IN CHICAGO AND IL - Too Many Teachers for Too Few Teaching Jobs?
FOR 2007-08 SCHOOL YEAR, NEARLY 25,000 CERTIFIED TEACHERS APPLIED FOR ONLY 2,000 AVAILABLE POSITIONS!
We've heard about teacher shortages across the U.S. for many years. In some locations, new teachers in public or private elementary and high schools earn far less than what those in other business-oriented positions are likely to earn.
The earnings difference comes despite the fact that becoming a teacher involves completing college - with a Bachelor's Degree at a minimum - and, often, the accompanying high student loan balance after graduation.
But now, at Career Fairs set up by the Chicago Public Schools and other districts across IL, the number of attending applicants far exceeds the number of teaching positions available. According to Diane Rado, writing in yesterday's Chicago Tribune, one recent fair on a cold Chicago winter day drew in excess of 1,000 applicants, for fewer than 100 positions available.
The Chicago Public School system is the third largest in the U.S. Over the past five years, teacher applications have doubled to teach in the system. For the current 2008-09 school year, 23,568 teachers applied. Experts, including Nancy Slavin, the Chief Recruiting Officer for CPS, attributes the spike to the poor economy, but also to a surplus of newly-trained teachers across Illinois.
Colleges and Universities in IL are graduating thousands more teachers than local school districts are hiring. According to the Illinois Department of Education, as quoted in Rado's Tribune story, the "overproduction" is highest in the social sciences - English, History, and the like. Only in specific fields, such as Bi-lingual Education, is the surplus less acute.
Slavin suggests new teachers concentrate their studies in specialized fields - such as Bi-lingual Ed or Special Education, to increase their marketability and improve their chances of quickly finding a job here.
Competition is fierce, even among teaching jobs in less affluent areas in the City of Chicago and Chicago Suburbs. The article quotes one new teacher who received her degree from the prestigious University of Chicago Urban Teaching Education Program. She graduated with a Masters in Education in 2006, and searched long and hard before finally finding a job as a First Grade Teacher.
The over-supply of teachers does not only impact Chicago. Prestigious suburban school districts, including District 203 in Naperville IL, are seeing the same oversupply.
However, as emphasized by Kavita Kapadia Matsko, who heads the University of Chicago Urban Teacher Education Program, many districts still have trouble seeking qualified applicants. "The problem is one of distribution," Matsko told Rado. ". . . there is a . . . significant need for really smart and dedicated teachers to go into challenging districts."
See Rado's Tribune story for greater detail.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
