Fewer entering teacher prep programs at Louisiana universities
Fewer people seem to be going into teaching in Louisiana, and most don’t stay for long tenures, causing teacher shortages in schools and less-than-stellar experiences — and outcomes — for students.
And these are not new problems. Enrollment in education programs at Louisiana public colleges has dropped by nearly 8,000 students in the last 20 years, including significant losses in recent years.
“For us it’s interesting to navigate the tension between empowering potential future teachers of Louisiana to enter into something they are consistently being told not to do from teachers, family members, from society,” said Aimee Barber, an associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Her job is training future teachers and encouraging them to embrace the profession she chose for herself. A former first-grade teacher, she said she went into teacher education to show the magic in teaching, yet there’s tension because of the gap between “the magic teaching could be and what teaching is,” she said.
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Statewide enrollment data show that the number of students signing up for degrees in education at Louisiana public colleges has been falling for years. In fall 2020, the most recent figures available from the Louisiana Board of Regents, there were 12,597 students enrolled in an education-related program.
Degree fields range from the broader “education, general” and “elementary education and teaching” to more specific programs like “school librarian/media specialist” and “curriculum and instruction.” Programs also range by level, including certificates and associate’s degree through terminal degrees.
The 2020 figure was up almost 400 students, which could be a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the economy and job market. It also marked the first increase in enrollment in these programs since fall 2010. The rest of the years in that span showed declines.
Not just a recruitment issue
There’s another piece to this pipeline. While fewer teaching candidates may be entering the profession, there also are more exiting.
“Looking at teacher shortages we would be naïve to think it’s just a recruitment issue,” Barber said.
Staying in the profession for decades may no longer be the norm. Teachers across the U.S. had on average about 14 years of experience in 2015-16, according to a poll from the National Education Association.
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In Louisiana 60{565afb6a7dd3ab7cf54100f70e42ab263dca1ef4e5addf37831397e398fc3d13} of classroom teachers leave after 10 years, and 50{565afb6a7dd3ab7cf54100f70e42ab263dca1ef4e5addf37831397e398fc3d13} leave in the first five years, state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said. One in three new teachers were leaving the profession within their first year before COVID-19.
“There is nothing more important in education than a quality teacher for every child,” Brumley said. “We have to continue to find ways to solve for that.”
Why are teachers leaving?
Leaving education isn’t solely a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, although that didn’t help. Educators have been voicing concern over the increase in workload and challenges related to teaching virtually or meeting safety restrictions of in-person classrooms.
“Teachers, because of COVID and other reasons, are under a lot of stress,” Julia Reed, a teacher and president of the Lafayette Parish Association of Educators, said at a school board meeting Oct. 6. “When I talk to them their No. 1 issue is not money; it’s workload.”
But many of the concerns coming from teachers aren’t new, only amplified.
“The pandemic has brought about more elements to throw in to what causes teacher burnout,” Barber said.
Recruitment and retention issues in Louisiana have been tracked for a very long time, said Amy Weems, an assistant professor in the School of Education at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
“When we look at research about why teachers in Louisiana and across the country are leaving the profession or not choosing to engage in teaching at all, it’s not around not knowing the content,” Weems said. “We have teachers who know English, who know math. It’s all the other aspects that impact the quality of life like culture and time.”
Barber said she receives messages from recent education graduates now working in schools saying they’re leaving the profession.
“Money is not the big reason; it’s never about the kids either,” the UL Lafayette professor said. “Teachers don’t feel like they have a voice and that there’s not really a career ladder that allows them to stay in the classroom.”
Pay remains an issue, though, especially pay as it compares to other fields that require certifications, such as nursing or speech language pathology.
“We also lag behind other states in teacher pay,” Weems said. “We know we are sending a lot of our graduates to Texas and other areas.”
Other routes to teaching
The enrollment numbers don’t include students seeking alternate certification to teach, meaning they have earned a four-year degree in something other than education and have decided to teach.
To do so they have to pass licensing tests and receive some education-specific training, which can be offered at these same traditional universities or through private companies like iteach. It is an expedited process, as they usually are teaching in the classroom on an “emergency” basis while they complete their training.
It began as iteachTEXAS in the early 2000s, became one of the largest producers of initially certified teachers in that state, and has expanded to Louisiana and more states.
Today alternative programs make up nearly one-third of all teacher certification programs, according to the National Association of Alternative Certification Programs. They are said to attract a higher percentage of diverse candidates and produce proportionately more teachers in high-need subjects.
Alternative certification programs began in the U.S. in the 1980s, another time when the number of students seeking a degree in education was declining and there was a teacher shortage. In the nearly four decades since, an estimated 250,000-plus have become alternatively certified to teach, according to the National Center for Education Information.
Weems also works with the ULM’s alternative certification programs. The northeast Louisiana university offers two such options, a Master of Arts in Teaching and Post-Baccalaureate . She said many university-based teacher preparation programs now offer both options.
“We see a constant stream of people (in these programs), and we need them,” Weems said. “Our shortages are so significant. We have to do our best to train them.”
Alternate programs are important and necessary, but not the ideal, as stats have shown lower retention rates among teachers who came to schools via this route. Such teachers have less training in classroom management and other traditional education topics, and they are often placed in more challenging school environments where teacher shortages are most acute.
So while alternately certified teachers are important and necessary, it’s not the ideal route to keeping teachers in the profession for the long-haul.
“We have to do more to get them to choose our profession first,” Weems said.
Contact children’s issues reporter Leigh Guidry at [email protected] or on Twitter @LeighGGuidry.
A look at the data
Enrollment in traditional teacher prep programs at Louisiana public universities, according to Board of Regents data:
- Fall 2002: 20,233
- Fall 2003: 20,420
- Fall 2004: 20,147
- Fall 2005: 17,611 (Katrina/Rita)
- Fall 2006: 17,507
- Fall 2007: 16,009
- Fall 2008: 16,516
- Fall 2009: 17,608
- Fall 2010: 18,327
- Fall 2011: 17,989
- Fall 2012: 16,708
- Fall 2013: 15,439
- Fall 2014: 14,789
- Fall 2015: 14,552
- Fall 2016: 13,333
- Fall 2017: 13,024
- Fall 2018: 12,608
- Fall 2019: 12,201 (COVID)
- Fall 2020: 12,597
