🧑🏽‍🏫 Teachers wanted

Plus: Train troubles | Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Open in app View in browser     Axios What's Next By Jennifer A. Kingson, Joann Muller and Alex Fitzpatrick · Sep 13, 2022 Jennifer is back today with a fascinating look at the numbers behind the teacher shortage. Is your local district having trouble finding staff? Share your story at whatsnext@axios.com. Axios and Noticias Telemundo invite you to join us virtually for the inaugural Axios Latino Visionarios event on Sept. 29 at 6 p.m. ET, featuring interviews with top Latino newsmakers. Register here. Today's newsletter is 1,158 words ... 4 1/2 minutes.     1 big thing: The teacher shortage, by the numbers Reproduced from AASA; Note: Respondents could select multiple options; Chart: Axios Visuals Two-thirds of U.S. public school superintendents say overall vacancies — including teachers and non-instructional staffers — are higher this year than last, a survey by AASA, The School Superintendents Association, found, Jennifer A. Kingson reports. About 15% report a lot more openings, saying vacancy rates are 11%-30% higher than last year. And 85% of superintendents in the AASA survey say they don't have enough applicants. Why it matters: COVID-19 has accelerated a relentless national teacher shortage that has school districts taking desperate measures to fill classrooms even as students play catch-up from pandemic-era learning deficits. The big picture: A slow leak of teachers from the nation's public schools was starting to reach crisis proportions before the pandemic, and COVID-19 made things worse. A seminal 2019 report by the Economic Policy Institute called the teacher shortage "real, large and growing, and worse than we thought." It found that high-poverty schools suffer the most from the shortage of credentialed teachers. When the pandemic struck in 2020, teachers' jobs got harder — and more danger0us — as students' needs grew and parents and communities started demanding more from them. "Burnout and the desire for better pay" are the top reasons teachers leave, Noelle Ellerson Ng of the AASA tells Axios. The AASA survey, released Monday, found that the pandemic did "magnify the teacher shortage, amplify the inequities of vacancies, and force the nation to really look at what we expect of educators in the context of the important work they do." The superintendents' group called the problem "complex," with "multiple factors driving educators away from the field, including relatively low pay, poor working environments, uneven or absent opportunities for professional growth, and the weak prestige of teaching." By the numbers: Of the more than 900 superintendents surveyed from August 8-24, the vast majority — 78% — said the vacancy rate on their teaching staff was 0-5%. 14% reported a teacher vacancy rate of 6%-10% 4.7% said the rate was 11%-15%, and 1.4% said it was 16%-20%. Be smart: Those nationwide numbers don't necessarily scream "major shortage," but for individual districts having trouble finding staff, this is a real crisis. Of note: Schools have been expanding their staffs to meet the heightened needs of students for mental health counseling and extra help with classwork — that's why the AASA survey asked about vacancy percentages rather than absolute numbers. The Biden administration has encouraged schools to use pandemic relief funds to create new positions, increase pay and take advantage of expanding teacher apprenticeship programs. Yes, but: Pandemic funding comes with time limits, and "school districts have to think about what it means when those dollars dry up," Ellerson Ng said. The bottom line: "We need to build a better pipeline of educators," said Daniel Domenech, executive director, AASA, in a press release. "The exodus of education leaders is alarming and will have long-lasting effects." Share this story.     2. AI images open new cans of worms Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photo: Andy Warhol: 32 Campbell's soup cans via Flickr   Machine-learning programs that can produce sometimes jaw-dropping images from brief text prompts have advanced in a matter of months from a "that's quite a trick" stage to a genuine cultural disruption, Axios' Scott Rosenberg writes. Why it matters: These new AI capabilities confront the world with a mountain of questions over the rights to the images the programs learned from, the likelihood they will be used to spread falsehoods and hate, the ownership of their output, and the nature of creativity itself. Driving the news: Open AI's Dall-E 2 kicked off this revolution earlier this year, as early adopters flooded social media with examples of its