A nationwide teacher shortage has left some states scrambling and taking desperate measures to hire enough educators before the academic year begins.
Burnout, low wages, and increased demand are all contributing factors to the widespread shortage. Now school districts are doing everything from offering up financial incentives to lifting licensing requirements in order to meet their hiring demands.
In Des Moines, they are offering a $50,000 incentive to educators nearing retirement to stay on through the school year. In Dallas, they are setting aside $51 million for salary increases and raising starting pay for new teachers. Florida, on the other hand, is issuing temporary teaching certificates to veterans without bachelor’s degrees to be hired.
These desperate efforts seem to be band-aids on many of the larger issues at hand. A recent report by the Northwest Evaluation Association highlights that it could take years for students to make up for the learning loss they incurred during the pandemic.
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