Teaching and California’s Future

This report, which compiles secondary data from various state agencies and analyzes these data, consists of chapters on Teacher Supply and Demand, Teacher Preparation and Recruitment, and Teacher Induction and Professional Development. Key findings follow:

• The state’s teaching force is aging, and an impending bulge in teacher retirement is likely to create significant new demand for teachers. Our projections indicate that the gap between teacher supply and demand will peak in 2012-13 at around 52,000 teachers. Even including interns in the supply of teachers, the gap will still be 38,000.

• Under NCLB, California has defined “highly qualified” teachers to include intern credentials. Since the passage of NCLB, the number of intern credentials has increased, and the number of emergency permits has decreased. But not all trends have been positive: The production of preliminary credentials has declined, as has enrollment in regular (non-intern) preparation programs.

• Special education and many secondary education subjects continue to be plagued by shortages of fully credentialed teachers. In addition, many fully credentialed high school teachers are teaching “out of field” in a subject area they are not authorized to teach.

• Underprepared teachers are found in disproportionate numbers in low-performing schools and in schools serving large numbers of minority students, poor students, and/or ELLs.

• The state’s budget crisis has led to major cuts in recruitment, fee increases for teacher credential candidates in the CSU system, and a lack of funding to implement the Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA), a key component of the state’s plan to address the quality of teacher preparation.

• Several major professional development programs have had funding reduced over the past few years, although no further cuts occurred this year.

• California’s induction system needs refinement. The BTSA program is unavailable to underprepared teachers during their initial years in the profession. By the time they receive a credential and become eligible, the support is often no longer relevant to their professional needs.

• Curriculum-based professional development programs have offered a more coherent and uniform instructional approach for teachers, but these efforts have mainly targeted literacy and mathematics, with a focus on elementary school teachers.

• In light of the expected increase in the number of middle and high school students, as well as the state’s adoption of CAHSEE as a graduation requirement, professional development programs and spending are not sufficiently aligned with the training needs of secondary teachers.