Measures are being taken to combat the continued teacher shortage, or, at the very least, get qualified teachers into the classroom faster.
New certified teachers are at an all-time low in PA. However, for those that do meet certification requirements, the PA Department of Education is taking quicker action to supply those certificates. Level I and II certificates should take approximately 10 weeks to process. Emergency certificates should be in-hand within two to four weeks.
Fewer certifications to process presumably means that the PA Department of Education could speed up the turnaround time. But, just how many fewer certifications are we talking about? Well, over the last ten years, new in-state teaching certifications have decreased by 72%. Those numbers are crushing. They certainly require more measures to be taken than reducing certification wait times. It’s encouraging to know that the government wants to work faster. That doesn’t mean we have enough educators available to provide a quality experience and quality education for our young people.
Certainly the PA Department of Education knows this because it is also attempting to improve clarity around the teacher certification process. This clarity is desperately needed and may be a decent step in encouraging more people to pursue teaching as a career.
There’s still lots of work to be done, though. Hopefully there are more solutions coming to combat this significant problem.