Schools across the United States are struggling to cope with the vacant positions of teachers. While the situation is really very bad in rural and poverty ridden school districts it is almost equally bad in other parts of the country. There is a dearth of qualified and trained teachers that is posing a serious threat to the education system of the country. The demand for teachers is on the rise for two reasons – increase in the number of students and a significant reduction in the resources pipeline of teachers. The count of teachers in 2011 was 3.3 million and the growth rate is expected to be pegged at 13 percent through 2018. Therefore, it is no wonder that more teachers are needed in 2015.

Chronic Shortage:
Besides the overall shortage there is chronic shortages of teachers in various categories that are subject specific. The overall picture can be understood from some numbers given below.

• It begins with pre-school education that is ranked at 15th in the world in teacher student ratio, with considerable shortfall in supply of qualified pre-Kindergarten teachers.
• Scarcity of teachers for special education affects 49 of the 50 states of the country.
• On the supply front, the colleges for education find it very difficult to produce teachers of science and mathematics in double digits.
• Only 10 percent of school districts in the high poverty areas can manage to recruit qualified teachers.

Diverse Talent Pools:
It has been observed that the schools perform at their best levels when they have access to teachers from diverse talent pools. Teachers made available from various teacher preparation programs are the best candidates for imparting quality education and align with the philosophy and culture of schools with ease. But unfortunately, this has not happened. Hence the necessity of building pipelines to make up for quality teachers.

Apathetic Youth:
The supply pipeline of resources for teachers have been throttled for quite some time due to the apathy of the average educated youth to pursue the profession of teacher. Teaching is a challenging profession that is rewarding too. Despite admitting this fact, youths do not find enough motivation to take up teaching as a career. The lessons of the financial meltdown have made the younger generation look for occupations that are financially stable and sustainable. The misery is further compounded by the district budgets that are filled with uncertainties and the ongoing education dialogues of the public.

The Way Forward:
The problem has to be addressed from a more discernable depth that unlocks the supply line by motivating the youth to take up the noble profession of teaching that can be joyful and challenging. The focus has to be centered on preparing teachers, supporting them and developing a sense of community that is essential to sustain them in the profession. A healthy pipeline of qualified and motivated teachers is the only answer to the problem.
The education fraternity has to take the responsibility of creating environments that attract the youth to teaching and support them in continuous development.