Many school districts face the worst teacher shortage ever.
Twenty percent of new teachers leave the field within the first three years and, on average, teachers who leave the profession are above-average teachers. Math, science, and special education teachers are in short supply, and urban and rural schools struggle to recruit talented teachers. Today, Education World writer Glori Chaika explores some of the creative strategies school districts have developed to recruit and retain teachers. For years, the teaching profession could count on discrimination, depression, and recession to act as its recruiting agent but no longer. The booming economy offers potential teachers a cornucopia of more-lucrative professional opportunities.