Snapshot of The Teaching Profession – 10 Demographic and PD Data Points Data taken from largest and most comprehensive source of information on teachers – School and Staffing Survey (SASS) and Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS,50,000 educators across diverse settings). Richard Ingersoll, Upenn; and Learning in the Learning Profession by Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford

#1 Huge increase in teaching force Student enrollment increased 19% while teaching force grew 48% Why? Class size reduction, growth of special education linked to IDEA, increase in elementary enrichment (art, music, etc), HS grad requirements The Ballooning Teaching Force, to

#2 - Teaching Force becomes older— and younger 1987 – mode age 41; 2007/8 – mode = /12 – retirement will reach peak Gen Y teachers (born between ) have doubled in 4 years and now account for 1/5 of teaching population

#3 – Teaching force is becoming less stable Between 12-15% (28% increase since early 90’s) turnover every year 45% of all public school teacher turnover took place in ¼ of public schools

#4 Holding steady in academic abilities In 2007/8 – fewer than 10% of first year teachers graduated from “most competitive” or “highly competitive” colleges (top 2 tiers). 25% of first year teachers graduated from less competitive or not competitive colleges (bottom 2 tiers). #5 Alternate certification programs now produce about 20% of teachers in the US 49 states have alternate cert programs; varies by region

#6 Teaching Force is becoming more female- dominated 76% in 2007/8; if trend continues than it will reach 80% by 2012 #7 Teachers spend about 80% of their total working time teaching students By contrast most teachers in European and Asian countries spend 60% of their total working time teaching students #8 Teachers spend about 3-5 hours per week lesson planning Usually scheduled independently By contrast, most teachers in European and Asian countries spend hours per week in collaborative lesson planning

#9 95% of teachers have participated in formal professional development (workshops, conferences or training sessions) in the past year. 25% observed another teacher as part of PD. #10 Teachers top priorities for additional PD 1 – Content-specific expertise in subject taught 2 – Classroom management 3 – Differentiated Instruction strategies 4 – Use of technology (with students) 5 – Content standards