Elizabeth Moje comments on declining enrollment in teacher education programs leading to teacher shortages across the state
Fewer Michigan college students are studying in educator preparation programs, reported Ron French in a Bridge magazine story for which he also interviewed Dean Elizabeth Moje. Teacher preparation programs at Michigan State University, Central Michigan University, and the University of Michigan—three of the state’s largest educators of future teachers—has continued to see declining or flat enrollment since 2016–17.
These enrollment levels won’t address the teacher shortages that now exist in some areas of the state, explained Dean Moje. “We’re not filling the slots. We need to be producing more teachers who are well-prepared [and] who have been taught how to teach.”
With fewer teachers earning four-year education degrees, more Michigan K–12 classrooms are being led by long-term substitutes. In the 2018-19 school year, over 2,500 Michigan classrooms were led by substitutes who are not generally certified teachers. Long-term substitutes only need 60 college credits in any subject area—not specifically in education—in order to work. This contrasts with the experience at traditional teacher certification programs, in which teachers must complete a four-year degree and at least one semester as a student teacher.
The use of long-term substitutes has expanded tenfold in five years in Michigan, as the state’s public schools, particularly urban and rural traditional school districts and charter schools, faced a growing shortage of certified teachers. Those shortages will likely expand to the rest of the state if the pipeline of new teachers continues to shrink, Moje said. “We [also] have a lot of people in their late 50s and early 60s, and when the Baby Boomer generation retires, we’re going to see teacher shortages in more places.”
Despite a recent decline in average salary, Michigan teachers still earn $2,200 a year above the national average, in a state with the seventh-lowest cost of living. Still, noted Moje, “We have to commit to paying teachers more. I don’t know that it even has to be a massive increase, but if we want professional performance, we have to be willing to pay people as professionals.”
Once in the classroom, teachers need more support, such as literacy coaches, teaching assistants, and mentor teachers. “Teaching is actually harder than it ever was before,” Moje said. “They deal with things like trauma, things like stress and anxiety, things like multiple languages spoken in the classroom. All of those things make the job more demanding.”
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