Even with Jacksonville State

University located in our county we

still have difficulty locating
enough Physical Science and
Mathematics teachers. As much as
we believe the changes to
emergency certification will help in
this area there are still very few to
no candidates in math, science,
and special education.
We are now beginning to see
deficits in numbers of elementary
candidates. Unless we address this
crisis in a way that encourages and
creates a pool of applicants we are
merely exacerbating the problem
in districts that are already
experiencing shortages.
– Jeff Goodwin,
Superintendent,
Oxford City Schools

Ensuring a vibrant educator

pipeline should be the foundation Contents
of Alabama’s workforce
Alabama Teacher Shortage Task Force 2
development efforts.
Failure to lead in this area risks Scope of the Problem 3
success in all others. Task Force Recommendations 4
– Sally Smith, Recruitment 4
Executive Director, Retention 5
Alabama Association of
Conclusion 6
School Boards
Meeting Dates and Topics 6
References 7

I currently have one certified math

teacher in the entire system.
– John Heard,
Superintendent,
Perry County Schools
Alabama Teacher Shortage Task Force
The Alabama Teacher Shortage Task Force was established by Alabama State Superintendent
Dr. Eric Mackey to explore the reasons for the teacher shortage in Alabama and to make
recommendations to increase the quantity and quality of applicants for Alabama public schools.
The 18-member Task Force is comprised of local superintendents from across the state as well as
representatives from education associations. The superintendents represent small, large, rural and
urban school systems, as well as each of Alabama’s eight school board districts.
The Task Force adopted the following mission statement: “To develop short-term and long-
term recommendations to increase the quantity and quality of teacher applicants in our
state.” The task force met once a month beginning in January, 2019. Each meeting included
presentations to provide the task force a better understanding of the teacher shortage in
Alabama, tools and programs that could be implemented to help monitor the shortage, and
possible solutions.

Alabama Teacher Shortage Task Force

• Chuck Marcum – Roanoke City Schools Superintendent - Chairman
• Karen DeLano – Auburn City Schools Superintendent
• Mark Dixon, President - A+ Education Partnership
• Caroline Novak, Retired President - A+ Education Partnership
• Pamela Fossett – Education Policy and Professional Practice Manager, Alabama Education Association
• Jeff Goodwin – Oxford City Schools Superintendent
• John Heard – Perry County Schools Superintendent
• Lisa Herring – Birmingham City Schools Superintendent
• Ryan Hollingsworth – Executive Director, School Superintendents of Alabama
• Suzanne Lacey – Talladega County Schools Superintendent
• Jeff Langham – Chief of Staff, ALSDE
• Amy Marlowe – Interim Executive Director, Alabama Education Association
• Matt Massey – Madison County Schools Superintendent
• Susan McKim – Professional Learning, ALSDE
• Nick Moore – Governor’s Office
• Sally Smith – Executive Director, Alabama Association of School Boards
• Ted Watson – Andalusia Schools Superintendent
• Ann West – Marion County Schools Superintendent
• Vic Wilson – Executive Director, Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools

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Scope of the Problem
Throughout the nation, there is a teacher shortage, and Alabama is no exception. The teacher
shortage in Alabama is a real and growing problem. As noted by the Education Commission of the
States (ECS Teacher Shortage Series, May 2016) research indicates that teacher shortages are often
specific to subject areas. The same is true for Alabama, with the shortages being most critical in
math, science, and special education. Additionally, shortages are beginning to occur in elementary
schools, an area that has traditionally not been affected by teacher shortages. Two school systems
have recently reported having elementary teaching positions that they cannot fill. The causes of
the teacher shortage in Alabama are complex and multi-dimensional, but can be simplified as a
dramatic decline in interest in entering the profession, a poor historic track record of retaining new
hires, and a decline in retention of veteran educators. As a result, local systems are experiencing
great difficulty locating certified teachers to fill open positions in their systems. Addressing
Alabama’s teacher shortage will not be simple, short-term, or one-dimensional. It will require a
thoughtful, multi-faceted, long-term commitment focused on both recruitment and retention.
Consider the following:

• Nearly every district in Alabama has turned to
hiring teachers on emergency or provisional
certificates, indicating that shortages are
being broadly experienced across the state
(123 of 138 districts).i
• In the 2017-2018 school year, across all grades, there
were 1,106 teachers who held emergency or
provisional certificates.ii In Grades 7-12, there were
more than 1,700 teachers who were not certified to
teach the English, math, social studies, science or
special education classes they were assigned.iii
• 30% of all classrooms are being taught by teachers
teaching out of field, having neither a major nor
a minor in the field.
• Since 2010, there has been a 40% decrease in
students completing. teacher education
programs.viii This steep decline outpaces trends at
the national level where completion rates declined
by 32% between 2010 and 2015.ix
• From 2009 to 2015, the education major enrollment
at Alabama’s public universities dropped by 19%.x

• The majority of schools in Alabama are in rural
areas and they have the largest percentage of
teachers using emergency or provisional
certificates. iv Some rural schools report that more
than 80% of their math and science classes are
taught by teachers without proper certification.v
• 8% of teachers leave the profession each year.
• Teacher salaries are worth less than they were a
decade ago after adjusting for inflation. Teachers in
Alabama are paid 72% of what college graduates in
other professions earn in the state.

