ED Publishes Policy Brief on Educators

As part of its Raise the Bar, Lead the World initiative with states and school districts, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has released a policy brief that outlines recent efforts to eliminate educator shortages, increase compensation, and expand access to quality educator preparation programs. As of June 2023, 635,000 jobs have been added to the profession since a low point in May 2020, leading to 1.2% fewer individuals in the workforce than the pre-pandemic level. Examining the average is misleading, however. Results range from state to state, with Michigan showing an increase of .5% and Florida and Vermont showing decreases in staffing of 8.5% and 9.6%, respectively.  

To incentivize individuals to join the education profession, 29 states and the District of Columbia have taken steps to increase pay. As of the 2021-2022 school year, average salaries ranged from a high in New York state of $77,687 to lows in Louisiana and West Virginia of below $47,000. Despite decreases in previous years, enrollment in educator preparation programs has increased by 41,000 enrollees from school year 2018-19 to 2020-21. The policy brief also examines the successful efforts of selective states in offering various types of educator preparation programs such as institutes of higher education (IHE) alternative programs, non-IHE alternative programs, and Registered Apprenticeship for K-12 teachers. 

Access the policy brief here.