A shortage of teachers

From Walt Garder's Reality Check.

The Commission on Teacher Credentialing said that the number of credentials issued annually fell 29 percent over the past five years, from 28,039 in 2004-05 to 20,032 in 2009-10. Although the decline was most evident in state colleges and universities, private colleges and universities also saw decreases. Even National University, a nonprofit school that offers mainly online credential classes, reported a drop of about 30 percent since 2006.

 And more...

The changing landscape is not limited to California. Virtually all states are undergoing similar experiences. The result is that teaching has lost its appeal for far too many college graduates. The timing couldn't be worse. Large numbers of baby boomers are starting to retire from teaching just when even larger numbers of children enter elementary school. Who will teach them?

With US demographics changing and less people deciding to enter the teaching profession, what can the public education system do to solve this problem? What is scaring potential teachers away from the profession? What can be done attract more teachers as well as brighter teachers to the public education system? When will teaching "get it's groove back" and be the highly respected profession that it deserves to be? These are some of the challenges that education policymakers are facing, and it is obvious that something needs to be done.