New NCTAF Report – Learning Teams: Creating What’s Next

WASHINGTON – April 7, 2009 – The nation stands to lose half of its teachers to retirement over the next decade, but states and districts have an opportunity to avert the crisis, according to a report released today by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF). The report – Learning Teams: Creating What’s Next – finds that over 50 percent of the nation’s teachers and principals are Baby Boomers. During the next four years our nation’s schools could lose a third of their most accomplished educators to retirement. The wave of departures will peak during the 2010-11 school year, when over one hundred thousand veteran teachers could leave. In less than a decade, more than half of today’s teachers – 1.72 million – could be gone. The report also urges the development and adoption of a new approach to teacher deployment that mobilizes learning teams comprised of new teachers, teacher mentors, and teacher retirees in new roles to better prepare today’s students for college, the workforce and citizenship.

Read the full report here.

A snapshot of state-by-state teacher demographics.

To share your thoughts and ideas on the report visit: www.learningteams.org.

Media Coverage:

New York Times; Report Envisions Shortage of Teachers as Retirements Escalate

USA Today; A ‘Tsunami’ of Boomer Teacher Retirements Is on the Horizon

The Plain Dealer; National Wave of Teacher Retirements May Be Slower in Ohio
CBS Evening News With Katie Couric (video); Mass Exodus of Teachers

Detroit Free Press; Nation’s Teachers Getting Older, Study Finds

Encore.org; Intergenerational Learning Teams to Revitalize Education

Annapolis Capital; State Addresses Teacher Shortage Trends
Memphis Commercial Appeal; Aging Teachers Hear Retirement Bell

United Press International; ‘Tsunami’ of Teacher Retirements Coming
Washington, D.C. Examiner; Baby Boomer Teacher Retirements a Concern

WBZTV; Schools Faced with Mass Teacher Retirements

Did You Know?

The statistics are staggering. More than half our nation’s teaching workforce is quickly approaching retirement age. Will this be a crisis or an opportunity?

Watch the video: Did you know?

NCTAF Announces New Campaign

Just as the “Agricultural Era” and the “Industrial Age” were known for their dominant modes of work, the 21st Century is the Learning Age. Learning is no longer prepararion for the job, it is the job.

We are all constructing this new learning culture, in which we invent and reinvent work, create and recreate communities, master emerging technologies, and develop new knowledge and skills. Learning and innovation are central throughout our lives.

Yet most schools do not embrace these realities. And simply fixing the schools we already have won’t prepare Learning Age students for successful participation in college, work, and communities. Meeting Learning Age challenges means transforming schools from teaching organizations into learning organizations. It is time to build a 21st Century education system.

We can remake American education by harnessing four Learning Age forces: A 21st Century concept of competency that combines core knowledge with creativity, communication skills and cultural awareness increases the engagement of all learners in order to improve their achievement and life skills; an open learning economy in which schools are no longer the sole providers of education increases the array of educational resources and improves their delivery; smart networking that encourages transparent and responsive sharing of information builds capacity for grassroots innovation and increased accountability; and finally, dramatic shifts in the demographics and expectations of the workforce provide an opportunity to create a more flexible and collaborative school staffing model.

NCTAF’s digital white paper will use the power of smart networking to draw on and give voice to all those who care about education—state and local policy makers, teachers, parents, students, business and government leaders. We invite YOU to join the NCTAF Learning Team by contributing data, stories, videos, and comments. We will introduce new topics regularly, and will consistently update the white paper with the demographic data, trends, promising new ideas, programs, and policies you share with us. We welcome your contributions!

For more, please visit: http://www.learningteams.org/