As another school year ends, superintendents across the United States are staring down an autumn staffing crisis, with 1 in 8 teaching positions either vacant or filled by an underqualified educator.

States that are struggling with post-pandemic teacher shortages have spent millions to lure replacements and retain veterans with hiring bonuses and bumps in salaries. But hiring gaps remain, so some states also are trying another tactic: changing their standards.

The changes in teacher training and licensing come amid widespread turmoil in public schools: Tax revenue is being siphoned toward private school vouchers in many states; some classrooms are being scrutinized for banned books, displays or teaching lessons that trip into diversity, equity and inclusion territory; and students who went through pandemic-era shutdowns are struggling both with sitting still and with learning the material.

Some surveys show that fewer than a fifth of teachers are happy in their jobs.

鈥淭eaching is not seen as an attractive profession right now,鈥� said Drew Gitomer, an expert on teaching assessment at Rutgers Graduate School of Education.

鈥淐OVID exacerbated things, and teachers are caught in the middle of political battles 鈥� over curriculum, book bans, even personal attacks,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a healthy work environment, and that drives people away.鈥�

Last year, Illinois allowing teacher candidates to begin student teaching before passing content-area exams. It was an effort to reduce barriers for underrepresented groups, the measure鈥檚 sponsor said.

A bill under consideration this year over whether to factor pupils鈥� test scores into teacher evaluations, a break from a 15-year-old mandate.

In New Jersey, a formally removes the Praxis Core exam 鈥� traditionally used as an entry-level screening tool for aspiring teachers 鈥� from certification requirements.

And in Nevada 鈥� one of the states hit hardest by teacher shortages 鈥� a bill would for incoming educators. The bill would allow teachers credentialed in other states to begin working in Nevada classrooms while awaiting formal approval.

It also would remove extra steps for teachers switching grade levels and would waive application fees for recent substitute teachers.

Linda Darling-Hammond, founding president and chief knowledge officer of the Learning Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, said teacher shortages hit hardest in schools serving low-income students and students of color, where instability often leads to larger class sizes, canceled courses or a revolving door of substitute teachers.

鈥淲hen you walk into a school facing shortages, you see instability,鈥� she said. 鈥淪tudents may be taught by people who don鈥檛 know what to do, who leave quickly, and who often rely more on discipline than engagement.鈥�

The root cause? Teacher attrition.

鈥淣ine out of 10 vacancies every year are because of attrition 鈥� and two-thirds of that is not retirement,鈥� Darling-Hammond said. 鈥淪upport in the beginning matters. Teachers who come in and get a mentor stay longer. If you鈥檙e just thrown in to sink or swim, the odds of leaving are much greater.鈥�

States have long struggled to attract teachers, and credentialing changes aren鈥檛 unusual. But some education advocates fear long-term repercussions.

Melissa Tooley, director of K-12 educator quality at the left-leaning think tank New America, said most states now offer alternative and fast-track teacher certification pathways, many of which allow candidates to start teaching with little or no pedagogical training in how to teach.

鈥淲e鈥檙e churning through people who might have potential, but we鈥檙e not setting them up for success,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 lot of what states are doing is short term. It鈥檚 about filling seats, not necessarily building a sustainable or high-quality workforce.鈥�

More than 40 states require aspiring teachers to take the costly Praxis Subject test for the subject they want to teach, which some experts argue excludes strong candidates and duplicates other assessments.

鈥淵ou were excluding people who might be good teachers but didn鈥檛 do well on that specific test,鈥� said Rutgers鈥� Gitomer, who has researched the test鈥檚 effects on recruitment.

However, he added, dropping tests doesn鈥檛 necessarily help.

Several states 鈥� , , , and 鈥� have dropped a licensure requirement known as edTPA since 2022, but there鈥檚 little evidence the move has helped ease teacher shortages, Gitomer said. (The acronym stands for Educative Teacher Performance Assessment and involves a portfolio that includes testing and videos of classroom performance.)

鈥淭he state eliminated edTPA but didn鈥檛 replace it with a specific alternative,鈥� he said.

鈥淚nstead, it gave full discretion back to individual institutions to develop or adopt their own performance assessments,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen we talked to institutions, it became pretty clear they didn鈥檛 think removing edTPA would be a major driver in addressing the shortage 鈥� and they haven鈥檛 seen evidence that it has been.鈥�

How best to credential

Tooley said state credentialing systems must navigate a delicate balance: ensuring there are enough teachers, maintaining instructional quality and increasing workforce diversity.

鈥淭here鈥檚 this triangle 鈥� three pieces that need to be in place 鈥� and I think there are real tensions when it comes to how states are designing their certification policies,鈥� she said.