work. Last month another program, Stability AI's Stable Diffusion, arrived offering a similar level of image-making prowess with far fewer restrictions. Between the lines: Where Dall-E 2 is owned and controlled by Open AI, Stable Diffusion is open source, meaning anyone with a little skill can download and run it on their own systems. Where Open AI made some effort to limit questionable uses of its program — it says it has tried to reduce racial and gender biases in its training data, and it blocks users from creating violent images, porn and celebrity pix — Stability AI is taking a mostly "anything goes" approach. Scott's thought bubble: Multiple generations of digital tech have been rushed into large-scale use only to cause a wide range of social woes. AI was supposed to be different, but Stable Diffusion's "damn the torpedoes" approach suggests an "if it can be done, it will be done" mindset will prevail again. That means we will have to cope with the reality-eroding impact of increasingly realistic fabrications sooner rather than later. Read the rest.     3. Next stop: Strike? Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios   Two huge labor disputes — in the railways and at the ports — threaten to re-tangle U.S. supply chains, Axios' Emily Peck reports. Why it matters: A shutdown of the nation's rail system could cost $2 billion a day, according to an industry estimate, and we've already seen what backed up ports do to the economy and store shelves. Amtrak service, meanwhile, could be severely disrupted by a freight rail strike. Driving the news: Negotiations continue between the country's largest freight railroad companies and the majority of the unions representing around 115,000 workers. They're racing to meet a Friday deadline, when a "cooling off period" runs out and workers could strike. In part, the workers want better wages and time-off policies. Meanwhile: West Coast port workers have been in negotiations for a new contract for months; the last one expired in June. Zoom out: If the rails grind to a halt, it would be left to the nation's trucking system to pick up the slack. That would be costly, and there isn't enough capacity to handle all the extra stuff. Read the rest.     A message from Axios Axios founders on the comms strategy powering growth     Tune in September 19 at 1pm ET to hear Axios Co-founders Jim VandeHei and Roy Schwartz share how Smart Brevity powers their executive strategy — and how any leader can use it to deliever clear, effective communication every time, no matter the topic. Register for free here.     4. 📸 A bus above Photo: Jeoffrey Guillemard/Bloomberg via Getty Images   A new "elevated trollybus" system made inaugural runs in Mexico City this past weekend. The roughly five-mile Trolebús Elevado system runs above the city's Iztapalapa borough, with the goal of elevating public transit above the traffic below for smoother service. The system has eight stops (plus two terminals at either end), and connections are available to other public transit options.     5. A latte and an NFT Photo: Robert Alexander/Getty Images   Starbucks unveiled new details Monday about its upcoming Odyssey NFT platform, Axios' Kelly Tyko reports. Why it matters: The platform, which will operate as an extension of Starbucks' existing loyalty program, is another example of a big brand getting into the crypto space. How it works: Members will be rewarded for engaging in online activities with Starbucks-branded NFTs, which the company is calling "digital collectible stamps." Each stamp will have a rarity-based point value, and Odyssey members can buy and trade stamps with one another. Rewards members' points will increase as they collect stamps, "unlocking access to unique benefits and experiences that have never been offered before," per the company. What's next: Starbucks said initial invitations will go out to some wait-listed members later this year. Yes, but: The height of crypto-mania is behind us, so it's unclear whether this'll move the needle with coffee fans. Read the rest.     A message from Axios Axios founders on the comms strategy powering growth     Tune in September 19 at 1pm ET to hear Axios Co-founders Jim VandeHei and Roy Schwartz share how Smart Brevity powers their executive strategy — and how any leader can use it to deliever clear, effective communication every time, no matter the topic. Register for free here.   A hearty thanks to What's Next copy editor Amy Stern. Was this email forwarded to you? Get your daily dose of What's Next by signing up here for our free newsletter. Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. 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