Tri-County Teacher Initiative Aims to Ensure Fully Prepared and Effective Teacher Workforce
Area education leaders gather to review data, plan action at Forum on the Teacher Workforce
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(Moss Landing, CA) Seeking to ensure that Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties can meet current and future demands for a fully prepared and effective teaching workforce, area education leaders gathered today at the Monterey Bay Educational Consortium (MBEC) Teacher Workforce Initiative Forum to review data on the local teaching workforce and identify steps to strengthen the teaching workforce in the region.

Meeting at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, area university leaders, school superintendents, school administrators, teachers and others examined data collected by the Teacher Workforce Initiative. Using data summarizing key student and teacher workforce measurements from the 2002-2003 school year and similar preliminary data for 2003-2004, participants worked to identify the progress made to date in strengthening the region’s teacher development system and identify gaps and trends that illuminate problem areas.

“We can already measure improvements in the region since we began this process,” said Diane Siri, Superintendent of Santa Cruz County Schools and Chair of the Monterey Bay Educational Consortium. “Preliminary analysis of the 2003-2004 data shows a trend toward a smaller percentage of teachers without full credentials, down from 14 percent to 10 percent. But the data also make very clear that the tri-county region faces some real and difficult challenges in ensuring that every child has a fully qualified and effective teacher.”

“The tri-county region reflects the challenges facing school districts across California: a shortage of fully prepared and effective teachers, particularly in high need areas such as special education, mathematics and science,” said Margaret Gaston, Executive Director of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning. “This local effort to understand the challenges public schools face and to develop an action plan aimed at strengthening the entire teacher development system is ground-breaking work that puts the tri-county region ahead of other areas in the state.

“These findings underscore the growing importance of this institution to the vitality of the Monterey Bay Region, said Peter Smith, President of California State University, Monterey Bay. “As the university develops, it’s clear that strengthening the region’s teacher development system will be a top priority.”

The Teacher Workforce Initiative is a data-driven education leadership initiative supported by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning in partnership with the Monterey Bay Educational Consortium. Funding for the initiative is provided through the William and Flora Hewlett, James Irvine and Stuart Foundations.

“UC Santa Cruz will be an enthusiastic partner in the creation of solutions to address issues raised in the data such as the need to better prepare more mathematics and science teachers for the future,” said Martin M. Chemers, Acting Chancellor of UC Santa Cruz.

“With so much of the teaching population being 50 years or older, it is imperative that we be very proactive in ensuring that our students continue to be educated by high quality professionals,” said Timothy R. Foley, Superintendent, San Benito County Schools. “We must all work together, universities, school districts, politicians, and city officials, to address this future need.”

To address high-priority issues identified at the Forum, the Teacher Workforce Initiative has organized working groups that will focus on the development of solutions to key problems. Those working groups will report back with formal recommendations to the Teacher Workforce Initiative by November of this year.

Key areas of concern highlighted by the data include:

The gap between teacher supply and demand

• In 2002-2003, area colleges and universities produced 285 teacher credential candidates for elementary (231) and secondary (54) teaching positions. In that same year there were 646 underprepared full-time teachers (384 elementary, 262 secondary) working in the tri-county region. Additionally, 1425 teachers in the region were 55 or older. Such data suggests a gap between the supply of teacher candidates and area needs, especially at the secondary level. (Please note: There were 5776 full time teachers in the tri-county region in 2002-2003.)
• The gap is greater in special education and specific subject areas. In 2002-2003, there were 130 teachers in the tri-county region working with a special education authorization who did not have a full teaching credential. Additionally, 156 special education teachers were 55 or older and approaching retirement. In 2002-2003, area institutions produced 12 special education credential candidates. The trends are similar for mathematics and science. Area institutions produced 7 credential candidates in mathematics, while 70 underprepared full-time teachers were working as math teachers at the secondary level, and 59 mathematics teachers were age 55 or older. Eleven candidates earned credential status in science, while 78 underprepared full-time teachers were working as science teachers, and 80 science teachers were 55 or older.

(It is important to note that in order to meet the federal requirements of No Child Left Behind, by the end of the 2005-06 school year every teacher teaching a core academic subject must be credentialed or have a credential at the internship level or higher.)

An aging workforce and the implications of pending retirements

• The tri-county area teacher workforce is older than the statewide teaching workforce. While teachers 50 years of age and older made up 37.5 percent of California’s workforce last year (the most recent year for statewide age data), the tri-county region was significantly higher at 44 percent. For this school year, nearly 27 percent of full-time teachers in the region are 55 years or older. Increasing teacher retirements will accelerate the need for new teachers.

The percentage of teachers still working towards a full credential is shrinking, but underprepared teachers are more likely to be assigned to low-achieving schools and schools serving economically disadvantaged, minority and second language learning students.

• Preliminary data for 2003-2004 finds that 10 percent of full-time teachers are not fully credentialed. This is a significant improvement over last year’s rate of 14 percent.
• Underprepared teachers are more likely to teach in low-performing schools. In schools in the bottom achievement quartile on the API, 15 percent of teachers were underprepared. In schools in the top performance quartile, 4 percent were underprepared.
• In schools where three-fourths of students meet requirements for federal food assistance, the percentage of underprepared teachers this year as compared to last is lower. In 2003-2004, about 10 percent of teachers are not fully credentialed compared to last year’s 15 percent. In schools where one-fourth or less of students meet federal poverty guidelines, approximately 8 percent of teachers are underprepared.
• In schools where more than 90 percent of the students are minorities, the percentage of underprepared teachers went from 18 percent in 2002-03 to 13 percent in 2003-04. However, in schools where 30 percent or less of the students are minorities, the percent of teachers not fully credentialed remains at a relatively low rate of approximately 6 percent. In 2002-2003, in schools where 40 percent or more of students were English language learners, 12 percent of teachers were underprepared. By comparison, in schools with the fewest English language learners, about 4 percent of teachers were. Data for 2003-2004 shows similar findings.

Teachers without a full credential are concentrated in special education, mathematics and science.

• In the tri-county area in 2002-2003, 20 percent of teachers with special education authorizations, 17 percent of physical science, 13 percent of life science, and 19 percent of mathematics teachers were not fully credentialed. Data collected for 2003-2004 finds 16 percent of special education, 11.4 percent of physical science, 8.8 percent of life science, and 14.2 percent of mathematics teachers were not fully credentialed.

The high cost of housing may hinder teacher recruitment and retention.

There is a significant gap between teacher salaries and housing prices in the tri-county region. For example, the average teaching salary in Monterey County qualifies for a loan amount of $186,360. Meanwhile, the median price of a single-family home in Monterey County in 2003 was $439,000.

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(Editors and reporters please note: A summary of the data is available on the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning website at www.cftl.org.) Area teacher preparation institutions included in the data include Bethany College, California State University Monterey Bay, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Chapman University data is not included.)

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