How Act 10 contributes to teacher shortages — and how it doesn’t
But there is a lot more at work than Act 10 when it comes to attracting and keeping people in teaching.
The roots of the shortages were showing up before 2011. For example, it was already getting challenging to find math and science teachers.
The number of people in college-level programs to train teachers has fallen sharply, but the drop began before Act 10. And, the percentage declines in some other states, where there was no Act 10, are higher than in Wisconsin.
It is hard to pin down numbers of how many veteran teachers have quit or retired early because of Act 10. Some years, in some places, turnover has been high. But teachers quit for many reasons.
Much more on Act 10 and the attempt to reduce Wisconsin’s weak teacher content knowledge requirements.
