These are among key findings of a new into ways to address the continuing turnover and shortage of special education and ESL teachers that has existed for more than three decades. 

The analysis showed that mentorship, teacher and principal preparation standards, tests of reading instruction knowledge, pay and professional development are key to retaining and recruiting these educators.

Students with disabilities and English learners face some of the most persistent academic challenges, partly because of a lack of access to high-quality teachers, said NCTQ President Heather Peske.

“Despite their potential, many of these students are not meeting even really basic thresholds in reading and math, and this is not for any fault of the students themselves,” she said. “It’s really because they don’t have access to the kinds of qualified and effective teachers that they need.”

The report recommends improved state policies to address attrition in these areas:

Teacher mentorship

The analysis found that half of states don’t require prospective educators to complete their student teaching under the supervision of an educator who is certified in the same subject area they are training to work in. Most are in the western United States, including states like Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Idaho and Nevada. 

Having a mentor certified in the same field allows the college students to see what teaching special ed will actually be like and increases their chances of staying in the subject area once they finish their degree, according to the report. The analysis highlighted a study of more than 250 people who completed special education teacher preparation in Massachusetts, which found that those with a supervisor licensed in special education were 12% less likely to leave the workforce.

Teacher preparation standards

Clear state standards for teacher preparation programs ensure that aspiring educators get the skills needed to serve students with disabilities, the report said. Ten states don’t have explicit special education standards for teacher colleges, while 16 lack defined English learner standards.

The analysis highlights Texas, which created for ESL and bilingual education in 2019. These include understanding the foundations of language acquisition and adapting instruction to meet student needs.

Principal preparation standards

Less than half of states require principal preparation programs to address special education in coursework, while only 13 do the same for English learners. Without an understanding of effective ways to serve students with disabilities or English learners, principals are less prepared to improve outcomes for them and retain the teachers who serve them, the report said. 

Research has that principals are a key factor in creating an inclusive environment for special education students. One said that many new school administrators “find themselves suddenly thrust into situations in which they must be the final arbiter on matters related to strange-sounding issues such as IEPs [individual education programs], 504 [disability discrimination] decisions, due-process hearings and IDEA [Individuals with Disabilities Education Act] compliance.”

In Iowa, teacher colleges are to provide evidence that candidates are equipped to address the needs of English learners or students with disabilities, the report said. 

Reading instruction

The analysis found that 17 states require special education teacher candidates to demonstrate their knowledge of literacy instruction using a test the NCTQ deems effective. In 2023, the nonprofit reported that 29 states and the District of Columbia use weak reading instruction tests that aspiring elementary educators must pass to obtain a license. NCTQ studied 25 tests that states use and identified 15 as weak — with only four considered acceptable and six considered strong.

Just five states — California, Idaho, New Mexico, Louisiana and Maryland — require English learner teacher candidates to pass acceptable tests, the report said.

“Wisconsin, for example, uses a strong or acceptable reading licensure test, but they don’t presently require special education teachers to take that test and pass it,” Peske said. “We would say that this is an example of low-hanging fruit when it comes to policymaking.”

The NCTQ reported that 70% of fourth graders with disabilities and 67% who are English learners scored below the basic level in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

English learners are also at an increased risk of being identified for special education because of literacy-related struggles, the report said.

“With so many states right now focused on reading and implementing relatively new reading laws, it was surprising to us to find that states are also not requiring their teachers, especially of students with disabilities, and their English learner teachers to take and pass an acceptable reading licensure test,” Peske said.

Teacher pay

The report said that paying teachers in critical shortage areas more than those in general education can improve retention and recruitment in hard-to-staff areas. But has found that the additional compensation must be at least 7.5% of a teacher’s base salary — about $5,000 — to make a difference.

Only 18 states offer higher salaries or bonuses for special education educators, while eight states do so for English learner teachers.

An annual state-funded $10,000 incentive in Hawaii improved special education teacher shortages. The bonuses, which , reduced by 35% the number of teaching positions that were vacant or filled by an unlicensed teacher.

“Interestingly, it did little to improve retention among current special educators,” the report said. “Instead, the reduction in vacancies was driven almost entirely by general-education teachers — who were presumably dual-certified — transitioning into special education roles.”

The nonprofit said the policy was also successful because of its simplicity. All Hawaii special education teachers were automatically eligible, and there was no application process. 

Professional development

High-quality professional learning can improve retention for special education and English learner teachers, the report said. Currently, 40 states provide professional development for both fields. Oregon, Hawaii, Iowa, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia are the only states that don’t offer professional learning for either position.

The report highlights Rhode Island, which recently adopted guidelines that require professional learning specifically for teachers of multilingual learners.

Peske said each of the above policy areas is equally important for lawmakers to consider. “If a state really wants to build a strong teacher workforce for students with disabilities and English learners, we would advise them to use these fixed [policy] levers together,” she said.

The report looks at several areas NCTQ identified as essential to strengthening instruction and rates states on how well they hit those markers. 

It found, for example, only 21 states provide clear, detailed guidance to teacher preparation programs about what they should teach in regard to numbers and operations, algebraic thinking, geometry and measurement, and data analysis and probability — topics the group found, based on research, critical to teachers’ and students’ success.  

