The Changing Face of the Teaching Force: 1987 to 2012

• In Event: Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: Policy, Social, and Organizational Contexts of Teachers

Abstract

Has the elementary and secondary teaching force changed in recent decades? Have the types and kinds of individuals going into teaching changed? This paper presents results from a research project, utilizing the best large-scale national data available to examine, and to discuss the policy implications of, demographic trends and changes in the teaching force from 1987 to 2012. Our data source is the National Center for Education Statistics’ nationally representative Schools and Staffing Survey. Our analyses show that the teaching force has been greatly changing; it has ballooned in size, is less experienced, is more female, is more diverse by race-ethnicity, and is less stable.

Authors

• Richard Ingersoll, University of Pennsylvania

• Lisa Merrill, Research Alliance for New York City Schools