And Gitomer described a fragmented national landscape, where some states are tightening teacher entry standards while others are dramatically loosening them 鈥� even allowing non-degreed individuals to teach.

鈥淪ome states are trying to raise standards; others are relaxing them to the point where you may not even need a college degree,鈥� he said.

Indiana now all pre-K through grade 6 and special education teachers to complete 80 hours of training on the 鈥渟cience of reading,鈥� a method that includes phonics, and pass an exam by 2027. State Sen. Jean Leising, a Republican, has cutting the requirement in half, calling it 鈥渁n excessive burden with little actual benefit鈥� in a news release.

In Texas, a bill aims by the 2029-30 school year. The legislation would set a gradual cap on the percentage of uncertified teachers districts can employ in core curriculum classes 鈥� starting at 20% in 2026-27 and decreasing to 5% in 2029-30.

According to the Texas Education Agency,lacked a state teaching certificate or permit.

Yet some states stand out for how they鈥檙e changing their requirements, Tooley said.

She pointed to Washington, which has designed a encouraging paraprofessionals, often known as teacher鈥檚 aides, to become classroom teachers. Also known as paraeducators, they鈥檙e a group with classroom experience, community ties and higher retention likelihood.

There, school districts are required to offer foundational training 鈥� ranging from 14 to 28 hours 鈥� directly to paraeducators.

In West Virginia, a new law now allows districts to count full-time working in one or two classrooms toward meeting the required number of aides or paraprofessionals in K-3 classrooms.

Tooley noted that and are experimenting with 鈥渕enu-style鈥� licensing flexibility 鈥� allowing candidates to demonstrate qualification through various combinations of GPA and test scores, rather than rigid cutoffs.

鈥淭hese are people already in schools, often from the same cultural or linguistic backgrounds as students,鈥� Tooley said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e more likely to succeed and to stay.鈥�

Low pay

A 2024 by the EdWeek Research Center found that public school teachers are increasingly reporting declines in mental health, job satisfaction and classroom stability. Seventy percent of teachers recommended student mental health interventions, and nearly half said schools lack enough counselors, psychologists and social workers.

As mental well-being has worsened, the share of public school teachers who are very satisfied with their jobs has also declined by 2 percentage points from the previous year, to 18%, according to the , which was conducted by the EdWeek Research Center on behalf of Merrimack College.

While teacher wellness supports remain limited, educators say improvements in pay and student discipline are the most needed changes.

To entice passionate but burned out educators from leaving the workforce, several states have raised minimum teacher pay. Arkansas , and South Carolina this year, giving it a boost to $48,500 next school year. South Dakota enacted a $45,000 minimum with yearly increases, and penalties . Connecticut advanced a bill setting a $63,450 salary floor, while and others are eyeing further increases.

At the federal level, the 聽seeks to establish a national $60,000 minimum salary for teachers at a qualifying school to boost recruitment and retention across the country. The bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat, remains in committee.

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Earlier this month, I was flattered to be invited to a at Marquette University Law School, sparked by an article I鈥檇 written making the case that education reform has misfired by prioritizing testing, measurement, accountability, and other structural reforms instead of trying to improve classroom practice.

A highlight of the convening was the final panel of the day, featuring four teachers and administrators who acknowledged that many of the challenges I cited鈥攑oor preparation, chronic problems with student behavior and classroom management, and the overwhelming demands placed on teachers鈥攚ere real and concerning. But they pushed back politely on my assertion that we have made teaching 鈥�.鈥� I was particularly struck by remarks from Taylor Thompson, an earnest and winningly dedicated first-year fourth-grade teacher from Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

鈥淸Teaching is] not an impossible task. It’s demanding. It’s hard. Each day is not rainbows and singing and dancing,鈥� she said, but it’s not impossible 鈥渋f you are a collaborative person, work with your peers, and you have a community of coworkers and principals who don’t allow you to silo into your own rooms and do your own thing. It can be a very, very empowering job.鈥�

Thompson brought with her materials from the; having worked on CKLA鈥檚 launch during my time at the Core Knowledge Foundation, I was heartened that it contributed to her success. That said, I couldn鈥檛 help but wonder if her first-year experience would be different鈥攊f she鈥檇 even have had the time and energy to come to Marquette at all鈥攈ad she not been given CKLA but an empty plan book, and expected to spend 10, 20, or more hours a week scouring Google, Share My Lesson, or Teachers Pay Teachers for lesson plans and materials?

