I’ve been writing for years now about the “coming teacher shortage.” Early on, some readers thought I was paranoid and accused me of stirring up fear for no reason. Today, nobody is pushing back on this. Today, it’s not the “coming teacher shortage,” it’s just the teacher shortage and there’s no denying it anymore. I wish I could report that it came and went—that the worst is over—but I can’t. The teacher shortage isn’t going anywhere and it’s going to get much worse. Some state governments are finally trying to do something about it. There are states, like my own, that are finally showing signs of being willing to spend more on education so that teachers can earn a wage more commensurate with their levels of education and duties. This is great to see, and it might help hold some teachers in their jobs for a bit longer, but I’m afraid it’s too little, too late for many and it doesn’t directly address some of the other areas of education that have been adversely affected by the teacher shortage. There are several areas of collateral damage that have been done to schools by the teacher shortage beyond the obvious.
Class Sizes
Any teacher who has been around the block a time or two will tell you that size does matter when it comes to class rosters. In my experience, the ideal class size for maximum efficiency is somewhere in the range of 15-20 students. That’s always been the sweet spot. In a class of that size, a teacher can pretty easily monitor student engagement, conduct good discussions, and tend to individual student’s varying needs. Once a classroom gets over that 25 number and heads into the upper 20s or higher, the teacher efficiency quotient begins to plummet exponentially. It becomes very difficult to create a classroom atmosphere that meets all the students’ needs. It can be done, but much less consistently and normally every step of the way is more labored and time consuming. That sweet spot of 15-20 students has become a pipe dream in most public schools nowadays. Now classes of 30 or more are more common than not. These large class sizes now contribute in no small part to growing the teacher shortage. When teachers—particularly newer teachers—are forced to juggle the needs of all those students while still being held directly accountable for the performance of each of those students, it can quickly wear down even the most stalwart educator. Wear down enough teachers long enough and your severe teacher shortage gets much, much worse and the whole thing becomes a vicious cycle.
New Teacher Supports
Speaking of new teachers…
There aren’t enough of them and the ones we are getting are quickly becoming victims of the collateral damage caused by the teacher shortage. I’ve spoken with many new teachers lately and every single one that I know is struggling. New teachers should be supported and mentored for the first few years of their career. In today’s teacher shortage climate, much of that support is falling through the cracks. This is not meant to blame anyone. Administrators, guidance counselors, lead teachers, and veteran teachers, are all being stretched to the breaking point by the enormous pressure of having to pick up the slack created by understaffing. Simply put, there just aren’t enough hours in a day or warm bodies around to efficiently see to it that new teachers are adjusting properly to their careers. Because of this, we are seeing so many new teachers leaving after just a year or two because they are never allowed to feel comfortable enough to breath under the pressure they feel.
Substitutes
It’s not just licensed teachers that are in short supply, it’s qualified substitutes as well. In the age of Covid—not to mention the high-stress levels that accompany modern public education—there have been more teacher absences than normal in recent years. Also, partly due to the craziness of Covid having closed down in-school education for so long, student behaviors have tended to be more challenging to rein in since schools have reopened. It can be extremely challenging for substitutes to step in and feel comfortable in classrooms. In short, it can often be impossible to find coverage for absent teachers. Consequently, teachers who are present are often asked to give up their prep periods to cover an absent colleague’s classroom or, worse still, asked to double up classes resulting in nightmarish scenarios of having to manage upwards of 60 students in their classes for entire days.
Special Education
Lastly, but certainly not least, is the collateral spill-over damage created by all of the above when it comes to meeting the needs of our special education inclusion students. In many public schools I’m aware of, special education teachers’ aides are in critically short supply. Many schools are now only supplying special ed aides in math and language arts classes (since they are the most high-stake courses in standardized testing). This means that social studies, science, and other content teachers never have any other adults in their room to help support the many special education students we have. It only gets worse though because on days when there aren’t enough substitutes around to cover classes, it’s often the special ed aides that are pulled from their normal duties to act as substitutes. It makes me shiver to think of how little support some of our included special ed students are actually getting throughout much of their days. It feels like state lawmakers rarely give a thought to special education.
As you know, the teacher shortage is real. If you’ve read this far, hopefully you now know how much worse it is than you may have ever imagined.
One final message to the powers that be in our state legislatures: You can throw money at us now—after all this time—but you are only slapping a band aid on an extremely deep and infected gash. Address the disease (high stakes standardized testing) and stop focusing on the symptoms.
Do better.
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