The Nationwide Teacher Shortage: Factors Influencing Educators to Leave the Profession

This senior capstone research examines the nationwide teacher shortage, which has been apparent in America since the early 1960’s. However, this crisis did not begin to reach such levels of severity until recent years. There are currently thousands of vacancies in the teaching profession nationwide; not a single school across the nation is able to fill all the gaps. Research reveals that factors such as low salary, maltreatment from administrators, students, and parents, classroom safety concerns, a lack of teacher autonomy, and an overall societal disrespect for the profession can be to blame for this high resignation period. As these factors continue to plague the profession, administrators and state boards nationwide scramble to create solutions and resources to both retain current educators, and recruit fresh teachers. However, without quick, effective action, the shortage will continue to crumble America’s public education system