Skip Navigation
We use cookies to offer you a better browsing experience, provide ads, analyze site traffic, and personalize content. If you continue to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies.
NEA has a plan to solve educator shortages, but it will take us all, working together to rewrite the rules and reverse decade-long trends.
Our Solutions
Report

Solving Educator Shortages by Making Public Education an Attractive and Competitive Career Path

Educator shortages started before COVID-19 but were exacerbated by the pandemic. Shortages must be addressed now with long-term, evidence-based solutions.
teacher demoralization
Published: October 4, 2022

Key Takeaways

  • Solving educator shortages requires evidence-based, long-term strategies that address both recruitment and retention.
  • Specific attention must be paid to recruiting and retaining educators of color who face unique barriers to pursuing education careers.
  • Failing to address educator shortages has led to negative effects on students, schools, districts, and communities.
For decades, public school educators have worked hard to meet their students’ needs with far too few resources and too little planning time.

At the same time, educators have been grossly under-compensated as a profession compared to other professions with comparable education and training requirements; similarly, the wages and benefits for many education support professionals (ESPs) can no longer compete with jobs outside of education.

The educator shortage crisis is real, and it is the result of numerous factors not controlled by educators. It requires immediate and sustained attention to identify and implement long-term solutions to improve educator recruitment and retention.

Elected officials who make funding and policy decisions have too often negated their responsibility to ensure fair and adequate access to public education resources. The result—low pay, lack of professional respect, and a failure to fund the resources that students need to thrive—has caused an unprecedented school staffing crisis across nearly every job category.

The number of individuals entering and graduating from teacher preparation programs is much lower now than a decade ago, while the percentage leaving positions in public education continues to increase.

Every child needs and deserves a neighborhood school with:
  • well-prepared teachers,
  • class sizes that enable one-on-one attention, and
  • nurses, counselors, and healthy meals to ensure they can thrive.

That is why educators at all levels—school district leaders; local, state, and national policymakers; families; and communities—must work together to solve this problem.

The good news is that we know what to do; we have the solutions in front of us. We cannot and should not turn from them and rely on short-term fixes.

This report outlines a wide variety of long-term strategies and solutions that are effective at recruiting and retaining educators and, most importantly, reflect the needs and priorities of educators themselves.

Across the country, educators and their unions, school and district administrators, and policymakers are working together to make education an attractive and competitive career.

While we have a long way to go, the path to achieving a well-staffed, equitable, and just public education system is clear.

Download Report (.pdf)

Solutions to Educator Shortages

Grace 1

9 Ways to Make Educator Pay and Benefits Competitive

When educators are paid well and supported, they stay.
diverse students talking in a circle in school library 2

9 Ways to Improve Educator Working Conditions

Students’ learning conditions are educators’ working conditions.
educators at a table for collective bargaining 3

4 Ways to Increase Educator Voice, Respect, and Professional Autonomy

No one knows what our students need more than the people who spend their day with them, helping them learn. Educators are experts at what they do and should have a seat at the table when decisions are made.
HE Month! 4

How Student Debt Relief and Loan Forgiveness Can Help Solve Educator Shortages

Educators frequently are required to have advanced degrees. The debt of that education can be crippling.
Roman Trejo 5

5 Ways to Improve Educator Recruitment

Solving educator shortages requires evidence-based, long-term strategies that address both recruitment and retention.
Nicki Belnap 6

5 Ways School Districts Can Better Retain Educators

Solving educator shortages requires evidence-based, long-term strategies that address both recruitment and retention.
NEA has a plan to solve educator shortages, but it will take us all, working together to rewrite the rules and reverse decade-long trends.

Stay on top of current education news

Sign up to learn more about the important issues affecting our nation’s public schools and students.
National Education Association

Great public schools for every student

The National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest professional employee organization, is committed to advancing the cause of public education. NEA's 3 million members work at every level of education—from pre-school to university graduate programs. NEA has affiliate organizations in every state and in more than 14,000 communities across the United States.