Panel Paper:
District-Created Pathways to Teaching: Can Districts Utilize a Reduced-Barrier-to-Teaching Approach to Recruit Teachers with Needed Skills and Experiences?
Friday, November 3, 2017
Stetson E (Hyatt Regency Chicago)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Recent increases in economic opportunities for college graduates reduce the supply of new teachers. As one example, a study in California found that enrollment in teacher preparation programs had steadily declined from a high of 77,705 candidates in 2001–02 to 18,984 in 2013–14 (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017). These tight labor markets most strongly effect subject areas and schools that already tend to have weak pools of potential teachers – such as jobs in special education, bilingual education, math and science and some schools serving students with the most need. For example, that same study found that 2012 and 2016, the proportion of math and science teachers entering the field on substandard credentials or permits doubled, going from 20% to nearly 40%. While economic forces reduce supply, new pathways into teaching may combat this decrease if they are able to reduce some of the barriers to entry. Teach for America is known for this approach and has demonstrated its ability to recruit large numbers of highly skilled applicants who would have been unlikely to enter public school teaching without the reduced barriers. However, Teach for America targets a particular population of potential teachers – new graduates from elite universities. Such an approach may also effectively recruit other populations who have their own advantages. For example it may effectively increase the supply of teachers from local communities or with particular experiences that signal their interest in and ability to work productively in schools. One new pathway, aims to do just that. To combat their difficulty in recruiting teachers, an urban district has created its own pathway into teaching with the goal of recruiting, “teachers who are already making a difference in their communities, but who might not have the flexibility to leave their current job for retraining without financial support.” In the first year, the program will produce elementary multiple subject teachers, elementary Spanish bilingual teachers and K-12 special education teachers. This study will (1) describe the pool of teachers that this program is able to attract and compare this group to the pool of teachers who apply for jobs in the targeted positions in the district; (2) model which applicants are accepted into the program and compare this group to the group of teachers hired by the district; and(3) focus on the potential to support paraprofessionals’ movement into teaching by modeling both which paraprofessionals in the district apply for the program, and of those who apply which are hired. For this analysis, we have an unusually rich collection of data that include all of the applications both for the school district broadly and the teacher preparation program, in particular; the details of application including qualifications, essays (which we code using text-as-data techniques) and prior work history; and district assessments of candidates and hiring decisions. The results of the study will provide evidence on the potential for these types of reduced cost pathways can provide teachers to districts that they would not otherwise be able to attract.