When it was my turn to respond, I told the audience that what they鈥檇 just heard didn鈥檛 contradict my argument; it amplified it. I suggested to my hosts that what we really needed was one more panel: earnest, well-intended people who wanted to teach but grew overwhelmed and walked away from their classrooms. Their absence from the conversation鈥攏ot a flaw of Marquette鈥檚 thoughtful event but a field-wide oversight鈥攍imits our ability to address the issues driving nearly half of teachers to quit within five years. Those stories are legion.

After leaving the classroom, I worked briefly at an outfit called Prep for Prep under Ed Boland, who later left the organization to teach in a New York City public high school armed with little more than idealism. His 2016 memoir, The Battle for Room 314, described the relentless student misbehavior, homophobic slurs, and physical fights he endured. He wasn鈥檛 a minimally prepared Teach For America corps member or, like me, the product of an 鈥渁lt cert鈥� teacher prep program. He had two years of graduate school and six months of student teaching that he described as 鈥渁 mix of folk wisdom, psycho-jargon, wishful thinking, and out-and-out bullshit.鈥� 

After one freakishly difficult year, Boland returned to his old job. 鈥淚 had taken courses in lesson planning, evaluation, psychology, and research. Next to nothing was said about what a first-year teacher most needs to know: how to control a classroom,鈥� he wrote.

NPR鈥檚 All Things Considered not long ago ran a about Liz Stepansky, the daughter of two school teachers who wanted to follow in their footsteps, thinking teaching would be a path to a stable, meaningful life. But when she took a job teaching at a South Carolina middle school, she found that she “had no idea” what she was in for. Her middle school students 鈥渄ialed 911, threw balloons filled with bleach and ink in hallways and constantly pulled the fire alarm.鈥�

“I’d go home and sometimes I’d spend an hour grading papers. And then I’d go back the next day and do it all over again,鈥� she told NPR. 鈥淚 remember my paycheck being $800 and something every two weeks.” She transferred to another school, faced similar frustrations and threw in the towel. She鈥檚 now a speech pathologist.

It’s not hard to find stories of earnest, well-intended people who want to teach but find the job untenable. But I can鈥檛 recall hearing from a single one at any of the education and policy conferences I鈥檝e attended over the last twenty years.

Inattention to abandoned careers and disappointed hopes allow false and misleading narratives to gain traction. Last summer, I was invited to give before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Senator Bernie Sanders was proposing a $60,000 minimum teacher salary to address teacher shortages. 鈥淏y all means, pay teachers more,鈥� I testified. 鈥淏ut don鈥檛 harbor any illusions that doing so will solve the problem.鈥澛�

Higher pay doesn鈥檛 fix shoddy preparation, unruly classrooms, or the ever-escalating burdens we pile on teachers鈥� plates as we treat schools as not just academic spaces but something akin to the social service agencies of last resort. 鈥淲e are asking teachers to do too many things to do any of them well at any salary,鈥� I said.

Teaching鈥檚 aspirational nature attracts optimists, but crushing demands betray them. A I cited in my Senate testimony found 99% of elementary teachers create their own materials, stealing time from honing their craft and working more closely with children and their parents. A 2024 showed only 36% of teachers feel adequately resourced; a 2022 revealed nearly half plan to quit due to poor school climate. These are systemic failures, not personal ones.

Teaching is among our most optimistic and aspirational professions, drawing idealists who believe education can transform lives. But celebrating only the successes鈥攖eachers who beat the odds, schools that defy demographics鈥攄istorts our vision. As I quipped at Marquette, it鈥檚 like watching Aaron Judge hit 62 home runs and concluding, 鈥淪ee? It can be done!鈥�

And it can鈥攊f you鈥檙e Aaron Judge.  

Other fields learn from failure鈥攎edicine from misdiagnoses, aviation from crashes. I urged Marquette鈥檚 audience to imagine a panel of teachers who quit鈥攏ot to shame them, but to learn. What broke their optimism? What tools were missing? Thompson鈥檚 success shows what鈥檚 possible with support. But for every Thompson, countless idealists leave because they were overmatched, felt unprepared or betrayed by poor training or simply couldn鈥檛 manage chaos.

A few days later, Alan Borsuk, who organized and moderated the event at Marquette, told me about a conversation he鈥檇 had with a school administrator who was in attendance who disagreed with the notion that teachers who leave are failures. 鈥淪he said one of the best teachers they have whose students have done well for year after year is leaving after this year,鈥� Alan said. That teacher, she insisted, was not a failure.

Exactly! That teacher didn鈥檛 fail. We failed that teacher.

Education reform must weigh frustration alongside triumph. We need convenings where former teachers speak without judgment: their failures and frustration studied, not stigmatized.  

