The National Collaborative on Educator Workforce Shortages and Diversity
Districts across the country have been hit hard by a chronic shortage of teachers, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools are unable to fill teaching positions, and consequently students do not have fully prepared teachers in the classroom.
What I learned from other states comes from just the shared journey of the process itself. Being able to recognize while we are all using the same language we may be looking at different things that are unique, which helps us then to identify what is unique about our situation as well. Collaboratively it helps to really provide context, to not just what other states are doing across the country but how we can improve in our own jurisdiction.
- Hawai'i State Team
Early retirement in some districts has increased dramatically, and enrollment in teacher preparation programs has declined. The shortage of effective teachers disproportionately impacts students who are underserved in both schools and society, and who are taking a much longer time to recover from COVID-19 learning gaps.
In 2022, to support states in addressing this urgent challenge, the GTL Center engaged three state teams from Hawai'i, Ohio, and Louisiana to participate in a National Collaborative on Educator Workforce Shortages and Diversity.
The Collaborative was a two-year, data-driven facilitated coaching process. State teams worked with GTL Center coaches to find solutions that are equity-focused and built for sustainability, while also engaging the community in understanding the root causes of shortages and gaps in educator workforce diversity.
Our Collective Goal
Working with other states, education leaders worked toward strategic and comprehensive investments to support and strengthen the educator workforce. They engaged in proactive, targeted, and purposeful policy and practice grounded in their unique needs and contexts.
AIR's Approach
The GTL Center designed the Collaborative around the following three key supports:
- Dedicated time for state teams to focus, learn, share and plan;
- Actionable, innovative data analysis, including Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping; and
- Customized, tailored coaching.
Digital Story
Sharing the Journey: Insights from Cross-State Learning
Interested in learning more? Explore our short digital story from January 2024 to hear from state team members about their experience and lessons learned.
