Education Week reports that educator's greatest fears are coming to fruition. We may be unintentionally ruining our chances of raising student achievement by driving out those who we need the most--teachers. Just when we need them the most, budget cuts and the current climate are decimating the teaching ranks. While many veteran teachers are postponing retirement, and layoffs are driving many from the profession, the number of new hires is dropping. In Minnesota alone the number of new hires is down by "more than half in the past 11 years.

Killing the Golden Goose

How could it be a surprise to anyone that "heightened public scrutiny of teachers will discourage even more prospective teachers from entering K-12 schools." Many are asking, "is teaching a viable and respected profession?"

"Why would you go into this (teaching), if there are constant cuts, layoffs, unfair criticism that you are responsible for every flaw in society ... pay freezes [and] elimination of collective bargaining rights?"

Even those who hear the calling to teach are being frozen out of jobs by the current economic conditions. "Fewer people...appear to be waiting it out."

"As baby boomers retire and new teachers quit, a 2010 national report warns that the teaching pipeline will collapse at both ends. First-year teacher attrition has steadily increased and the nation has the oldest workforce in more than half a century, according to the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future."

The Bottom Line

At a time when school leaders are feeling even more pressure to raise student achievement, teaching positions are being cut. One principal told me that his staff has been reduced 20% over the last two years while his student population, which is increasingly more diverse and much poorer, has increased 18%.

Teacher prep programs are experiencing declines in enrollment. So, when budgets finally stabilize, school leaders will find many veteran teachers retiring and the pool of applicants significantly diminished--the perfect storm. In this scenario, who suffers the most? If you said the poorest schools who serve the neediest students, you are correct.