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North Country Assemblywoman concerned with teacher shortage in North Country

Posted 2/27/17

POTSDAM -- Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne said concerns about the looming teacher shortage in the region and state prompted her recent stop at SUNY Potsdam. "The significant decrease in the number of …

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North Country Assemblywoman concerned with teacher shortage in North Country

Posted

POTSDAM -- Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne said concerns about the looming teacher shortage in the region and state prompted her recent stop at SUNY Potsdam.

"The significant decrease in the number of students majoring in education at SUNY Potsdam is posing challenges for teacher recruitment efforts at local schools and the loss of those future teacher candidates has posed challenges for SUNY Potsdam due to the drop in its enrollment numbers," Jenne said in a prepared statement.

There were 216 undergraduate education majors (childhood/early childhood and secondary) during the fall 2016 semester compared to 729 undergraduate education majors in 2010.

The number of graduate education majors this past fall, 113, is approximately half of the 225 graduate education majors that were enrolled in the graduate education program just six years ago.

Jenne said the drop in new teacher candidates is a reflection of job losses and a difficult job market in recent years as well as a political environment that has often portrayed educators in a negative light.

The teacher shortage is not an issue limited to the North Country. The Teach NY Advisory Council's report released in May 2016 revealed the onset of the Great Recession in 2009 significantly reduced the demand for elementary and secondary teachers.

School districts in the North Country eliminated hundreds of teaching positions by laying off teachers and opting not to fill positions vacated through retirements.

The Teach NY report said approximately 300,000 teachers and other school employees lost their jobs over the past decade, and education majors faced one of the worst job markets in recent history when they earned their degrees. New York was one of the states that was hardest hit by those economic challenges

Schools around the North Country and the state have started restoring positions in the past couple of years, and SUNY Potsdam said simple demographics show the demand for teachers will be growing over the next few years.

SUNY Potsdam Secondary Education Department Chair Peter Brouwer said the average age of teachers in the state is 48. "That means there will be significant turnover in the teacher workforce in the next five years," he pointed out.

Brouwer said the institution of the Common Core also impacted interest in the education field and has created issues in efforts to recruit future teachers.

"Common Core, the way it was rolled out, made it very hard. But it is not as stressful now as it was. It has become institutionalized," he pointed out.

The college's secondary education chair said he is already seeing the demand for teachers.

"One of my biggest frustrations right now is we have already been contacted about a dozen openings for math teachers, and we are only going to have three math grads this year," he noted.

Nicole Conant, assistant director of School Partnerships and Teacher Certification, said the demand for teachers is running across the curriculum.

"The North Country Region is experiencing a high demand for secondary-level teachers due to turnover and retirements. SUNY Potsdam receives many inquiries from local districts to help fill positions with our high-quality candidates," she said.

The college currently has challenges meeting that demand. SUNY Potsdam currently has 63 undergraduate and graduate education majors student teaching - 43 childhood, eight secondary science, eight secondary social studies, three secondary English, two secondary foreign language and secondary math.

The teaching degrees from SUNY schools offer graduates flexibility with selecting employment locations, with approximately 10 percent of the college's education graduates leaving the state for employment.

Brouwer said in addition to the value of working with students there are also other positives to entering the field of education.

"Teaching is essentially a job for life with stable employment and good retirement benefits," he pointed out.

Several education majors from SUNY Potsdam - most from the North Country - shared their experiences from the education program and showed their passion for their chosen career field during the roundtable with Jenne.

They ranged from lessons about the importance of diversity in the classroom that Brittany Severson of Freeport said she learned as she spent time in an elementary classroom in Massena to the opportunity Brittany Van Tassel has had to work one-on-one with students through the Adopt A Bear program at Potsdam Central.