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Why is there a lack of teachers in the California Public Education System?

I can't rn, this essay took me foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. this is the social lens btw...

Why is there a lack of teachers in the California Public Education System and what is the best way to fix it ?

1276 words

Why is there a lack of teachers in the California Public Education System and what is the best way to fix it ?

Why is there a lack of teachers in the Californian public education system and what would be the best way to fix it? As a student myself, I find this question very important. Having good and qualified teachers is one of the fundamental aspects of any child's education. Without the proper teaching how could anyone be expected to learn anything? Therefore the teaching shortage in California can be very problematic. Teachers find it extremely hard to stay motivated in their profession, it is not easy and their workload can cause a lot of stress in their day-to-day lives. There are also a multitude of other reasons as to why there is a lack of teachers, more specifically qualified teachers. And this issue is still fairly recent, the articles published on the situation all date back to the years: 2016, 2017 and 2018 and so on, all of them discussing the possible reasons why there are less qualified teachers in California. This proves that the issue is still very recent. Each article also there is a wide array of reasons, many of the reasons could be linked to the hardships that teachers go through every single day.

The teachers in public schools face many difficulties in their day-to-day life. There is a lot of stress that comes with the job and an unfulfilling salary that comes with it. According to Paul Boyce, who has written a plethora of other articles on the education system and is a graduate from the UK, says in his article "The Teacher Shortage Is Real and about to Get Much Worse." That he believes there is something that is causing so many teachers to quit their job. This testing costs enlargement of stress and is leading too many qualified teachers to leave the profession before their retirement. And what makes this much worse is that testing has become for teachers meaning their salary and job stability are now linked to the test scores of their students. In his article he writes that one of the main causes of stress for teachers is the amount of testing, students are tested so frequently, they are pushed to be tested twice per month and on average once per month. The teachers face large amounts of pressure for their students to get high test scores. He states that over 40% of teachers leave their job in the first five years (Boyce). While it is not all linked to test scores, it is still considered a very large factor.

California is the most populous state in the country therefore it is not surprising that it also has the largest amounts of public schools in the nation. Although this does lead to many problems, such as a hard time keeping up with the education of all the kids that live there. During the recession in the late 2000s, many educators lost their jobs due to salary cuts and the changing working conditions. The results of this are that schools are now relying on substitutes and emergency credential teachers. These "solutions'' cannot last forever. In the Brandman Universitie's article "A closer look at the critical California teacher shortage", two out of three special education teachers who were hired in the years 2016 and 2017 had substandard credentials. Meaning that their credentials were below the usual or required standard for teaching. According to the national commission on teaching and America's future the largest factor to student achievement are teachers (Brandman). There have been a multitude of studies that continue to prove that "teacher expertise" is the most important factor that will determine the students' achievements. If the teachers that are hired are not capable of properly teaching the students, then how are the students expected to learn?

The shortage in teachers is an extremely serious problem. It hinders the education of students, and it harms teachers and the public education system. In short, according to Emma Garcia who is an economist and the co-author of EPI's "sixth and last installment and it's quotation perfect storm in the teacher labor market" series, "the shortage of teachers is a crisis for the teaching profession and a serious problem for the entire education system.". There has also been a decrease in people who are interested in the profession of teaching (Weiss, García). This evidence is further explained by Louis Freedberg, an executive director of EdSource and someone who has worked and analyzed on a local, state, and national level the education policy says "what worries educators is that the number of under-prepared teachers continues to increase at a substantial rate." (Freedberg)

According to the digestive education statistics (NCES 2018) and the higher education act title II State report card system's chart there has been a change in the amount of people who finished their education degrees since 2008-2009 to 2015-2016. For example: -15.4 % were awarded an education degree (B.A, M.A, Ph.D.), -37.8% enrolled in a teacher prep program, and -27.4% actually completed the teacher prep program. Very qualified teachers usually have master's degrees, or doctorate degrees, but they still earn far less than other college graduates. Which can be very discerning for them. This is a problem commonly referred to as "teacher pay penalty". It is stated that teachers earn about 20% less, on average, then they're non-teacher college graduates. With so little pay and the student debt that many teachers must pay off for their advanced degrees, a career in teaching wouldn't help them pay off their bills and as a result, EPI found that 59% of teachers took on a Second or third job in 2016. These financial issues are another cause to the lessening number of teachers (Flannery).

In conclusion there are many different difficulties that teachers face, such as the large amounts of stress caused by standardized testing and the low pay. This is a serious issue because without teachers students cannot learn or get the education that they deserve or need to succeed. While the decline in teachers has been increasing, there has also been a decrease in college students enrolling in education programs which goes to show how this teacher shortage is impacting the lives of the children in California. With the little pay that they receive it has become a very discerning job that not many people want or are willing to have. Thankfully, there are measures being taken at a national level which will hopefully lessen or even solve the problem. According to Brandman University's article State lawmakers have devoted more resources to education to help augment the number of qualified teaching candidates produced. And they have also made an effort to offer educators a higher salary in other states. Darling-Hammond was quoted in Freedberg's article that what is needed for new teachers are state scholarship programs that can cover tuition and other costs of enrolling in a teacher preparation program, also loan forgiveness programs (Freedberg). Finally there must be an improvement in the working conditions of teachers to reduce the stress from their job and to allow teachers some levels of autonomy (Hammond). Teachers are not robots so they should not work like ones, it should be up to them how they want to teach instead of relying on standardized testing. But this requires a well-educated workforce and many potential teachers do not want to join the profession. The workforce is stressed and anxious so many are unwilling to get the job (Boyce). It is crucial that we change the system to support teachers, because it is a fundamental job.

Works Cited Page

Boyce, Paul. The Teacher Shortage Is Real and about to Get Much Worse. Here's Why, FEE. September 17, 2019. Date accessed: January 12, 2021.

Brandman University. A closer look at the critical California teacher shortage. Brandman University. May 07, 2019. Date accessed: January 12, 2021.

Ellen Flannery, Mary. The Teacher Shortage can be Addressed - With Key Changes, NEA Today. October 20, 2020, Date Accessed: January 13, 2021.

Freedberg, Louis. More new teachers in pipeline, but California falling short in producing fully qualified ones. ED Source. April 15, 2019. Date accessed: January 12, 2021.

García Emma, Weiss Elaine. A policy agenda to address the teacher shortage in U.S. public schools, Economic Policy Institute. October 5, 2020, Date Accessed: January 13, 2021.

Lambert, Diana. California's persistent teacher shortage fueled by attrition, high demand, say newly released studies. Ed source, September 27, 2018. Date accessed: January 12, 2021.

McDonald, Kerry. Teachers who quit to create schooling alternatives. FEE. October 12, 2019. Date Accessed: January 13, 2021.

Sutcher, Leib. Teacher Shortages in California: Status, Sources, and Potential Solutions.

Learning Policy institute, October 15, 2018. Date accessed: January 12, 2021.

Walker, Tim. . Teacher Shortage is 'Real and Growing, and Worse Than We Thought', NEA Today. April 4, 2019, Date Accessed: January 13, 2021.