WHICH EDUCATION FIELDS HAVE THE BIGGEST SURPLUS OF QUALIFIED ILLINOIS TEACHERS?

AUG 12, 2014The Chicago Tribune recently revealed many Illinois teachers are not credentialed in the subjects they are teaching. Is this because of a shortage of qualified teachers, or are qualified teachers being left on the sidelines as schools hire unqualified teachers?Tribune reporters Christy Gutowski and Diane Rado have more on the study:

Illinois school districts have employed hundreds of educators to teach everything from science to special education even though they lacked proper credentials in those subjects, a Tribune investigation has found.

The assignment of teachers not properly trained and credentialed to teach a specific course— a practice that has come under fire nationwide — is facilitated by loopholes in state laws and rules as well as by district hiring practices. It has occurred even when applicants with the required qualifications were available, the newspaper found.

At the same time, the system designed to monitor teacher licensing allows some educators to work for months or even years before getting proper credentials.

 The findings that so many educators are teaching classes for which they are not qualified makes it appear as if there is a shortage of qualified teachers in those subjects. But as Gustowski and Rado write, “It has occurred even when applicants with the required qualifications were available.”

Gustowski and Rado have more on the perceived teacher shortage:

The oft-cited reason officials give is that they can’t find or afford educators who have the proper credentials for a particular position, in part because of teacher shortages in certain areas, Ingersoll said.

Yet the practice is common even in disciplines in which shortages do not exist and in states with a surplus of teachers for available vacancies, he said. “It might be because of favoritism or poor planning or some principal who wants to get around the rules,” Ingersoll said.

In which disciplines do shortages not exist in Illinois? The Tribune put together a chart with data from the Illinois State Board of Education answering that question. To see the full number of licensed Illinois teachers in Fiscal Year 2009 (the most recent year of data available), check out the full chart by the Tribune. We pulled out the ratio of newly licensed teachers to first-timers hired, along with an explanation from the Tribune:

School officials who hire teachers who aren’t properly credentialed for their positions often cite a lack of suitable candidates, in part because of teacher shortages in certain areas. But the most current state data available show that most fields actually had a surplus of newly licensed candidates available for hire. A higher ratio means fewer newly qualified teachers were hired.

Field / Ratio of newly licensed to first-timers hired

1. Social Science / 28.2
2. Health / 21.6
3. Foreign language, other / 11.2
4. English language arts / 9.4
5. Elementary / 9.3
6. Foreign language, Spanish / 8.7
7. Early childhood / 7.7
8. Art / 7.4
9. Guidance counselor / 7.0
10. Science / 6.5
11. Physical education / 5.3
12. Math / 4.9
13. Music / 4.3
14. Social worker / 3.2
15. Nurse / 2.7
16. Bilingual / 2.5
17. Special Education / 2.4
18. Speech/language / 1.9
19. Psychologist / 1.3

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