Author: Tom Bailey
Of all the challenges facing America’s teachers today, none may be more dire than the disconnect between the profession’s importance and the profession’s prestige. Despite the best efforts of pop culture representations that depict teaching as a “calling,” in reality, fewer individuals than ever are answering the call.
Researchers at Brown University and the University at Albany laid out the problem in the starkest terms last fall. They found interest in the profession has declined nearly 40% since 2010. If we don’t turn this around, we will confront profound teacher shortages that will continue to make it difficult for schools across the country to fully staff classrooms, let alone prepare our children to be contributing citizens of society.
As the head of one of the nation’s leading graduate schools of education, my colleagues and I confront this challenge every day. How do we attract, inspire and prepare the best minds in the country to enter the teaching profession when it’s faced with a daily barrage of bad PR on top of longtime systemic impediments?
