Reforms could ease teacher shortage

Teacher shortages are a nationwide phenomenon, a fact that is hardly news.

The U.S. Department of Education has logged shortages in specific subject areas going back a quarter century. And with more baby-boom generation teachers leaving the field for retirement each year, it’s likely to remain a challenge for years to come.

None of that alters the concern parents feel right now for their own young students, and what they may miss if their instruction is less than optimal.

The educational system must focus on mitigating this long-term problem with short-term improvements, for the sake of each cohort of children moving through their academic programs each school year.

Hawaii faces its own host of problems. A high cost of living not sufficiently offset by salary is one, paired with inadequate school facilities that hinder the teaching process.

Perhaps these issues help explain why fewer homegrown teachers are coming through traditional training channels.

And for those who must be brought in from elsewhere, there are cultural barriers as well.

Efforts are already being made to widen the pipeline for teachers entering the profession here — and these efforts must accelerate.

Looking beyond the immediate slots that must be filled each year, policymakers should consider ways to improve the working conditions and pay of teachers for the long term.

Calling teaching a noble profession is an empty gesture unless it’s assigned the value it deserves.

This school year began with the annual push to fill vacancies.

In the weeks leading up to the start of classes, the majority does get filled, according to state Department of Education: A July count of some 1,600 openings was down to 483 by Aug. 16.

However, the Hawaii State Teachers Association is right to be concerned that there is such a crunch time at all.

And it rightly worries that many posts are filled, some for extended periods, by emergency hires and by the state’s 4,200 registered substitute teachers.

Some educators have said there has been improvement, pointing to a period a decade ago when the number of emergency hires was even higher than it is now. Regardless, Hawaii is a long way from having this problem in hand.

And while there is some progress being made to provide alternative routes toward a teaching credential, much more work needs to be done.

The Hawaii Teacher Standards Board (HTSB) is the agency that issues teaching certification in the specific fields of instruction, certificates required for a permanent placement in a classroom.

Increasingly there is recognition that alternative routes to a credential are needed.

This is happening nationally: Florida, where there is a critical teacher shortage, has enabled online licensure tracks, transferral of out-of-state licenses and other strategies that bear watching.

In this state, a task force is looking anew at certification requirements, given the advent of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which will be implemented fully for the 2017-18 school year.

Alternative ways of fulfilling requirements need to be part of that picture.

Fortunately, the University of Hawaii College of Education has developed ways of crediting two-year associate degrees toward the bachelor’s required to teach professionally.

UH also is expanding outreach to emergency hires already in classrooms. These new teachers can use classroom experience as partial fulfillment of requirements, and enroll in courses offered on-site or long-distance to help them complete their studies.

These efforts should be encouraged, not only at UH but at all public and private institutions that engage in teacher education.

For its part, the HTSB has formed a working group that is developing new alternative courses as well.

The fact that the teaching profession attracts too few candidates is a societal failing across the U.S. There are other nations where this is not the case: Finland is a favorite example of a country where the education system is an unqualified success, where there is competition to enter the profession, and where it’s compensated accordingly.

Finding the cure for the American public school system is a long-term endeavor.

Just as important, Hawaii must find ways to staff the classrooms of today with better trained, well prepared teachers.

The children sitting in those classrooms need our help — immediately.