Title
Authorizing the Committee on Education to conduct hearings concerning the factors affecting teacher recruitment and retention in the School District of Philadelphia.
Body
WHEREAS, The United States is facing a crisis due to a shortage of certified teachers, with recent reports from the Learning Policy Institute identifying the problem as being most acute in high-poverty schools with concentrations of students of color, and disproportionately affecting key disciplines including special education, math and science, bilingual and ESOL instruction; and
WHEREAS, The teacher shortage reflects a breakdown in the recruitment and retention of teachers of color, who make up a decreasing proportion of the teacher workforce, despite growth in the numbers of students of color; and
WHEREAS, Teacher vacancies result in a loss of vital instructional time for students and also a disruption of the entire school community and reduction in the quality of instruction when teachers abruptly come or leave in the middle of the school year; and
WHEREAS, Teacher attrition rates and significant drops in enrollment and graduation from teacher-preparation programs are both central causes of the current and projected teacher shortages; and
WHEREAS, These shortages have been driven by increased teacher dissatisfaction, linked to sustained budget cuts that affect both teacher compensation and the resources available in classrooms as well as increased pressures from high-stakes testing regimes and politicized attacks on the teaching profession; and
WHEREAS, The national teacher shortage crisis is acutely reflected in Pennsylvania, where the number of teaching certificates awarded has plummeted over 60% in recent years, from 18,590 certificates in 2013 to only 7,180 in 2015; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia has seen persistent teacher vacancies, with hundreds of vacancies over the past several years that resulted in thousands of students denied a certified teacher for sign...
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