There is a teacher shortage nationwide. And it continues to grow each year. Many solutions have been suggested: pay teachers more, offer incentives to pay off student loans, and so forth. Yet, most states are still adding fewer and fewer teachers into the profession each year.
This week on Anchored in Education I am joined by Dr. Kyle Thompson, the current Assistant Regional Superintendent and the soon to be Regional Superintendent. Kyle and I discuss how legislative policies are creating unnecessary hurdles and obstacles for future teachers. Kyle has testified twice before the Illinois House of Representative Education Committee to advocate for bills designed to address the teacher shortage.
We not only discuss actions that can be taken to directly address the teacher shortage, but we also talk reasons teachers entered the profession and why these unnecessary barriers are preventing new teacher candidates from becoming anchored in education.
About Kyle
Dr. Kyle Thompson was in middle school when he knew he wanted to be a teacher. After graduating high school, he began his teacher training first at Richland Community College and then University of Illinois-Springfield. He began his career at Windsor Jr. Sr. High School where he taught and coached for five years. He then spent one year as an assistant principal at Chester Grade School before moving to the Regional Office of Education #11.
For the past six years, Kyle has served the East Central Illinois counties of Clark, Coles, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Moultrie, and Shelby as the Assistant Regional Superintendent. He was recently elected Regional Superintendent where his term begins July 1, 2019. Kyle attended Eastern Illinois University for graduate school and received his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Indiana State University.
An educator, a politician, and an all around nice guy, Kyle resides in Charleston, Illinois with his wife and two children. Together they enjoy traveling, eating pizza, and watching the St. Louis Cardinals. You can follow Dr. Thompson on Twitter: @KyleThompson643.
Resources from this episode:
- The Chronicle of Higher Education conducted great research on job trends, including education. You can read more about here: https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/freshmen-survey
- We referenced the Learning Policy Institute in this episode. This website is full of quality research and articles. This is the one we discussed: https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/long-view-report