• Every year since the 2004-2005 school year,
Alabama has reported to the U.S. Department of
Education shortages in foreign languages,
mathematics, science and special education,
indicating longstanding shortages in these subject
areas.vi
• Teachers who lack comprehensive preparation are 2
to 3 times more likely to leave teaching in their
early years than those who are fully prepared.vii
• Last year, on the ACT, only 4% of high school
juniors taking the test indicated they would
consider teaching as a career, down from 12%
only four years ago.
• Only 523 secondary first time teaching
certificates were issued in Alabama in the
2017-2018 school year.

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Recommendations by the Task Force
The task force recommendations are grouped around the strategies of improving efforts to recruit
individuals to the teaching profession and measures to keep educators working in education for
their entire career.
Recruitment
1) Extend Emergency Certificate from 12 months to
24 months. (Recommendation was approved by
the legislature during 2019 session and signed
into law by Governor Ivey.)
2) Pilot project iteach for science, math and special
education teachers. (iteach is a competency-
based educator preparation program that
combines the convenience of online learning with
the support of face-to-face mentorship. edTPA
will not be a requirement.)
3) Increase teacher salaries to a level comparable to
other professionals requiring similar credentials.
4) Develop a sliding scale for different areas of
certification on Praxis assessment. Obtained
scores will determine subject areas that could or
could not be taught.
5) Create a pathway for students to graduate with
an “Educational Studies Degree” that does not
require a qualifying Praxis score. These students
would be employable under an emergency
certificate where they can continue the
certification process. (Athens State has a current
program for this.)
6) Create scholarships and maintain loan forgiveness
programs to encourage students to choose a
career in education.
7) Allow individuals to begin the process for
provisional certification without a
superintendent’s recommendation.
8) Extend provisional certificates from one year to
two years and continue to allow an individual to
obtain three provisional certificates.
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9) Allow work experience to be used in lieu of
course work for critical needs academic subjects
(i.e., applying career tech model for engineer
pursuing certification in math.).
10) Support the continued growth of Teach for
America in Alabama as one pipeline to recruit the
best and the brightest to become teachers in
hard-to-staff districts. Provide additional state
funding to help school districts with local funds
11) Provide significant incentives for certified
teachers to teach in high need areas and hard to
staff areas.
12) Create and promote dual enrollment programs
for high school students who are potential
teacher candidates.
13) Create a multifaceted public relations strategy to
promote teaching as a career in Alabama.
14) Promote Future Teachers of Alabama (FTA)
throughout Alabama’s high schools.
15) In order to streamline Alabama’s teacher
certification process, fully review the process at
the ALSDE to identify opportunities to create
efficiencies, increase capacity where needed, and
put the entire process online.
16) Develop a statewide data dashboard to provide
real-time data to higher education, ALSDE and
LEAs on educator pipeline (i.e., North Carolina
model).
17) Create a P-6 special education certificate,
combining early and elementary education
where allowable.
Recommendations by the Task Force (continued)
Recruitment
18) Establish absolute reciprocity with other states.
19) Reconsider the requirement of edTPA for teacher
certification, pending evaluation of its
effectiveness.
20) Provide incentives to entice retired teachers to
return to work.
21) Utilize veteran teachers in recruiting the next
generation of Alabama teachers.
Retention
1) Create a Tier III retirement plan as an option to
replace Tier II in order to recruit and retain
teachers and all education employees.
2) Review structure of the existing salary matrix
to increase salary at different stages in a
teacher’s career.
3) Make National Board Certification bonus
equivalent to the amount received for a master’s
degree on the state salary matrix.
4) Pilot the Professional Pathways program
recommended by the Governor's Commission
on Quality Teaching to create career pathways
that incentivize our best teachers to remain in
the classroom.
5) Provide opportunities for high quality induction,
mentoring and professional development.
6) Develop strategies to deal with mental health
issues of students.
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22) Allow certified teachers to pass the Praxis for
additional field certification without having
taught two years at the particular grade level.
23) Explore creating a pre-apprenticeship program
and an industry-recognized apprenticeship
program (IRAP), recognized by the Alabama
Office of Apprenticeship and sponsored by a
consortium of education stakeholder groups, to
facilitate accelerated completion of an educator
preparation through dual enrollment and
shadowing mentor in-service teachers.
7) Strive to adopt culture, climate, and
benefit models to better align with the
Millennial’s lifestyle.
8) Create a task force of teacher leaders to develop
recommendations on how to improve school
culture/working conditions.
9) Promote loan forgiveness for teachers in areas of
critical need.
10) Expand the existing Alabama teacher mentoring
program to include two years of mentoring for
every new teacher and require high quality
training of mentors in order to receive funding
for the $1000 mentor stipend.
Conclusion
Addressing the state’s teacher shortage challenge is clearly multi-faceted. It is the hope of this task
force that these recommendations will result in dialogue that ultimately leads to our mission
statement being fulfilled. When systems in our state have an “increase in the quantity and quality
of teacher applicants,” the end result will be an improved education for the students of Alabama
and ultimately will improve the quality of life for residents of our state.
The ALSDE is continuing to work diligently with many experts and practitioners around the
state to find ways to combat our current teacher shortage crisis. The meetings of the Teacher
Shortage Taskforce have been informative and fruitful. It is now time for state leaders to work
together to implement solutions to not only increase the number of teachers licensed and retained
in Alabama, but to improve the quality of our teaching workforce.
State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey has created the Teacher Quantity and Quality
Roundtable (TQ2) to continue the work begun by the Alabama Teacher Shortage Taskforce.
This roundtable will be a solution-oriented, action-planning group comprised of a limited number
of stakeholders and policymakers. This will not be a taskforce slated with putting together a list of
recommendations. Rather, the TQ2 roundtable will find and vet policy solutions and create plans to
see them through. The roundtable will be facilitated by a team of experienced policy advisors and
researchers from the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). SREB will also provide financial
assistance through grants to support the roundtable meetings and customized research.
The roundtable will meet in-person for six one-day meetings over the course of the next year, with
the first meeting to be held on September 30, 2019.

