Concerns arise over quality. Concerns arise over quality. When Mark Cerja gives his spiel on the benefits of working for the Fort Worth public schools, he comes off like P.T. Barnum with a pointer. The Fort Worth public school system's approach to hiring bespeaks a new aggressiveness by districts across the land in the pursuit of classroom instructors. It's an assertiveness that is common in the high-tech and other fields, but is more foreign to the genteel world of teacher recruiting.
Districts have good reason to act.
For teachers, the current shortage means more bargaining power and a higher standard of living. For schools, it may mean bringing in teachers with fewer qualifications. In some ways, the current shortage mirrors the one that occurred in the 1950s, when the tidal wave of children known as the Baby Boom began arriving in schools. But while the current generation of teachers are now dealing with the Echo Boom, the children of those Baby Boomers, other factors have made this shortage more complicated than mere demographic shifts. Today's job market is far more open to women and minorities who once pursued a teaching certificate out of necessity.