Michigan is losing teachers at a rate that officials say is difficult to sustain, a new report released Thursday found, pushing districts to rely more heavily on interim or temporary instructors.
The Education Policy Innovation Collaborative at Michigan State University said the state is making progress on teacher recruitment, but that teacher turnover remains high enough to raise concerns about stability. Tara Kilbride, associate director of the collaborative and co-author of the report, said “Stability is definitely a concern right now,” and added that “just the level of turnover raises serious concerns about stability.”
Michigan has roughly 1.4 million public school students across nearly 900 districts, and leaders have struggled to recruit and retain teachers for several years, especially in areas like world languages and science. The report described a mismatch between classroom staffing needs and the credentials of some teachers currently leading classes.
The report said more than 1-in-20 teachers leading classrooms, or 5.3%, have no teaching certificate, and that 3% of teachers leading classrooms are enrolled in teacher training programs. It also warned that “Students are increasingly likely to receive instruction from teachers who have not yet demonstrated proficiency in certain content areas or core teaching practices,” according to the report.
In its findings, the collaborative said interim and non-certified teachers are more common in charter schools than in traditional public schools, and more common in urban areas. The report also pointed to how some “grow your own” programs—designed to train future teachers from within local district staff—often include on-the-job training in which educators are placed in front of classrooms with less experience.
The report also addressed the churn in the teacher workforce. During the last academic year, nearly 8,000 teachers left the field while 7,900 entered, according to the report. The authors said it is “not realistic for Michigan to continue replacing nearly 8,000 departing teachers each year,” warning that “This level of churn places ongoing pressure on districts’ capacity to recruit, support and retain educators,” even as new teacher growth has reached record levels.
Kilbride said the state should increase investment in mentorship, professional development and compensation. She and the report also cited a separate EPIC analysis indicating Michigan ranks 44th in starting salaries at $41,645, while average teacher pay of $69,067 ranks 19th among states.
State Board of Education discussion this week highlighted how districts are adapting. Heather Wolf, an instructional coach at Shepherd High School near Mt. Pleasant and a regional Teacher of the Year, told board members that her district and the state have seen an increase in teachers coming from alternative route training programs—programs that train people who already have a bachelor’s degree. Wolf said her district uses classroom visits so less experienced teachers can learn from more experienced colleagues, and that she is leading a book study in which teachers read the same education-related book.
Wolf told board members, “The teachers I work with, they know I’m not there as an administrator to evaluate them. I am there to support them.”
The report said local districts continue to struggle to fill some subject areas more than others. Among the toughest to staff, it listed special education with a 5.2% vacancy rate, along with world languages at 3.3%, arts at 2.7% and science at 2.6%.
Kilbride said special education stood out in the report’s measures for “particularly acute challenges,” including “so highest vacancy rates, highest attrition rates, especially high rates of undercredentialed teachers in special ed positions.” The report said 223,100 students were receiving special education last school year across public, private or homeschool settings, including people from birth to 26 with an Individualized Education Plan or an Individualized Family Service Plan.
Kilbride said special education is “clearly an area of need,” and that leaders should consider how to encourage people to pursue that teaching area. The story also noted that advocates and school groups have called for the state to increase funding for special education and change how the state funds those programs.