There鈥檚 no magic wand that will make the job easy or friction-free, but when you connect with students and go home feeling successful, there鈥檚 no job that compares to being a classroom teacher. You feel on top of the world. It鈥檚 immensely satisfying work.

The question ed reformers and policymakers need to ask now is what can we do to make more teachers feel successful and their jobs more doable.

When we set out to study pandemic-related changes in schools, we thought we鈥檇 find that learning management systems that rely on technology to improve teaching would make educators鈥� jobs easier. Instead, we found that teachers whose schools were using learning management systems .

The study, which leverages a massive survey sample collected online throughout the pandemic, was published Tuesday morning in Educational Researcher, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association. Its findings highlight the mental and emotional toll exacted by COVID, while also offering new insights into how different employment sectors coped with its hardships.

Polling has consistently shown teachers and other school employees reporting signs of elevated stress over the last two years, with education experts worrying that higher levels of burnout might cause more educators to leave the profession. Joseph Kush, a professor of psychology at James Madison University and one of the paper鈥檚 authors, said that he and his collaborators were 鈥渒ind of shocked鈥� at the results.

鈥淥ur thought was that healthcare workers battling this virus on the front lines would clearly have the highest levels of distress,鈥� Kush said. 鈥淎nd they were very high, but we found that teachers were actually quite a bit higher.鈥�

The study relies on data from the COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey, an ongoing measure of public opinion developed by Facebook and Carnegie Mellon鈥檚 epidemiology-focused Delphi Research Group. The poll solicits daily responses from a random sample of Facebook users about their physical and mental health.

Kush and his co-authors, a trio of researchers from Johns Hopkins University, gathered data from between September 2020 and March 2021 鈥� , when deaths often exceeded 3,000 per day and vaccines were still not widely administered. They focused on information from over 2.7 million employed adults, including nearly 135,000 teachers. Demographic identifiers related to age, gender, educational attainment, household size, and level of economic worry were also included.

Finally, they compared self-reported instances of anxiety, depression, and isolation among four different areas of the American workforce: education (from preschool through high school), healthcare workers, office workers, and a broad category of 鈥渙ther鈥� occupations, including military personnel and agricultural workers. 

The results were striking. By far, teachers had the highest odds of reporting anxiety 鈥� 40 percent higher than healthcare workers, 20 percent higher than office workers, and 30 percent higher than members of the 鈥渙ther鈥� category.鈥� They were also likelier than healthcare workers, though by smaller increments, to report feeling isolated or depressed; office workers and 鈥渙thers鈥� were notably more likely than teachers to say they were feeling isolated.

The spectrum of mental health ailments interacts somewhat unexpectedly with the frequency of remote vs. in-person work. While the healthcare category is broad 鈥� encompassing nurses and doctors, but also dentists, home health aides, and therapists 鈥� it is taken to represent the group that incurred the greatest risk of contracting COVID. White-collar employees, by contrast, were perhaps the demographic most shielded from the pandemic鈥檚 effects, with a huge proportion of offices operating remotely through the early months of 2021.

In the middle sat teachers, who fluctuated between in-person and remote instruction depending on timing and geography. School employees often received little clear guidance from or authorities on how best to mitigate health risks to themselves and their students, and most were also navigating a chaotic transition to virtual teaching. 

Kush said that while the degree of remote work was perhaps the single factor most correlated with worsening mental health, the education profession sat particularly uneasily atop the pandemic鈥檚 ambiguities.

鈥淓ducation was unique in that it grappled, even within districts, about whether teachers were going to work in-person from week to week,鈥� said Kush. 鈥淭hat change, and the uncertainty in that, clearly brings this spike in anxiety.鈥�

Notably, the remote-vs.-in-person dynamic was also present within the teaching workforce itself. Teachers conducting their lessons in Zoom classrooms were substantially more likely to experience symptoms of depression and (somewhat predictably) isolation than their colleagues working in school buildings. 

Whether the study鈥檚 findings can be boiled down to a simple mechanism 鈥� that working away from customers, colleagues, and students simply led to lower emotional well-being 鈥� will depend on the findings of further research, including an investigation of which workers reported relatively worse mental health before COVID emerged and after its most severe disruptions were allayed. 

One demographic caveat worthy of further examination pertains to gender: Female teachers were 70 percent more likely than male teachers to say that they felt anxiety during the period covered by the study. The teaching field is predominantly female, though the same could be said of healthcare workers.

鈥淭he makeup of the education and healthcare workforces is relatively similar, and we see gender differences both across all occupations and when we examine teachers exclusively,鈥� Kush said. 鈥淪o not only is this finding generalizable across all occupations, but even within teachers.鈥