The Classroom Is Calling

After Some Lean Years, Outlook For New Teachers Looks Bright

(U.S. News & World Report)  After a few lean years, marked by delayed retirements and continuing state and local budget crunches, the job outlook for new teachers looks bright. Nationwide, the K-12 teaching corps is getting older and more experienced, according to recent surveys, and the profession is in for some momentous change. A recent study by the National Center for Education Information found that 40 percent of public school teachers say they don't expect to still be teaching in five years. Depending on region and specialty, new teachers with grad degrees will find themselves in a healthy job market. And starting salaries are on the rise, too.

Since 2001, many teachers on the cusp of retirement have avoided cashing out, opting to remain in their classrooms until the economy improved. Meanwhile, states have been in a fiscal pickle, with shrinking revenues to invest in the public schools. As the economy has picked up, at least in some areas, older teachers are calling it quits, and new teachers are being hired. "We are seeing a good-to-excellent job market, especially if you have a specialty that is in demand," says BJ Bryant, executive director of the American Association for Employment in Education. "It's an encouraging sign when we see improving starting salaries and multiple job offers for graduates."

The annual AAEE teacher-employment survey and a variety of education experts agree that while there is an abundance of teachers in fields like physical education, social studies, and health, a variety of specialty fields are still in need of teachers. "Subject-area certification, as required by the No Child Left Behind Act, has changed the employment landscape," says Ed Muir, a researcher with the American Federation of Teachers. "Schools can't move a history teacher into a math class anymore unless [the teacher is] qualified." The definition of "qualified" is left to the states, whose certification requirements vary.

To find qualified instructors, schools are encouraging more students to go into teaching at the undergraduate level and promoting more teaching fellowships, like Teach for America or the New York City Teaching Fellows program. In addition, many districts are actively recruiting midcareer professionals to take up the chalk and adopt teaching as a new vocation. And it's not just classroom teachers that schools need to hire — the AAEE survey also identified a shortage of principals and superintendents.

The availability of jobs and the salaries offered vary greatly by region, specialty, and grade level, but finding the ideal classroom will require some searching and flexibility. In general, rural and inner-city schools are most in need of new teachers, while suburban schools have higher salaries and are often amply staffed. Job openings are expected to be more plentiful in fast-growing states in the South and West. Texas will need 82,000 new teachers in the next two years, while North Carolina has an annual teacher shortage of 10,000. Public school enrollment in the Northeast is expected to remain flat or decline for the next decade, which could mean smaller class sizes or fewer teaching positions.

More than 90 percent of the teaching fields have either an equal number of applicants and openings or a shortage of qualified candidates, while only four fields have surpluses, according to the AAEE survey. Here's a look at some of the specialties that are in demand:

Special Education

As more children are tested earlier for learning disabilities and special needs, the demand for special-ed teachers to follow them through the educational pipeline continues to grow. Across the country, the number of special-ed teachers is expected to grow by as much as 26 percent in the next eight years, according to government estimates. Small classes of students with potentially serious behavior problems or disabilities make special education a particularly intense classroom experience. While the job can be uniquely rewarding, it can also be emotionally and physically draining. The turnover rate for special-ed teachers is as high as 20 percent in some districts. The average salary for elementary special-education teachers is $43,600, while those at the high school level take in around $45,700 per year.

Math

There are an ample number of English and humanities teachers emerging from the nation's teacher schools, but the number of qualified — or "highly qualified" in the parlance of the federal No Child Left Behind Act — math instructors remains insufficient. Improved math achievement, one of the central pillars of the education law, is only likely to occur with better teachers in the classroom. Nationwide, about one third of all middle school math teachers are expected to retire in the next decade.

Science

There is already a shortage of science teachers, and it is only expected to grow. Improving the pipeline for science and math students has been a national priority for several years, and building a solid science foundation is key — physics, biology, and chemistry teachers at all levels are in short supply. What's more, data suggest that nearly a quarter of elementary and middle school science teachers will retire in the next 10 years.

Bilingual Education

About 8 percent of the students in U.S. public schools are "English-language learners" — meaning that English is not their first language — with significantly higher percentages in California (26 percent) and Texas (16 percent). Demand is high for teachers who can speak other tongues--Spanish, of course, but also Chinese or Haitian Creole in areas with a large number of Asian or Haitian immigrants. And while historic shortages still plague border states, other areas in the Northeast and Midwest are also struggling to find teachers for students from rapidly expanding immigrant communities.

Library Science

The stereotype of the aged, bespectacled librarian may not be far from the truth — at least the aged part. More than 3 in 5 librarians are over the age of 45 and will become eligible for retirement in the coming decade. True, the growth in demand for librarians is expected to hover below 8 percent through 2014, but the decline in the number of master's of library science students, coupled with a large quantity of retirements, means that the job outlook for librarians is bright. In addition to schools, which employ most librarians, there is also a booming private-sector demand for those with degrees in library science. This sector is expected to grow the fastest in the next decade, as private companies, nonprofits, and consulting firms hire librarians for their advanced research and data-mining skills. The median salary for school librarians is $47,580 per year.