Working conditions are driver of national teacher shortage, federal education deputy says at Pittsburgh conference

When people ask Cindy Marten what she does for a living, she does not tell them she is the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

After 34 years as an educator and school administrator, she tells them she is a teacher.

“I was born, literally, to be a teacher. I just don’t understand why anyone doesn’t want to be a teacher because it’s all I ever wanted to be,” Marten said.

But there’s a nationwide teacher shortage, which in Pennsylvania means more than 2,000 teaching positions were vacant as of October, according to data released by the state.

The U.S. Department of Education is working to decrease the nationwide shortage by bolstering teacher preparation programs, working conditions, pay and diversity, Marten said Monday at an education conference in Downtown Pittsburgh.

“It is very clear that (President Biden) is growing the economy from the inside out and the bottom up,” she said. “And President Biden knows that investing in America means investing in all of America — not just some places.”

More than 200 state government officials, representatives from educator preparation programs and school district administrative staff will attend the conference.

Schools with a high percentage of students of color have teachers that are three times more likely to be uncertified, and 70% of them are likely to be inexperienced, Marten said, citing data acquired by the department prior to the pandemic.

Students of color make up more than half of the students in the nation’s schools, she said, but 24% of teachers are people of color.

“We don’t have a workforce that’s reflecting the students in the classrooms,” she said.

Teacher pay is also a concern of the department, Marten said. Teachers across the country earn 26% less than other professionals with similar degrees of education, she said.

“Mental health and well-being is at the heart of a lot of the reasons why teachers leave professions,” Marten said. “They’re not actually leaving the profession. They’re leaving the working conditions.”

To help schools bolster their teacher supply, the department partnered with the Department of Labor to expand registered apprenticeship options for K-12 teachers. More than 35 states have taken part in the initiative since August 2022, Marten said.

The Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s BridgeUp program is one example. The program targets paraprofessionals with associate degrees who are working in one of 42 Allegheny County schools.

Participants can continue to work their full-time jobs while moving through a two-year certificate residency-style program at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. All costs are covered by the school where the participant is employed.

The U.S. Department of Labor has devoted nearly $200 million to support these registered apprenticeship programs, according to a Department of Education statement from April.

The Department of Education has allotted $50 million to expand teacher preparation programs across the country.