Tackling America’s teacher shortage

Last week, a school district in Missouri containing 14,000 students voted to switch to a four-day week. The catalyst? Issues with teacher recruitment and retention.

It’s not alone either. 140 other school districts in the state have made the same move, representing more than a quarter of Missouri’s entire public education system. And over recent years, dozens of districts in Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma have also cut one day of class per week, citing many of the same reasons seen in Missouri.

• At least 800 districts are using four-day school weeks this year, up from around 650 before the pandemic, per Paul Thompson, an Oregon State professor who studies the topic.

🇺🇸 Big picture: There’s really no other way to put it – America is dealing with a growing shortage of teachers. In August, there were ~360,000 fewer educators in America’s public schools when compared to before the pandemic, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, representing an overall drop of more than 10%.

And this trend doesn’t appear poised to reverse itself anytime soon.

• The US education sector currently hires just over 0.54 employees for every open position created, close to its lowest-level on record (set earlier this year).
• The proportion of US college freshmen who intend to major in education has fallen from between 10% and 13% in the early-1970s to 4.3% in 2018. The number of graduates who majored in education dropped by more than half over that same period.

📊 Flash poll (long-form): Calling all 15,000+ classrooms using the DONUT: How would you deal with America’s teacher shortage? The best answers will be featured in tomorrow’s newsletter.

Submit a response here.