Shortages of Fully Qualified Teachers in High-needs LA Schools Fuel Drive for New Ideas
Across Los Angeles County, 7,000 teachers lack the full credentials needed for their jobs – and they are disproportionately working in downtown and South Los Angeles schools with more low-income students of color.
Those teachers are more likely to leave their positions, contributing to churn that creates instability, hurts schools financially and shortchanges students of the quality education they all deserve.
But a broad coalition of educators, parents, researchers, nonprofit and civic leaders has stepped up to tackle the urgent questions of how to ensure every student in L.A. County has a highly qualified teacher and how to attract and retain the very best educators.
About 85 advocates recently gathered to share information, perspectives and ideas for action on the issue at a daylong Teacher Workforce Symposium hosted by the California Community Foundation (CCF). The symposium was the culmination of nearly a year of learning and analysis to understand the systemic factors driving the teacher shortage, share promising practices and create strategies to strengthen the educator pipeline. This effort is part of the Community Foundations Teacher Workforce Project, a joint initiative among CCF, San Diego Foundation and the Inland Empire Foundation, with support from the Gates Foundation.
“CCF has long invested in early childhood education, youth development and pathways that support college readiness and workforce development, and we know from across that work that a thriving teacher workforce is critical to that entire continuum,” said Shayna Englin, CCF vice president of policy and advocacy. “When we strengthen an educator pipeline, we reinforce every stage of our journey, from early learning to career opportunity and everything in between.”
She added that the project represents part of CCF’s commitment to ensure every learner in Los Angeles County has access to the knowledge and skills they need to build economic opportunity and a good life.
The symposium featured out-of-the-box thinking by experts across the board who called for a fundamental redesign of the system to attract, train and retain teachers. Tina Christie, dean of the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, noted the progress made: $1 billion in state funding since 2018 has led to more teaching credentials issued – including 17,328 in 2023-34, an 18% increase over the previous year in the first surge of new teachers since the pandemic.
Yet school districts still fell 25,000 teachers short at the start of this school year, and many of them were assigned subjects they did not have credentials to teach. At the same time, schools are carrying the weight of academic recovery, mental health crises, technological disruptions and civil and political polarization, she said.
“This is truly a consequential moment, not just for educator preparation programs, but for Los Angeles and the future of public education in a diverse democracy,” Christie said. “Teacher education must evolve to meet this moment.”
She said filling the shortage through stop gap measures – emergency credentials or fast-track, online programs – hasn’t worked to produce enough well-prepared teachers. The “prohibitive” cost of tuition for a teaching credential and the time it takes to earn one are the two biggest barriers that exclude many talented people from the profession, she said.
Desiree Carver-Thomas, senior researcher at the Learning Policy Institute, shared research about teacher shortages in California based on a new state dataset on teacher assignments. She said more than 7,000 teachers, many just beginning their careers, lacked credentials for the subjects they were teaching in 2022-23. That included about one-fourth of teachers in core subjects – English, math, science – in Los Angeles Unified. Larger shares of substandard credentials and permits were in schools with more students of color, high needs and low academic performance.
Other speakers pointed out additional challenges. Beginning Black teachers, for instance, have lower retention rates, possibly tied to working in schools with more challenging environments and less support.
A key factor in retaining teachers is school leadership. Ritter Elementary boasts a teaching staff that is fully credentialed; Principal Liz Morales said she tries to instill collaborative leadership, provide professional development for teachers and foster a supportive environment that treats teacher planning time as “sacred.”
Christie said investments in principal preparation and leadership development were critical to attracting and retaining teachers. “Chaotic, unsupported, or compliance-driven environments push teachers out – often permanently,” she said.
In remarks that drew particular interest, ABC Unified School District and union leaders shared how their long partnership has provided years of labor peace, bringing stability and progress to their schools. Superintendent Gina Zietlow and Ray Gaer, president of the ABC Federation of Teachers Local #2317, said they met weekly, shared information and collaborated closely.
Other ideas for action included expanding current programs that tap into the talents of staff and community members who already work in the schools – as paraprofessionals, instructional aides, classroom assistants – and build pathways for them to become teachers, including credits for demonstrated competency in the educational work they do.
Increasing financial support through such programs as paid residencies, apprenticeships and student loan forgiveness tied to service work should also be considered, speakers said. The state has invested $250 million in teacher residency programs, for instance, that provide stipends for future teachers to work in a classroom with an experienced mentor teacher while completing their credential coursework.
Lennon Audrain, a research assistant professor at Arizona State University, which hosted the symposium at its Los Angeles downtown center, said an alternative mode of teaching appears promising: replacing the “one teacher, one classroom model” with team-based staffing. Work by ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation shows early evidence that the team approach improves student performance and teacher retention, he said.
By day’s end, participants were asked to share words that summed up their reactions to the varied presentations.
“Affirmation,” said Christopher Quirarte of the Whittier City School District. “There’s still hope. There’s still people who want to see positive change. We need to stop and think about our common goal: everybody deserves a high-quality education and a chance to reach their full potential.”
The work to transform ways to prepare, attract and retain quality teachers continued at a March 12 summit hosted by the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, with future gatherings on the critical topic planned.
“Recruitment and retention will not be solved by a better signing bonus,” Christie said. “They will be solved by designing schools as professional environments worthy of talented adults.”
– Teresa Watanabe
