Inclement weather forced the Missouri State Board of Education (SBOE) to meet online this week. Nevertheless, members were able to plow through many topics, including a couple of deep dives into teacher recruitment and retention and educator quality.
Dr. Paul Katnik, Assistant Commissioner at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), presented the state’s first-ever “Teacher Recruitment and Retention Playbook,” which contains a set of guidelines for school leaders to help further curb teacher shortages in their district. The playbook is a 16-page document featuring eight cornerstones for a successful state system and a primer of do’s and don’ts for public schools to follow.
For example, “Don’t lower the standards for teacher certification…which could communicate the message that anyone could do the job with relatively little training and preparation.”
And speaking of well-prepared teachers…
Dr. Daryl Fridley, Educator Preparation Coordinator, Office of Educator Quality at DESE, presented Strengthening Missouri’s Teacher Pipeline, which was a study commissioned by Education First and funded by the Walton Personal Philanthropy Group that investigated Missouri’s teacher shortage and unveiled key insights that help explain the state’s high vacancies and turnover rates.
One takeaway is that rural districts face particular challenges due to the lack of access to Educator Prep Programs (EPP), making hiring qualified teachers difficult.
“This is an area we hadn’t thought about before,” said Fridley. “But Education First noted that being close to an institution that has an EPP is an advantage when it comes to hiring, in part because important relationships are often developed during field and clinical experiences that typically take place in schools that are close to EPPs.”
69% of Missouri EPPs are concentrated in cities and suburbs, leading to stronger teacher pipelines in non-rural areas.
According to DESE, the report's key conclusions are:
- Negative perceptions of teaching impede recruitment
- Percentages of vacancies and inappropriately certified teachers are highest in remote rural and large city LEAs
- Access to educator preparation programs is not equitably distributed geographically
- Financial barriers constrain the supply of teachers during preparation
- Preparation curriculum is sometimes an unnecessary obstacle
- A large percentage of program completers never enter the Missouri public school workforce
Over the past two years, the legislature has taken steps to address recruitment and retention challenges, which include increasing starting teacher pay to $40,000, funding a teacher baseline salary grant, and reinstating the Career Ladder Program.
However, as this report suggests, much work remains. Aligned will be monitoring policies this session to address teacher recruitment and retention.
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