they are looking at alternative teacher certification because it means we could help.

So if you want to teach in Alabama – let us know and we will work with the state department of education to find a way to get more teachers for Alabama schools.

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The Learning Policy Institute looked at the actual number and came up with over 112,000 teacher openings and that number will grow each year since we continue to have more K-12 students but also see a continued decline in education school enrollments.

Bottom line – regardless of the exact number – we need thousands of new teachers NOW!

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But they still have over 100 teacher vacancies in the school district for next year with half the vacancies in Special Education.

Arizona Teachers of Tomorrow does have candidates and we are sending lists of qualified teachers to the school districts weekly.  But we need more teachers. With the teacher pay raise in Arizona there has never been a better time to enter the teaching profession.

Note that Governor Ducey’s office did highlight the fact that the state provided a set of teacher pay raises but there is no law that school districts can’t go even higher.

“His office noted the Florence Unified School District is giving teacher pay increases of 5% for the coming school year, bringing total raises over the last two years to 18%. That has helped the district’s teacher retention rate increase from 80% to 89%, according to Ducey’s office.

Other school districts also highlighted by the governor’s office include the Yuma Union High School District, which has given teachers a 22% pay raise, and the Kingman Unified School District, which has given teachers a 17% pay raise.”

It’s time to teach in Arizona!!

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Since the state eliminated the lateral entry program for teachers, we have been busy filling the void for teachers.  North Carolina is turning out to be one of our best states.  We have had over 1,500 potential teachers apply to the NC Teachers of Tomorrow program, we have had over 300 start the program and we know that over 40 have already been hired.  Since we just started last fall, this is a phenomenal beginning.

We see articles on the teacher shortage all the time (right now Kentucky has a ton). But it is great to actually help districts solve their shortage in time for back to school.

The post North Carolina Teacher Shortage appeared first on Teachers of Tomorrow.

How much do teachers bring in through their outside jobs? Roughly 7% of their total earnings come from second jobs – which also means if teachers got a 7% raise, maybe they wouldn’t need to work a second job.

Younger teachers and male teachers are more likely to be working a second job.  32% of those teachers with one year experience and 20% of those with 2-4 years experience are working second jobs and 26% of men versus 15% of women are working second jobs.

Many of those teachers work for Uber or are renting their homes through Airbnb.

What does this mean? Overall the percentage has not increased since they have been tracking outside employment for teachers but teachers are 3 times more likely to have a second job compared to all other professions.

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“The share of schools that were trying to fill a vacancy but couldn’t tripled from the 2011–2012 to 2015–2016 school years (increasing from 3.1 to 9.4 percent), and in the same period the share of schools that found it very difficult to fill a vacancy nearly doubled (from 19.7 to 36.2 percent).”

We see it every day with our school district partners across the United States – there are just too many teaching vacancies. And why are there so many teacher openings – well 13.8% leave the classroom every year and we don’t have the supply to replace those teachers.

“These difficulties are also shaped by a dwindling pool of applicants to fill vacancies. From the 2008–2009 to 2015–2016 school years, there was a 15.4 percent drop in the number of education degrees awarded and a 27.4 percent drop in the number of people who completed a teacher preparation program.”

We need teachers. And we need great teachers and we need them for this fall.  I hope that you read this and see it for what it is – an opportunity for a great person like you to inspire the next generation of learners.

We need you now!

The post U. S. School Struggle to Hire Teachers appeared first on Teachers of Tomorrow.

Since the recession, state and local governments have cut school budgets contributing to the shortage.  There are still 116,000 fewer public education jobs then there was before the recession in 2007. 

The consequences that the employment gap are causing in America’s schools are:

1. Larger class sizes
2. Fewer teacher aides
3. Fewer extracurricular activities
4. Poor working conditions
5. Subpar wages

What is not addressed is that all 5 of the reasons above are why people are not going into teaching as a first career straight out of college.

The teacher shortage is getting worse – and students are the ones who suffer.

WANT TO HEAR MORE – Dave Saba is speaking on Teacher Shortages at the American Association of School Personnel Administrators annual conference conference at 3:00 PM on Wednesday October 10, 2018 in Minnesota – Teacher Shortages  -where are we and what can we do?

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They have launched a website and social media push to let potential teachers know about incentives that local philanthropies are providing to teachers who want to move to Detroit and make sure every child has a great teacher.

Incentives include incentives provided by executives from General Motors and Quicken Loans:

• A discount on a new GM vehicle, which Detroit teachers can add to any other discount. They’re also eligible for a free two-year subscription to GM’s OnStar, a service that can connect cars to a call center in an emergency.
• A discount of $1,500 on a home loan or home refinancing from Quicken Loans.

Add those to the 50 percent discount Detroit teachers get on homes auctioned off by the city landbank.

