As you know, Utah’s State Board of Education blew open the teacher certification doors last Friday allowing more career-changers into teaching. Today, Utah is looking at the teacher shortage and making sure it is real in this article in UtahPolicy.com
Summary of Teacher Shortages in Utah
- The Utah teacher union estimates they will be 800-900 teachers short this fall – meaning over 16,000 students without a qualified teacher
- They need elementary teachers – Davis is still short 30 elementary teachers for the fall – the canary in the coal mine – if you can’t find elementary teachers – you are in trouble
- University of Utah has a third of the students it had enrolled 10 years ago – students are not going into teaching
- Even those that go into teaching in college may not go into teaching when they graduate – AACTE says that only 60% of those in teaching programs actually start teaching after graduation
The problem is real in Utah and the State Board took a pretty drastic action to help alleviate the shortages. It remains to be seen if it will work. With so little time left in before the new school year, Utah’s serious teacher shortage will continue well into next year.
