The Houston Independent School District is grappling with a pressing challenge as the new school year approaches – a shortage of certified teachers to fill crucial vacancies in classrooms across the district. In an effort to address the situation, HISD has turned to alternative measures, seeking uncertified educators to bridge the gap.
According to updates from the official HISD careers website, as of Aug. 1, the district has reported 2593 vacant job positions across HISD. The shortage affects a range of subjects and grade levels, raising concerns among parents, educators, and education advocates.
The Houston Federation of Teachers, expressed that this decision isn’t a “teacher shortage problem”. “We have a shortage of certified teachers who refuse to be treated the way they are being treated. You will have to go out and start looking for uncertified teachers, when you don’t respect the teaching profession,” said Jackie Anderson, President of the HFT. “Now he is scrambling to look for bodies to walk into the schools to do the job of an educator, and that shouldn’t be happening.”
Some critics argue that hiring uncertified educators may compromise the quality of education and limit students’ access to a robust learning experience. However, the district asserts that these hiring decisions are necessary to ensure every classroom has an instructor at the start of the school year.
“This is going to be detrimental to Black students in general. There are students with high needs and research states that uncertified personnel should not be matched with our highest need students,” said Michelle Williams, President of the Houston Education Association. “What we know is that first year [uncertified] teachers don’t last long. Once they abandon these classrooms, it puts a hardship on HISD who have been there and still continue to be there after this experiment.”
Williams said that if Miles was concerned about the quality of education for Black and brown youth, he would have followed former Superintendent Richard Carranza’s Achieve 180 initiative, a researched-based action plan to support, strengthen, and empower underserved and underperforming HISD feeder pattern communities to increase student achievement.
“Carranza’s Achieve 180 plan follows best practices in education and further supports certified and experienced teachers,” she said. “Miles would have raised the salaries of veteran teachers and brought them in. That’s what Richard Carranza did.”
Children at Risk’s Chief Equity Officer Sharon Jones said the academic success of the children is dependent on the wellbeing of the educator.
“We do believe that teachers need to be qualified,” she said. “But regardless of who’s teaching, the person needs to be valued, happy, and whole. They need to be given the proper support, empathy, livable wage, and resources to be successful.”
In Texas, becoming a teacher involves several steps. State law mandates obtaining a bachelor’s degree, finishing an educator preparation program, passing certification exams, and applying for state certification, as per the Texas Education Agency. There are two paths to becoming a teacher: a university-based program or an alternative certification program. The latter offers a nontraditional route, allowing uncertified individuals to work as teachers while fulfilling program requirements.
Dr. Shannon Verrett, Executive Director of the Houston Association of School Administrators said the message Miles is sending is that “anybody can teach,” and there are a couple of suggestions the superintendent should have considered which include supporting parents who are seeking certification.
“The district may need to start using grand funding to tap into parents who are already degreed in order to help them seek certification, especially those who have children with special needs to fill in the gaps,” he said. “The district also needs to expand its university partnerships. Historically, they partner with University of Houston or predominately white institutions. Reach out to Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University, because these are urban universities training Black and brown youth adults to be educators.”
