Leverage Community Colleges to Address The Teacher Shortage

Dr. Hans Andrews and William Marzano

Schools across America have reported difficulty finding an adequate supply of qualified and effective teachers .1 While this has been a muchdiscussed problem for years, the pandemic has exacerbated it. 2 Meanwhile, during the past decade, enrollment in teacher preparation programs has substantially declined, in terms of both absolute numbers and racial diversity. According to the Center for American Progress, enrollment in teacher preparation programs has decreased by about a third in the past decade. 3 And even as the American student population is becoming increasingly diverse, researchers have found that Black and Latino enrollment in teacher preparation has decreased by about a quarter.4

States have largely responded to this problem by trying to create legislative “patches.” Illinois passed a law extending the state “sunset” for pensions to allow retired teachers to return to teaching without harming their pension benefits.5 Michigan passed a bill that enabled janitors, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers to replace teachers in classes that school districts had difficulty adequately staffing.6

Other states have been more creative and dynamic. As has been profiled in a previous AEI Conservative Education Reform Network report, Arizona overhauled its teacher licensure system to put school districts in the driver’s seat for hiring new staff. 7 And Tennessee created a first-of-its-

kind permanent teacher apprenticeship program leveraging federal workforce development grants.8 While these are steps in the right direction, state policymakers have largely left one huge tool for teacher training on the table: local community colleges.

Critics of teachers colleges have pointed out the relatively weak evidence suggesting that teacher preparation programs provide much of a substantial benefit. 9 Furthermore, in an era increasingly defined by cultural clashes, some have pointed at teachers colleges as a driver of ideological inculcation.10 But the push to simply tear down licensure systems and put everything in the schools’ hands faces two problems that advocates of licensure reform have inadequately considered: Practically, schools may be reticent to transition to “growing their own.” Politically, there is a clear constituency against eliminating the de facto monopoly held by teachers colleges but no clear constituency in favor of it.

Community colleges are perfectly suited to step into the void. Situated far closer—both geographically and sociologically—to traditional public schools than traditional four-year universities, they are perfectly positioned to partner with school districts to assist in teacher preparation in various ways.

One way is simply allowing community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees in education. Currently, two dozen states permit their community colleges to offer BAs. Efforts to expand the degree-granting authority of community colleges can frequently face substantial legislative hurdles. For example, in Illinois, the Council of Community College Presidents approved a recommendation in January 2017 to allow its colleges to grant baccalaureate degrees in nursing. Two years and many amendments later, a bill providing community colleges this authority failed in the Illinois Senate.11 But most legislation that provides baccalaureate-granting authority to community colleges still provides four-year university systems with the authority of deciding which degrees community college systems may grant.

While providing community colleges with the ability to grant baccalaureate degrees in teaching should appeal to conservatives, it’s not necessarily a “red” or a “blue” idea. Indeed, California and Florida, two seemingly political polar opposites, have done the most to pioneer this capacity.

California was one of the first states to set up a pilot program (Senate Bill 850) for community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees.12 And a significant number of community colleges in Florida are presently offering baccalaureate degrees in education.13

California and Florida have both documented that over half the students in their program would not otherwise have pursued a bachelor’s degree. Tuition for all four years costs just over $10,500 in

the California programs.14 Most of the students in these programs found the baccalaureate offerings met their needs, as they were “place bound” with family and work commitments.

Whether you care more about social justice, liberty, or efficiency, these are clear wins. It lowers the socioeconomic bar to teaching, providing people who can’t necessarily afford to move away from home for four years for various reasons a pathway into the classroom. And it does so at a fraction of the cost of traditional four-year universities.

Community colleges also bring other particular assets to the table regarding teacher preparation. Community colleges frequently partner with local high schools on dual enrollment and career and technical education programs. It would be easy to foster a school-to-school pipeline—helping high school juniors and seniors get a head start on teacher preparation programs, defraying the cost and enabling them to explore an interest in teaching in a low-stakes setting. Beyond that point, community colleges and school districts could collaborate in creative ways, if policymakers give them the flexibility. For example, schools could allow individuals who have received an associate degree to enter the classroom as a teacher assistant while they continue to work toward their baccalaureate degree in the evening.

Community colleges could also provide a path to the classroom for more experienced professionals with extensive issue-area expertise. It is not uncommon to hear complaints such as “I have a PhD in English, but they won’t let me teach middle school” or “I’m literally a rocket scientist, but they won’t let me teach physics.” School districts could partner with community colleges to offer (continued on pg 26)

initial training and ongoing assistance to people who transition into the teacher workforce from accomplished careers.

The arguments in favor of enabling community colleges to train teachers are manifold. It would lower the socioeconomic barrier to entry, decrease the cost of teacher training to prospective students and taxpayers, enable young professionals to enter the teaching workforce more seamlessly, and provide experienced professionals easier entry. What are the arguments against this? Well, the teachers colleges wouldn’t like it. It seems to us like the proper policy course should be clear: Give community colleges a seat at the table regarding teacher preparation.

Read the full report.