About 25 percent of students statewide attend schools where at least 20 percent of teachers are not fully credentialed or are teaching subjects outside of their formal authorizations, according to a recent report from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). These schools were often found to serve higher shares of low-income students.
When looking at trends in district staff spending, student-teacher ratios, and teacher credentials and experience, researchers found that math and science courses are far less likely to be headed by correctly assigned and credentialed teachers. About 10 percent of secondary school students attend schools where at least 50 percent of math or at least 59 percent of science teachers are incorrectly assigned and credentialed to teach the course.
Schools with the lowest shares of correctly assigned math and science teachers were found to have student bodies where two-thirds of young people are low income.
“Policy efforts to improve teacher staffing should focus on schools that are persistently hard to staff, particularly in math and science,” the report states. “Raising starting salaries could help strengthen teacher recruitment and retention, though this would have to be balanced against other budget priorities. Also, more comprehensive staff-level data would make it easier to understand where district staffing challenges are the greatest and design targeted interventions.”
Between increasing state investment in recent years and an influx of federal funds during the pandemic, education spending has risen substantially, researchers said. Most of this additional spending has gone toward staff salaries and benefits including for teachers, student support staff, administrators, aides and other educators and operational staff. Typically, about 80 percent of school spending goes toward staff salaries and benefits with teachers representing the largest single staffing category.
“Research has documented the central role teachers play in student performance in both the short- and long-run,” according to the report. “Seeking to boost student performance, policies and strategies aimed at improving teacher preparation and district staffing levels have been ubiquitous in education policy discussions both in California and across the nation. And yet, California’s schools face growing academic, socioemotional, and fiscal challenges. Whether measured on national or state-level exams, the state’s students have not recovered from the pandemic. … Gaps across student groups and performance levels have also widened.”
Researchers point to several reasons for the disconnect:
- While statewide student-teacher ratios and teacher credentials have improved modestly over the past decade, so has the share of inexperienced teachers, particularly in high-need schools.
- Many schools report trouble filling positions with qualified and experienced educators, but affluent schools are able to offer higher salaries that attract teachers with more education and experience.
- Teachers in high-need districts, which receive additional targeted funding, were more likely to have full credentials but were also more likely to be novices than those in districts that enrolled fewer high-need students.
- Inflation-adjusted salaries have increased for the average teacher, but starting salaries are no higher than they were in the early 2000s. Salaries for teachers are also lower than other college-educated workers and have grown more slowly.
Recommendations
The report listed several recommendations, including:
- Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) increases in higher-need districts have had little impact on many teacher staffing metrics. Prior research has found improved student outcomes due to LCFF spending, but policymakers should consider more specific and comprehensive ways to further improve the teaching workforce and address staffing shortages.
- Efforts to address teacher staffing challenges that are tailored to specific schools — such as those in lower-income communities serving higher-need students — could be more effective than broad, statewide solutions.
- Addressing lagging teacher salaries could help improve staffing metrics. Efforts to improve teacher staffing and bolster retention — especially at hard-to-staff schools — may require offering higher salaries. However, higher salaries would require tradeoffs such as larger class sizes, fewer non-classroom staff or other reductions in student services if not supported by additional funding.
