Lack Of Teachers Affect Education Quality

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Around the nation, hundreds of schools are facing the common major issue of teacher shortages. The alarmingly low amount of teachers in the U.S. creates the debate of whether or not students are receiving a quality education. “‘It’s a crisis’ says Bill McDiarmed, dean of the University of North Carolina School of Education. ‘I don’t know who will be teaching kids in the future’” (DeNisco 1). Oklahoma has a plethora of teacher shortage areas, which could be part of the reason why Oklahoma is ranked 48th in National Education (Robson 1). Shortage areas in the sooner state range a large variety of subjects for the 2015-16 school year alone, including, but not limited to: art, elementary education, foreign language, math, music, physical education/health, science, social studies, and special education (Clement 125). Why do educators participate in early termination? How does the lack of teachers affect education quality? What is Oklahoma doing to recruit and replace empty positions? If Oklahoma does not fix its teacher shortage soon, education in the sooner state will continue to spiral downward into failure. This analysis of Oklahoma teacher shortages will evaluate the reasons teachers quit, the effect of their absence, and the various ways their positions are attempted to be filled.
First, there are several reasons as to why teachers quit. An enormous factor contributing to this issue is pay. Oklahoma teachers receive extremely low wages. In a study conducted by Tulsa World, it is evident that Oklahoma educators, in comparison to neighboring states, not only start with a smaller salary, but continue to receive a lower average pay even with five years of experience, as reflected by data from Tulsa Public Schools (TPS), Coffeyville,...

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...nding states for a higher salary. Their absence creates many issues, primarily affecting the quality of education in the sooner state. As Oklahoma attempts to fill and refill positions, they are failing, predominantly because teachers in Oklahoma lack a realistic salary. They attempt to unsuccessfully resolve this issue through the use of emergency certification. Holdenville superintendent Randy Davenport comments “‘I’m really afraid that we’re just at the beginning of the teacher shortage crisis, and this will take more than a short-term fix... We are a long way from this crisis being over’” (Watson 8). Davenport makes an excellent point. Oklahoma simply needs to fix this issue by raising the wages for educators. If Oklahomans want to improve from being the 48th in education, they will have to start understanding and recognizing the true value of quality teachers.

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