New research: Policies that aim to increase the supply of teachers may also lower teacher pay, thereby perpetuating the cycle of teacher shortages

 

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Context and Background

Teaching has historically been a licensed profession in which a limited number of schools of education were typically housed in universities and offered a traditional path to certification (Kleiner, 2000). However, 30 years of documented teacher shortages in the United States resulted in federal and state policies that reduce barriers to teacher licensure (Cross, 2017). The goal of these policies is to create a larger pool of new teachers in less time than it typically takes schools of education to produce teachers. Nonunion (also called right-to-work) states are states in which teacher union bargaining is prohibited by state constitutions. Those states have consistently ratified policies that open new pathways to teacher licensure (Guthery, 2018).

In 2001, the Texas State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC), which establishes teacher preparation and certification requirements, reduced the mandatory number of contact hours for teacher candidates to generate more teacher licensure programs (May et al., 2003). By reducing that number of required contact hours, the policy change facilitated the proliferation of alternative licensure programs and has consequently increased the number of new teachers with alternative licensure (Baines et al., 2001; May et al., 2003; Walsh & Jacobs, 2007).

Previous studies have examined the effects of instituting teacher licensure exams and found that increased credentialing barriers resulted in higher wages for new teachers (Angrist & Guryan, 2008; Goldhaber & Hansen, 2010). Collectively, these studies assert that when states increase barriers to teacher licensure, the number of newly licensed teachers decreases. In turn, this decrease of newly licensed teachers generates more competition among districts to hire fewer available people and tends to drive up wages. Our study considers the opposite: the consequences for wages when reduced preparation and licensure requirements make it easier—rather than harder—to enter the teaching profession. Specifically, we investigate what happens when a teaching license becomes more obtainable and the profession less restrictive. Previous research on licensed professions has found that licensed professionals were paid more for their skill set than were equivalent professionals in nonlicensed fields because the institution of licensure serves as a barrier and regulates the number of people in the profession, thus protecting the higher wages (Kleiner, 2000).

This study investigates whether reduced barriers to entry and the resultant increase in teacher supply influenced salaries for elementary Texas educators. We examine the implementation of a policy in 2001 (SBEC, 1999) that expands alternative licensure and its effects for wages among new Elementary (EC-6) teachers, the most commonly produced category of new teacher in Texas. We find that the 2001 Texas policy is associated with attenuated pay for all EC-6 new teachers. We also find that, prior to the implementation of the policy, districts that hired more than 50% of their new teachers with alternative licensure were paying higher salaries relative to other districts. However, following the institution of the policy, the districts that hired 50% or more alternatively licensed teachers (ALTs) experienced stagnated teacher pay in real dollars, and the districts that hired less than 10% ALTs increased teacher pay.

Purposes and Consequences of Alternative Teacher Licensure

Texas has established numerous forms of alternative licensure to expand the supply of licensed teachers; by the 2016–2017 school year, 55% of new teacher licenses in Texas were issued through alternative pathways (Rubiera, 2018). In addition, Texas initiated several policies that deregulate teacher licensure, and similar policies are now in effect in many states throughout the country (Feistritzer et al., 2011; Walsh & Jacobs, 2007). The following section reviews the rationale for instituting alternative routes to teacher licensure, addresses changes in the teacher supply attributable to alternative licensure, and concludes by discussing potential consequences of alternative licensure policies.

Meeting a Need Through Alternative Licensure

The practice of licensing and then certifying American teachers dates to the colonial era; however, the rise of compulsory schooling and the proliferation of schools of education resulted in teaching being a licensed profession by the 20th century (Tyack, 1974). Under this system, a limited number of preparation programs run by universities—now known as traditional schools of education—were grantors of teacher licenses (Kleiner, 2000). As in other licensed fields (e.g., medicine or law), teacher certifications and licenses aimed to achieve two interrelated objectives. First, they ensured the quality of teachers educating students; the need for teacher quality was premised on the idea that teacher training was related to student outcomes. Second, licensure protected the profession of education from unfair competition and from “unethical, incompetent, or improperly prepared teachers” (LaBue, 1960, p. 148).

However, by the 1980s, critics were arguing that the certification rules governing university teacher preparation programs were also inhibiting the overall production of new teachers. School districts that served minoritized and economically disadvantaged students reported particular trouble hiring and retaining qualified teachers (Heilig et al., 2010). Moreover, teacher shortages became particularly acute in areas of critical need, such as bilingual education, computer science, science, mathematics, and special education—and some of these shortages had extended for decades (Cross, 2017). These long-standing critical shortages were used to justify the more rapid production of teachers (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board [THECB], 2002). Traditional institutions of higher education were blamed for the bottleneck in teacher production, and so in 1983, New Jersey created the first alternative licensing program that was designed to license new teachers without requiring traditional university preparation (Walsh & Jacobs, 2007). Over the next 2 decades, alternative licensure was widely adopted throughout the United States.

By 2000, alternative teacher licensure was permitted in Texas, but not widespread. However, in August 2001, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board issued a memorandum stating that the number of contact hours for alternative licensure required by the SBEC were guidelines rather than rules (THECB, 2001). That wording change was significant because it allowed alternative teacher licensure programs to reduce their program length, while the length of traditional (university-based) preparation programs remained fixed. The subsequent 2001 legislative change made Texas one of three states that did not require a practical classroom component (e.g., student teaching) for teacher preparation toward licensure (Baines et al., 2001). The reduced requirements for teacher preparation would have a profound effect on the teacher labor market in Texas; specifically, the policy change created the pathway for the majority of teachers to obtain an alternative license throughout the state (Smith, 2021).