Letter: Teacher shortage calls for innovation

Tuesday, July 10, 2007 | 6:57 a.m.

Regarding the Las Vegas Sun's July 9 article, "Going the extra miles for teachers":

It is no secret that Clark County has been suffering from a severe teacher shortage. In fact, School District officials have been traveling nationally and internationally to recruit more teachers. While some of these recruitment trips are successful and manage to fill some of the vacancies, the problem still persists.

Recruitment is only part of the problem - current teacher certification limits the options available for potential teachers to enter the profession. A permanent solution is needed. The existing strategies for recruitment and existing routes to teacher certification simply cannot meet the growing need.

Consider the facts from the National Center for Education Statistics : In 1970, 25 percent of bachelor's and master's degrees were earned in education compared with 14 percent in 2003. Further, in 2004, 8.4 percent of educators left teaching compared with 5.6 percent in 1990. College students today are not going into teaching while the Baby Boomer teachers are retiring in record numbers.

Every state is going through the same issues that Nevada faces with the necessary talent to properly staff their schools. The Nevada Legislature recently passed Senate Bill 264 to allow the use of another certification method to recruit and certify more teachers if it is approved by the Commission on Professional Standards of the Nevada Education Department.

It is only through innovative strategies like those offered in Senate Bill 264, which create more routes to certification, that we can ensure that every Nevada student has a great teacher.