Study finds teacher shortages in some Ohio regions, surpluses in others

COLUMBUS -- While Ohio colleges and universities produce enough teachers overall, there are still shortages of teachers for some grade levels and in some regions of the state, according to a new study.

Central and southwest Ohio don’t produce enough teachers to meet demand, while there are more teachers than necessary graduating from schools in the northeast, northwest and southeast regions of the state.

In addition, while Ohio has an overabundance of teachers for pre-Kindergarten through grade three, it faces shortages of middle-school teachers, particularly in math and science.

The study was conducted by The Ohio Collaborative, an educational research group initiated by the Ohio Board of Regents and housed at The Ohio State University. The Ohio Collaborative includes faculty from the state’s education colleges.

“The supply of teachers more than meets the demand in the state, but these numbers mask a problem of not having enough teachers for specific regions, grade levels and in specific fields,” said V. Darleen Opfer, director of the Ohio Collaborate and associate professor of education at Ohio State.

The study examined the number of teaching vacancies in each region in 2002, the latest year figures are available. It also looked at the number of education graduates from colleges and universities in each region, and the number of these graduates expected to receive their teaching licenses.

Northwest Ohio had the largest surplus of teachers (274) while central Ohio had the largest shortage (151).

“Everyone thinks Ohio State University produces a lot of teachers, and it does, but it still is not meeting the demand for teachers in central Ohio,” Opfer said. Other research has shown that nearly all teachers in Ohio get jobs within 50 miles of where they received their degree, so it is not realistic to expect that the surplus teachers in one region will move to areas where there are shortages, she said.

The study showed that the state was short 312 special education teachers, 38 English as a Second Language teachers, 42 middle grades science teachers and 16 middle grades mathematics teachers.

The state had 1,081 surplus pre-Kindergarten through grade 3 teachers and 416 surplus high school teachers. There was a shortage of 79 teachers for the middle grades.

Opfer said the state should consider steps to balance the supply and demand for teachers, such as providing universities with funds to recruit students into fields with shortages and provide incentives or tuition offsets to universities that limit enrollment in oversubscribed teaching fields.