Report Shows Drop in Students in Teacher Ed

A report released Thursday by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) shows a decline in enrollment in colleges of education and many impending faculty retirements. The association used data from an "array of governmental and organizational sources" to produce the report.

Among the findings:

• Colleges of education have experienced a decline in enrollment. In the 1970s, the number of education degrees awarded annually peaked at 200,000. Today, it is less than 100,000.
• There is a mismatch between the majors education students choose and the subject areas deemed "high need" by the U.S. Department of Education. Bilingual education and English language acquisition, foreign language, math, reading, science and special education all suffer a dearth of teachers, and only special education is among the most popular degree fields.
• The average age of full professors of education is 62, which suggests that many faculty are over the retirement age of 65 and will likely retire within the next 10 years.
• Women remain the majority of education graduates; 81 percent of undergraduate education degrees are awarded to women, and women make up 76 percent of those enrolled in teacher preparation programs.

The full report is only available to AACTE members, but the executive summary can be downloaded here.