State Policy Recommendations for Addressing Teacher Shortages
by Ana Ramón
Teacher shortages are both costly and detrimental to student learning. In the coming months, the Texas Senate Education Committee will study teacher shortages and policy recommendations that could potentially become legislation next session.
IDRA presents seven recommendations for state-level policies to recruit, prepare and retain highly-qualified educators. The seven are based on research and IDRA's work, including its accelerated teacher certification model developed through projects serving Texas funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Transition to Teaching initiative over the course of 15 years.
The United States is facing a shortage of over 110,000 teachers.IDRA led the charge to address teacher shortages in Texas for over 15 years through its series of federally-funded Transition to Teaching initiative. We partnered with universities and high-need school districts across Texas to train high-quality teachers to educate diverse classrooms of students, particularly in the critical subjects of English learner education, STEM and special education.
Looking back at the success of the IDRA programs and the resulting model, we identified three key elements for teacher preparation and certification programs to address the teacher shortage issue. This article provides an overview of the three elements: (1) value and practice diversity; (2) include all key stakeholders; and (3) expand intervention models.More qualified teachers for a more multicultural nation benefits all students now and will for years to come.
The national teacher shortage significantly impacts a district's ability to increase diversity among its instructional staff. The IDRA EAC-South is currently providing technical assistance services in five states to seven school districts that are under federal desegregation orders related to faculty recruitment and assignment along with multiple districts that have self-identified the need to diversify their staff.
In addition, the IDRA EAC-South published a online technical assistance package on diversifying the teaching field that contains videos, literature reviews and other resources on recruiting and retaining teachers of color.
Educator Coaching Model Strengthens Schools Serving Diverse Student Populations
by
Nilka Avilés, Ed.D.
Teacher and principal coaching is a powerful tool for school teams. Grounded in current research and the real-life experiences of educational leaders, IDRA's unique model for school improvement demonstrated that coaching and supporting campus leadership leads to cohesive, meaningful change for struggling schools.
One group of schools that received such assistance from IDRA achieved full accreditation status. The number of individual schools receiving an F grade from the state dropped from 41 to 16 within four years. This article describes the IDRA coaching experience.
As a community, we have made a promise to our children - a big promise to provide a quality public education so all children may find their fullest future and fulfill it.
IDRA's new publication, Keeping the Promise - Putting Children First,
features seven case studies that illustrate how IDRA promotes leading-edge research, policies and practices that secure real solutions to school inequity and achieves results for students. In many cases, intergenerational leadership - asset-based partnership with families, students, and communities - leads the way. As a result, this work has powerfully affected millions of students' lives by dramatically raising educational opportunities for all children.
The Intercultural Development Research Association is an independent private non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring educational opportunity for every child. IDRA strengthens and transforms public education by providing dynamic training; useful research, evaluation, and frameworks for action; timely policy analyses; and innovative materials and programs.
IDRA works hand-in-hand with hundreds of thousands of educators and families each year in communities and classrooms around the country. All our work rests on an unwavering commitment to creating self-renewing schools that value and promote the success of students of all backgrounds.
