Sky Not Falling – At Least Not Yet

Matt Barnum on the “massive” teacher shortages:

Ultimately, Goldhaber argues, the conversation about teacher shortages and staffing challenges should shift from concern about nationwide shortages to persistent challenges in specific schools and subjects.

“Talking about this in a generic way does not move the debate forward,” said Goldhaber. “It does not point policymakers toward the problems that exist even when people are not talking about this issue.”

This 2019 Bellwether analysis from the before times gets at the lack of nuance in how we talk about teacher shortages relative to the data – for obvious political reasons. Part of the latest hype is the opening bid in what to do with all the federal money hitting school districts soon. The ARPA is creating a Dawson City and a lot of people want to sell picks and shovels.