In a growing number of Florida public school classrooms, the teachers leading the classes do not have proper certifications. The percentages of courses taught by these out-of-field teachers jumped in many subjects during the pandemic and have continued to grow since then.
The graphs below show the out-of-field percentages in fifteen certification areas from the Fall of 2017 to the Fall of 2022. These statistics were calculated from numbers made available in the Florida Department of Education High Demand Teacher Needs Areas reports (previously called Critical Teacher Shortage Areas reports) which are accepted by the State Board of Education annually.
The biggest surprise for me was the very high out-of-field percentage for English. I expected high percentages for math and the natural sciences, and for all of those subjects except biology the percentages of courses taught by out-of-field teachers during the 2022-23 school year were above 10.0%. But during that same year, the percentage of English classes taught by out-of-field teachers was 18.0%.
The out-of-field percentages in physical education and the humanities subjects (art, drama and music) are relatively low and are not increasing very much, if at all. The percentages for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), ESE (Special Education) and Reading have remained quite high.
The out-of-field percentage in elementary education is high and growing, which is particularly worrisome because students who have poor instruction in elementary school are likely to struggle later on.
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