Meeting Dates and Topics

January 30, 2019 Teacher certification requirements and practices
February 20, 2019 Teacher recruitment and retention
March 21, 2019 College/University Deans panel discussion, educator prep programs
April 24, 2019 Education Commission of the States
May 24, 2019 Dr. Joan Lord, SREB - using a roundtable approach to develop educator
workforce strategies
June 26, 2019 Teacher and Personnel Director’s panel - Certification and Preparation Issues
July 24, 2019 iteach with Dr. Diann Huber
August 8, 2019 Presentation to Alabama State Board of Education on the work of the Alabama
Teacher Shortage Task Force
September 19, 2019 Stephen Kostyo, Policy Advisor, Learning Policy Institute

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References
i 2017-2018 Emergency and Provisional certificate Teacher Data. Montgomery, AL: Alabama State Department
of Education. https://www.alsde.edu/dept/erc/ERC%20Other%20Data/Teacher%20Certification-
Emergency%20and%20Provisional%20Certificate%20Teacher%20Data.pdf

ii 2017-2018 Emergency and Provisional certificate Teacher Data. Montgomery, AL: Alabama State Department
of Education. https://www.alsde.edu/dept/erc/ERC%20Other%20Data/Teacher%20Certification-
Emergency%20and%20Provisional%20Certificate%20Teacher%20Data.pdf

iii Data from Alabama Teacher Shortage Taskforce

iii 2017-2018 Emergency and Provisional certificate Teacher Data. Montgomery, AL: Alabama State Department
of Education. https://www.alsde.edu/dept/erc/ERC%20Other%20Data/Teacher%20Certification-
Emergency%20and%20Provisional%20Certificate%20Teacher%20Data.pdf

iv Crain, T. (2019). Teacher Shortage Hits hardest in Rural Alabama. https://www.al.com/news/2019/03/teacher-

shortage-hits-hardest-in-rural-alabama.html

v U.S. Department of Education. Teacher Shortage Areas Nationwide Listing.

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/bteachershortageareasreport201718.pdf

vi Ingersoll, R., Merrill, L., & May, H. (2012). Retaining teachers: How preparation matters. Educational
Leadership, 69(8), 30–34

viii Sell. M. (2019). Behind Teacher Shortage: Fewer New Educators Graduating From Alabama Schools.
Birmingham, AL: WBHM. https://wbhm.org/2019/behind-teacher-shortage-fewer-new-educators-
graduating-from-alabama-schools/

ix U.S. Department of Education. https://title2.ed.gov/Public/Home.aspx

x Sell. M. (2019). Alabama’s Teacher Shortages Reach ‘Crisis’ Level. Birmingham, AL: WBHM.
https://wbhm.org/2019/alabamas-teacher-shortages-reach-crisis-level/

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