There is more to come – and if you want to get started and be ready to teach ASAP – you can start at Michigan Teachers of Tomorrow

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But the Atlantic did the best job on this new trend of teachers participating in the sharing economy.  First – teachers have the right personality traits to become a host – they are more empathetic, socially adept, responsive and adaptable with a passion for sharing knowledge.  Second – teacher schedules with summers off make them a good host during prime rental times. Third – they need the money.

Uber sites a similar trend for teachers – they specifically target teachers to be drivers especially during peak times on weekends and in the summer.  I use Uber a lot and have had many teachers as drivers especially during the summer.  They like it because they can drive when they want.

Both Airbnb and Uber are using the fact that teachers are hosts and drivers to show that they are a good thing for a community. Since many politicians are trying to limit the sharing economy through regulation, Airbnb/Uber are showing their teacher participants as great members of the community who need short term rentals as a way to buy supplies for their classrooms and support their families. They are trying to put forth a friendly face that you care about so that you don’t impose regulations on these great people.

Interesting part of the sharing economy – teachers as hosts and drivers. Not the best situation but it certainly helps right now.

According to Airbnb –

• 45,000 teacher hosts in the US
• $160 million in total earnings for teacher hosts in 2017
• $54 million in summertime earnings for teacher hosts in 2017
• $6,500 in typical annual supplemental income earned by teacher hosts

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The current open teaching positions in South Carolina are 160 vacancies in Lexington and Richland counties, 2 teacher vacancies in Beaufort county and 9 teacher vacancies in Kershaw county. There are many more, but this is all that is reported by the state.  Last year, there were over 550 teacher vacancies at the start of the school year and with just two weeks left until the start of school, it looks like 2018 will be worse.

One reason is the end of the Teacher Employee Retirement Incentive Program or TERI. But this is just part of the problem. According to CERRA which has the best data on teacher shortages and production than any other state, 4,800 teachers left teaching last year and only 1,898 students graduated from higher education programs.  And enrollment in educator preparation in South Carolina is down 22.4% in just 3 years.

We recently started our work in South Carolina as South Carolina Teachers of Tomorrow to provide more teachers to help alleviate this critical teaching shortage and we have over 100 candidates ready to go for this school year.  But we could have so many more – we have had over 2,300 applicants but many do not qualify under existing rule. We have worked together with the South Carolina Department of Education to ensure that many more can qualify and it has helped considerably. We are pushing to implement those changes that have significantly improved the teacher pipeline.

But there are a few more things we can do:

1. Allow all alternative certification programs to certify in Elementary Education since it is now a significant shortage area
2. Utilize the South Carolina Praxis II subject matter tests as the sole factor in determining subject matter knowledge.

Those two simple things will definitely allow more of our extensive applicant pool to become South Carolina Teachers soon!  It is a great state with some really great schools and great people who want to work in those schools.  We will continue to push to make that happen!

The post South Carolina Teacher Shortage is Critical appeared first on Teachers of Tomorrow.

“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”

― Malala Yousafzai

The teacher shortage in North Carolina is a problem that has reached a critical point. It could have long-reaching effects now and in the future if the course of action to encourage potential teachers isn’t stimulated to grow. A teacher shortage occurs when there aren’t enough teachers in district locations as well as subject areas in growing populations. North Carolina suffers a significant shortage in the subjects of math, science, and special education. Statistics show that students in high poverty districts suffer from a lack of experienced and effective teachers.

Since 2010, enrollment in education programs has plummeted by 30 percent. Hiring practices and ineffective recruitment programs have contributed to the loss of potential candidates. While the desire for people who want to join the education system may be there, the incentives to choose teaching as a career are sadly lacking. Potential educators face numerous statistical problems and struggle through the pipeline of traditional routes that take multiple years at a high cost.

That is where North Carolina Teachers of Tomorrow comes into the picture. We are a national teaching certification program that has already certified 45,000+ teachers. Our dedication to helping people start their teaching careers has made us the largest and most effective alternative certification program in the nation.

While traditional teaching programs may take several years, Teachers of Tomorrow offers expedited programs for potential candidates with a BA degree. Our highly trained program advisors and Field Supervisors offer training and support throughout the process from application to licensure and beyond. That is why 70% of our teachers are still teaching after 5 years. We work closely with school districts across the state to ensure our candidates are aligned with their hiring needs. The average age of teachers graduated or enrolled in our program is 32 and we rank #2 in the nation for diverse recruiting. While some programs encourage filling overstaffed easy-to-fill jobs, Teachers of Tomorrow advisors help candidates focus on hard-to-staff subjects and locations.

Teachers of Tomorrow is a program designed to encourage and support candidates who are passionate about teaching realize their goals. Our best-in-class alternative education program is designed to encourage anyone who wants to begin a career in teaching. Schools desperately need teachers. Students need committed and engaging teachers. Teachers of Tomorrow is the program to bridge the gap between those needs and the individuals willing to commit to future generations!

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