Schools across the country are struggling to hire and retain highly-qualified teachers. Declining numbers of new teachers and rising vacancies are leaving many classrooms without certified educators. 

• Nationwide Shortfall: Roughly 406,000 teaching positions are either vacant or filled by under-qualified teachers, which is about 1 in 8 classrooms nationally. Nearly 44% of public schools reported having at least one teaching vacancy in recent surveys. Hard-to-staff subjects such as math, science, special education, and bilingual education consistently face the deepest shortages.
• The teacher pipeline in California has dwindled by half – in 2022, the state produced only about 50% as many new teachers as in 2004, the peak year. To plug gaps, districts have increasingly relied on underprepared educators: over 32,200 California teachers currently lack full certification for the subjects they teach. Alarmingly, 40% of California’s teachers say they are considering leaving their jobs, with half of those likely to depart in the next 1–3 years – a sign of mounting retention challenges.
• Pennsylvania’s schools have seen a spike in vacancies and turnover. At the start of the 2023–24 school year, there were approximately 865 teacher positions unfilled statewide. Even when positions are filled, many lack fully credentialed staff – about 17,000 Pennsylvania teachers were teaching outside their certified subject or grade (including thousands on emergency permits). This attrition is fueled by record turnover: nearly 9,500 Pennsylvania teachers left the profession between 2022 and 2023, pushing the annual teacher attrition rate to a historic 7.7% (the highest in at least a decade).
• School districts across New England are also feeling the strain. In Connecticut, about 71% of districts surveyed reported at least one teaching vacancy, with 1,221 teaching positions vacant statewide in a recent year. Massachusetts saw nearly 48% of districts report being understaffed going into the 2023 school year. Smaller New England states mirror this trend: for example, Vermont experienced a 31% turnover rate among teachers last year (11% higher than any previous year on record), and about 7% of Vermont’s teachers are now working on temporary licenses – a figure that doubled over the past five years . These statistics show that even states with traditionally strong education systems are grappling with a thinning teacher workforce.
• Virginia faces a significant teacher shortage despite recent improvements. As of Fall 2023, there were roughly 3,650 vacant teaching positions across the Commonwealth (a vacancy rate of about 3.4%, down from 4.7% a few months prior). The concentration of vacancies is highest in high-need regions and subjects – for instance, rural and urban divisions report difficulty hiring in special education and STEM fields. Virginia’s Department of Education did report a slight uptick in hiring for 2024, crediting initiatives like higher salaries and faster licensure, but hundreds of classrooms still lack a qualified teacher at the helm.
• Districts are struggling to find certified teachers and often resort to larger class sizes, canceled courses, or hiring substitutes and those with emergency credentials. The teacher shortage is not a distant threat – it’s a present reality affecting student learning every day.

A Long-Term Solution Your District Can Benefit From

While there’s no overnight fix for the teacher shortage, there is a sustainable strategy gaining momentum: Grow Your Own teacher programs. “Grow Your Own” (GYO) initiatives, such as those supported by Educators Rising, focus on developing local talent by encouraging students and community members to become educators. Instead of relying solely on external hiring, districts cultivate future teachers from within – often starting in high school or college – and support them through the training pipeline. This homegrown approach offers multiple benefits and a promising long-term solution:

• Build from within: Grow Your Own programs create a steady feeder system of future teachers from the community. For example, high schools with Educators Rising chapters offer courses and chapters that get students interested in teaching careers.
• Higher Retention & Commitment: Teachers who come up through GYO programs tend to stay longer in the district. They already have roots in the community and schools, which translates into stronger commitment and lower attrition. Districts report that “grow-your-own” candidates, having been mentored and trained locally, feel invested in the district’s mission and are less likely to leave after a year or two. This helps break the costly cycle of constant turnover. By nurturing your own students into teachers, you’re effectively growing the next generation of staff who are loyal to your schools.
• Quality Preparation: Homegrown doesn’t mean lower quality – in fact, it can mean the opposite. Data on Educators Rising participants show that they enter the profession better prepared. In a recent study, high school students who went through Educators Rising scored 14 points higher on the Praxis teacher licensing exams (on average) compared to the national averages.
• Filling High-Need Areas: Grow Your Own pathways can be tailored to shortage areas like STEM, special education, or bilingual education. For instance, a district facing a special ed teacher gap can start an Educators Rising strand focused on special education, steering interested students into that field. Because the program is local, it often attracts individuals who want to serve their community in these high-need roles. This strategy produces candidates already interested in the hard-to-fill subjects. Districts can essentially “grow” the exact teachers they need, whether it’s more science teachers, math teachers, or others. Over time, this reduces reliance on emergency certified staff because you have qualified graduates ready to step into those roles.

In summary, Grow Your Own programs offer a strategic, community-centered solution to teacher shortages. They turn today’s students into tomorrow’s teachers, strengthening the pipeline and increasing teacher retention in one stroke. Districts that embrace this approach can cultivate passionate, qualified educators who are committed to their hometown classrooms. Instead of scrambling each year to find talent, you’ll be able to hire graduates who have been preparing to teach in your district for years. The payoff is a sustainable workforce of homegrown teachers – a solution that benefits schools, students, and the entire community in the long run.