Augmenting Nevadas Teacher Pipeline Don Soifer Nevada Action

Augmenting Nevada’s Teacher Pipeline Don Soifer Nevada Action for School Options January 24, 2018

“A robust policy framework would do two things: promote an intellectually demanding curriculum for all students, and enable a space in which distinctive schools (i. e. , private schools, charter schools) can flourish. ” Ashley Rogers Berner No One Way to School: Pluralism and American Public Education, 2017

Nevada’s Educational Challenge One in five Nevada eighth graders scored at grade-level proficiency in math last year on the state’s Smarter Balanced assessment, while only two in five did so in English Language Arts. Of Nevada’s graduates who go on to higher education, three in five require placement in a remediation course in reading, math or both.

More Teachers Needed, Fast Nevada public schools have over 1, 000 vacant teaching positions each summer, varying widely across district, grades and subjects. Enrollment in Nevada’s approved education programs has declined substantially since 2010. Even among license-ready graduates, between 10 and 16 percent choose not to teach, to teach in schools that do not require licensure, or to teach in other states. About two-thirds of new Nevada teacher licenses are granted to teachers prepared out of state. Nevada Consortium on the Teacher Pipeline, 2017

Ready for Growth? Census projections indicate that Nevada will need to create some 250, 000 new seats in schools over the next decade or so. Brookings Mountain West noted that the target industries that rely most on workers with STEM training are contributing disproportionately to Nevada’s quality job growth.

Nonpublic Schools Struggle to Hire, Too Leaders of top private and independent schools also report struggling to fill their teaching openings with the high-quality candidates they seek. They describe Teach for America alumni as among their most coveted potential hires, a source of human capital that would allow them to expand to serve more students.

Reinforcements Coming? Just 39 percent of UNLV undergraduates finish within 6 years, and just 46 percent at UNR do. Brookings Mountain West According to the U. S. Department of Education, only New York has a lower percentage than Nevada’s 18 percent of teachers in their first 5 years of experience. Education majors scored the 4 th lowest on ACT among Nevada’s 11 major career track professions requiring 4+ years of college among 2016 graduates. Only health administration, community/family/personal services, and visual/performing arts candidates scored lower.

Career Switchers Welcome? Would a Nobel Laureate in economics or math be qualified to teach in a Nevada high school? Accomplished professionals with training and realworld experience in their discipline seeking Alternative Routes to Licensure must often take as many as 72 credit hours of transitional ed-school coursework, depending on their program.

More Than Compensation When factoring net monthly income, cost of living, retirement benefits and student debt burden, teaching in Clark County compares quite favorably to other markets, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, according to one soon-to-be-published analysis by researchers at UNLV’s College of Education.

Alternative Routes to Licensure Nevada charter school law allows top-performing charters to seek approval as providers of Alternative Routes to Licensure, but hasn’t happened yet.

Does Requiring PERS Help Hire Teachers? Every public school teacher in Nevada, including charter school teachers, is required to participate in Nevada’s Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS). Nevada’s teacher retirement plan was graded ‘F’ earlier this year by nationally-renowned Bellwether Education Partners. Their analysis estimated that only 32 percent of Nevada teachers will break even from participating in the retirement system, and that 51 percent of the plan’s pension contributions today are going toward pension debt.

Does Requiring PERS Help Hire Teachers? For a mid-career professional who anticipates ten years or less of teaching, being required to participate in PERS represents a daunting financial commitment. Leaders of some top-performing charter schools express concern that this requirement harms their ability to recruit the teachers they want.

What Can Be Done? (Part I) Aggressively expand new and current opportunities for mid-career professionals via Alternative Routes to Licensure. Allow charter schools to opt out of PERS. Consider social impact bonds and other tools to reward teachers financially for successful student outcomes.

What Can Be Done? (Part II) Maximize government incentive programs, like the Good Neighbor Next Door programs from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, to create new incentives for teachers to live where they are needed, especially in more expensive housing markets like Reno. Study and emulate successful strategies to make Nevada more attractive to teachers.

Thank You! Don Soifer President Nevada Action for School Options 241 West Charleston Boulevard, Suite 150 Las Vegas, NV 89102 Tel. 702. 706. 5795 don@nevadaaction. org