Kindergarten through 12th grade students return to school this August amid the great challenge of teacher shortages particularly in science, technology and math. An estimated 233,000 teachers left the profession during the covid-19 pandemic.
Add to that the fact that students lost a third of their learning, resulting in much lower test scores, especially in low-income districts.
teacher shortage
During the conference “Students going back to school face teacher shortages, polarization and learning gaps”, organized by Ethnic Media Services, Dr. Tuan Nguyen, assistant professor at the College of Education of Kansas State University He said that with the decline in teacher production and the increase in teacher departures caused by the pandemic, neither the federal government nor most states have collected enough data on teacher shortages.
He said that on the one hand we have teacher positions that are not filled because they cannot find anyone to cover them, but there is also the problem that teachers who do not have standard certification are hired.
“For example, we see an English teacher, teaching mathematics.”
Dr. Nguyen said her team is working to collect as much information as they can to put on www.teachershortages.com.
“There are a lot of openings in states like Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia with more than 3,000 positions. In Florida, there are more than 5,000 job openings. In the United States, there are at least 36,500 vacancies.”
And he estimated that there are approximately 160,000 low-qualified teachers in the country.
It also revealed that interest in registering for teacher preparation programs has declined by about 40%, and it is worse in the case of science (STEM) teachers.
Prior to the pandemic, 8% of teachers dropped out, but this has increased in some states to 50 and 100%.
A major factor is the loss of up to a quarter of a million students as has been the case in California since the pandemic, either because they have gone to private schools or are studying from home.
So he said that in the next two years, we have to think nationally about how to work on this unbalanced movie.
He pointed out that one aspect that aggravates this problem is that some school districts do not provide the working conditions that teachers need to prosper.
“They are asked to teach a lot of classes and take on a lot of extra responsibilities, and some have to have a second or third job.”
book ban
Dr. Shaun Harper, dean professor at the University of Southern California (USC) said that many books that include LGBTQ individuals and families have been banned in many school districts across the United States.
“Classics by African-American novelist Tony Morrison have been withdrawn from schools and many other influential authors of color.”
He added that some states have introduced bills since January 2021 aimed at outlawing critical race theory.
“They have been filed in 44 states, and in 18 have been approved by state legislatures.”
In fact, he pointed out that it is not taught in K-12 schools.
“Teaching about America’s racial past and present has been banned and suppressed.”
He stressed that even though California is a progressive state, committed to diversity and inclusion, there are several school districts that have prohibited the teaching of race and other topics.
Censorship in schools
Kasey Meehan, director of the Freedom to Read program at PEN America He said that we are facing a growing climate of censorship throughout the country’s public schools.
“PEN America is pursuing a national campaign ED Scare which is a national effort to suppress specific concepts and viewpoints in schools and public libraries and institutions of higher learning.”
He specified that this campaign is based on authoritarian tactics that censor the work of writers, which interferes with the rights of students, undermines the role of teachers, librarians and other educators; and also sows division in the community.
“Pen America has played a critical role in driving the national conversation on these issues, emphasizing how banning these books suppresses diverse voices and compromises the ability of schools to make students into caring and thoughtful citizens.”
What Latino parents want
Evelyn German, founder of Our Voice Communities for Qualified Educationa group of parents and students who advocate for quality education especially for Latino immigrant families, said Latino parents want safety in their schools.
“They want drug safety on their campus, fentanyl safety, awareness campaigns that don’t exist, intervention. They want school police, not city police, on their campuses. Something that is widely unpopular and frowned upon.”
He said the reason for these lawsuits has to do with living in communities with high levels of crime and homelessness.
“So they don’t feel safe sending their kids to school, and many of them use public transportation or walk to class and don’t feel comfortable letting their kids walk home.”
She emphasized that parents view safety as critical and that affects truancy.
“They also want to feel safe from covid because they live in multi-generational houses. Many of the families have chronic illnesses; and many parents say that their children very often catch it at school, even in the summer, and bring the infection home.”