Chapter 12: Should We Pay and Train Teachers Differently?

Minnesota K-12 schools face the daunting challenge of filling more than 24,000 teaching positions by the year 2004, vacancies created largely due to retirements. Many school districts are even now struggling to attract and retain new teachers, many of whom are instead opting for jobs outside the classroom.

Is the teacher shortage a crisis? Yes, but it’s also an opportunity. This fall, a House K-12 Education Subcommittee on Oversight and Efficiency held hearings on this issue. From a varied group of stakeholders—teachers, administrators, principals and education policy experts—there was a clear consensus that good teachers were critical to student achievement. And there was general agreement that schools are experiencing troublesome turnover among beginning teachers and that this turnover can be linked to at least two conditions: starting salaries are often uncompetitive with the private sector and current staff development programs are often inadequate in supporting new teachers.