This week, the California Center on Teaching Careers (the Center) – a statewide agency housed at the Tulare County Office of Education – launched a teacher recruitment campaign entitled, “We Want You.” The campaign provides a communications toolkit to assist school districts and communities in attracting new educators to the profession during the state’s acute shortage. Included in the kit are social media graphics, email templates, flyers, website banners, and campaign support.
“California is facing a statewide teacher shortage that will only be solved if we work together,” said Donna Glassman-Sommer, executive director of the California Center on Teaching Careers. “To solve this problem, we must recruit new educators into this field. If even 1% of Californians became educators each year, we’d solve the teacher shortage.”
According to the Center’s research, three-quarters of all California school districts report difficulties in recruiting teachers, and enrollment in teacher preparation programs in California has dropped by more than 70% over the past decade. A recent survey of EdJoin, California’s education jobs site, showed 50,000 open positions. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem with teachers leaving the profession, as indicated by a 26% uptick in retirements from 2019 to 2020.
“I am excited that the Center has launched the ‘We Want You’ campaign. It gives school districts and school networks across California a clear and concise message, along with the tools to help them communicate the great need for teachers,” said Tim Hire, County Superintendent of Schools for Tulare County Office of Education. “This campaign puts the teacher shortage crisis clearly in the minds of the public, helping to rally their support in recruiting teachers across California.”
Once teacher candidates are attracted to the profession, the Center – through its online vortal – is able to help them create a profile to connect to preparation programs and districts in their areas of the state. To learn more about becoming a California teacher, please visit info.californiateach.org/we-want-you-teach-california.
To support California’s teacher recruitment efforts and learn more about the “We Want You” campaign please visit info.californiateach.org/we-want-you-campaign-toolkit.
Wrong about everything they are doing. It is basic economics. If you substantially raise teachers’ pay across the state or country and I man substantially raise it keeping in mind that for 50 years most districts have not acted in a responsible manner when it came to teachers’ salaries there would not be a problem.