Multiple efforts underway to address serious problem
Many schools in Mississippi don’t have an adequate number of teachers in the classroom this fall. The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) 2023-24 Educator Shortage survey indicates there are currently 5,012 vacancies among teachers, administrators and school support staff across the state.
The survey, done between August and November in 2023, had 100 percent voluntary participation from school districts. Vacancies were up 24 from the 4,988 vacancies seen in the 2022-23 years, but less than the 5,503 vacancies reported in 2021-22.
“The teacher shortage in Mississippi is very serious,” said Erica Webber Jones, president of the Mississippi Association of Education (MAE). “School districts from throughout the state currently are facing issues. These shortages are systemwide. From Desoto County to our Gulf Coast, districts are scrambling to find certified teachers. Many districts are looking to use long-term subs to fill these vacancies.”
Shortages have been common in the more rural areas for many years. But the shortage is no longer confined to those areas. Jones has heard from principals in Madison County that they are having a hard time filling vacancies. She said shortages are particularly acute in areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and in foreign languages.
Many longtime teachers are finding their jobs more challenging than in the past because of problems with classroom discipline, paperwork burdens and a rigid curriculum designed to help students score well on standardized testing. Jones said the underlying causes of the shortages include a lack of autonomy to make professional decisions, disrespect toward educators and particularly low wages.
And not as many college students are interested in a career in education.
“I have learned from colleges and universities that we do not have a lot of students enrolling in education,” said Jones. “This, coupled with the issues already discussed, contribute to the shortage.”
What can be done to help alleviate the problem?
“Every student deserves a quality education,” said Jones. “Decisions by elected officials impact the shortages. As a second-grade teacher, I know firsthand how important it is to pay educators competitive wages. Parents, community members and other stakeholders play an important part in alleviating the teacher shortage.”
Larger class sizes add more stress for teachers and administrators. There are also more difficult issues with discipline and student learning environments when there are fewer teachers.
“We must work together to help alleviate the teacher shortage,” said Jones. “Our students deserve better. Our educators deserve better.”
Dr. Courtney Van Cleve, the MED’s director of the office of educator continuum, said MDE is working hard to increase and strengthen the state’s educator workforce as a whole. “Our strategies to recruit and retain teachers are aligned with information gathered from surveys and stakeholders alike,” she said.
Vacancies increased in some areas and decreased in others. MDE noted that, compared to last year, vacancies increased by 182 among teachers, by 9 among K-12 licensed educators (library/media, counselors and speech language positions), and by 25 among administrators (principals and assistant principals). However, vacancies decreased by 192 among K-12 support staff such as teacher assistants, nurses, custodians, bus drivers, food service staff and administrative assistants.
“Vacancies increased the most in Congressional District Two in the northwest and central regions,” MDE statistics report. “As for the location of teacher vacancies, decreases were noted in Congressional Districts One and Four in the northeast and southeast parts of the state.
Proven strategies to mitigate past educator vacancies through increased teacher recruitment have included acceptance of individuals into the Mississippi Teacher Residency program and removing barriers to educator licensure, including expanding access to alternate-route elementary educator preparation programs and the Performance-Based Licensure program, per district request. Additionally, MDE-sponsored events and professional learning opportunities, such as the Elevate Teachers Conference, remain effective as a strategy for increased teacher retention,” said Van Cleve.
The MDE has identified the following four main strategies to address the current vacancies:
*Convene an Educator Workforce Advisory group, comprised of Mississippi universities and districts, to address current and projected needs;
*Increase awareness of new elementary education pathways and endorsement options;
*Ask the Mississippi Legislature for support to continue the Mississippi Teacher Residency in geographical critical shortage areas;
*Launch the Professional Growth System Observation and Development Portal in Mississippi Educator Career Continuum Archive (MECCA) and the Empowering Educators Workshop.
The MDE points out that this is not a problem unique to Mississippi; schools nationwide have had difficulty recruiting enough teachers, particularly in parts of the South.
In a press release, the MDE suggested removing barriers to educator licensure and hosting more professional learning opportunities. The department’s announcement didn’t address salaries as a factor. Mississippi has the lowest teacher pay in the country at a little less than $50,000, according to World Population Review. The highest pay in the nation for new teachers is in New York, where the average teacher salary is $92,222.
The MDE Division of Educator Talent Acquisition promotes and supports efforts to increase the size, diversity, and effectiveness of Mississippi’s educator workforce. It attempts to meet this aim by collecting and analyzing information regarding current educator workforce trends; offering education stakeholders space to create, improve, and assess innovative pathways into Mississippi classrooms; leading initiatives such as the Teacher Retention Survey, Educator Shortage Survey, and Elevate Teachers Conference; and supporting Grow-Your-Own (GYO) efforts to recruit and retain effective educators, such as the Performance-Based Licensure pilot, and Mentoring and Induction Toolkit and the Mississippi Teacher Residency (MTR) program.
MTR would allow candidates to enter and remain in the profession through a teacher residency program. MTR is a rigorous graduate-level program which, upon completing, residents would receive a master’s degree in elementary and special education. This master’s degree ensures residents have the skills, knowledge, and dispositions for effectiveness as licensed educators. MTR applicants must have bachelor’s degree and either meet the minimum required passing score on all sections of the Praxis Core, have a 21 or higher on the ACT/SAT equivalent or have a minimum 3.0 GPA (last 60 hours of coursework).
Residents will spend one year in a participating district while receiving mentorship from a high-quality teacher in collaboration with community partners and other educators. People of color, men, veterans from the Armed Forces and teacher assistants are strongly encouraged to apply. All selected residents will receive a full scholarship for their master’s degree and other programming through grants issued by the MDE. Residents will commit to teaching for two years, subject to the source of tuition funding prior to conversion to a standard five-year renewable license.
