More Students & Less Teachers

NCES statistics have been updated and the big story that everyone is covering is the dramatic increase in students - over 1 million new students reporting to schools. And on the teaching front there is barely a sound. Based on an average class size of 20, we would need 50,000 new teachers to handle this new work load and that is only to cover the new students - it doesn't even address the issue of teacher retirements and teachers changing careers.

So how many new teachers came out our university system with brand new bachelor degrees in education? NCES reports that we had 827 fewer new teachers in 2006 than we did in 2005. The number continues to drop. In 1970 there were 176,307 new teachers and in 2004 that number is down to 54,111. Looking at the percentage of college graduates going into teaching: 21% in 1972 down to 7% now in 2004.

At a time when we need a significant increase in teachers, our main supply continues to decrease. Teachers are the most critical element in student learning and the band aids of long term subs, teaching out of certification area and recruiting from overseas continue to keep things on track.

And the only people that suffer are the students.