In a recent article on The74.com, Chad Alderman of Bellweather Education Partners said that on a national level there are signals that the teacher shortage may be abating.
To eliminate any confusion about the Florida situation, I am posting plots of the best measurement of which I am aware of new teachers entering the pipeline – first-time examinees for the Florida’s teacher certification tests (FTCE) – in four areas. The four areas are English, math, social science and elementary education. The data are taken from reports on the FTCE exams posted by the Florida Department of Education.
The plots show the numbers of candidates taking and passing each exam. The Elementary Education exam has four sections. I am showing only the number of candidates passing the math section, but the numbers passing the other three sections (language arts, social sciences, natural science) are similar.
The English exam has two sections – one multiple choice and the other writing. The numbers of first-time examinees passing each are shown.
The plots for social science and math go back to 2013, which is the earliest for which I have data. The English and Elementary Education plots start in 2015, when new formats for both were fully implemented.
Bridge to Tomorrow 