There is a debate over whether there is a teacher shortage. On one side, the Center for Educational Information (CEI), argues that there is an overabundance of teachers. Their survey of 1,354 institutions of higher education showed that more than 200,000 teachers were produced in 1998, up 49 percent since 1983. They were supplemented by tens of thousands returning to teaching and moving to the public schools from the private sector. These teachers far outweighed the vacancies, except in some inner cities and rural areas. The CEI suggests that jobs and teachers need to be matched better through wider recruitment and by allowing licenses to be accepted in other regions.

On the other side, the U.S. Department of Education says that there will be a shortfall of 2.2 million teachers over the next decade due to retirements and growing student enrollments. On a continuing basis, about 22 percent of teachers leave the profession within three years. There are particular shortage problems in science, math, special education, bilingual education, and foreign languages...

(Updated November 1, 1999)