And 24 states offer no recommendation as to which materials districts should be using in the classroom, a missed opportunity to suggest the best possible curricula for young children, NCTQ found.  

“We know how important strong math skills are for students: They add up to better reading scores and they’re a signal of stronger college readiness,” said NCTQ President Heather Peske. “We found that across the country, states can do much more to better prepare elementary teachers to teach math.”

U.S. students’ ongoing struggles with math proficiency have sparked multiple examinations of how math is taught throughout K-12 and what needs to change to bring about improvement. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, released in January and often referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, showed math scores were flat for eighth graders and up slightly for fourth graders, but those gains went mostly to high achievers.

In the NCTQ report, Alabama is a notable exception in its approach, making improvements to math instruction on multiple fronts, including in teacher training programs and the use of high-quality instructional materials. 

State Superintendent Eric G. Mackey said the effort began roughly seven years ago, starting with the development of new standards — followed by new assessments. After that came a coaching pilot program that was so successful, he said, it will be available in every K-5 school within just a few years. 

Mackey said the effort around finding stellar curricula proved challenging: It took the state two years to develop the first list. 

“But it wasn’t good enough,” he said. “So, we did a second and third round of vetting and got it down to a pretty tight group.”

Alabama also updated all of its standards around teacher training and added a new master’s degree, that of an elementary math specialist, he said. Some of the efforts seemed to pay off: Fourth-grade Alabama NAEP scores rose six points between 2022 and 2024 and were just a single point below the national average. 

But the state still struggles with older students: 8th-grade scores dropped by two points in that timeframe and were the national average. 

“We are limited on funds,” Mackey said. “Our strategy is to get it right in elementary school and then maintain that through middle school.”

NCTQ notes that while states have the authority to set the standards for teacher preparation programs, 16 outsource that job, often to national organizations that don’t always focus on the teaching of mathematics. 

And, their analysis found, many states don’t require teacher prep programs to address the knowledge and skills teachers need to teach math concepts, despite the long-recognized benefits to students. 

NCTQ also found fault with many of the 30 elementary math licensure tests used across the country: 31 states offer “unacceptable” or “weak” licensure tests, it found. 

Iowa and Maine have none at all.

Only 10 such tests were “acceptable” by NCTQ: All paid adequate attention to numbers and operations, algebraic thinking, geometry and measurement and data analysis and probability. Thirteen states — Alabama, Connecticut and Texas among them — require a “strong” and “acceptable” test for all elementary math teacher candidates. 

Only six tests were deemed “strong” and are used exclusively in five states: Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Alabama and New York.. 

Of the 17 weak tests, five address less than half of the subtopics in one or more areas and all combine math with one or more other subjects. 

Three tests were deemed “unacceptable” because they omit one or more math content topic areas — but they are used in nine states: Michigan, Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia. 

And, NCTQ found, just 21 states make the passing rates on their elementary math licensure test public, making it difficult to identify those that have failed to offer robust programs.

Like other studies before it, NCTQ notes the importance of high-quality instructional materials, curriculum aligned with college- and career-ready standards: Such tools have great potential in improving student performance. Despite these benefits, only four states require their use, including Rhode Island. 

State law requires the state education department to identify at least five high-quality curricula that align with state standards. Rhode Island districts must implement one of them, though the plan does allow for some flexibility: Districts can apply for a waiver if at least three-quarters of students meet state assessment goals — and no student subgroups need targeted help. 

Like Alabama, many states find their academic goals constrained by limited budgets. Just 24 states provide funding for math curriculum materials and only two — South Carolina and Tennessee — provide funding for this purpose and require schools to select materials from an approved list, NCTQ found. 

The report also touts the importance of professional development for math teachers, noting that nearly 60% of the potential impact of adopting high-quality curricula depends on teachers improving their instructional practices.

“We know the importance of professional learning,” Peske said. “It goes hand in hand with the adoption of high-quality instructional materials.”

The group said only six states financially support math coaches/specialists in K-12 schools, and just four — Alabama, California, Georgia and Michigan — provide funding for both professional learning and coaching.

Louisiana schools have used high-quality instructional materials for math and English language arts for more than a decade, but it wasn’t enough to improve student achievement, State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said. 

The state now requires all fourth- through eighth-grade math teachers to complete a 50-hour numeracy course — teachers in younger grades will soon have to meet a similar requirement — and while districts are free to select their own curriculum, the state created a rating system that has encouraged many to pick what it considers the best offerings. 

Louisiana also invested $100 million in tutoring programs in recent years. It has already seen a difference in student performance. 

“We have made really good progress,” Brumley said. “But what happens in Louisiana is the same as what happens across the country: As students matriculate from 4th to 8th grade, academic performance declines. Our intent is to be the first state to correct that issue in math.

“We are also refreshing our math standards with great emphasis on foundational math skills in the early grades,” he added. “We talk about fluent readers but we don’t talk enough about fluent mathematicians — and that needs to change.”

While the nation’s college-educated workforce overall is diversifying more quickly than the teaching pool, the NCTQ found that California, Texas, and Washington, D.C., are following the opposite trajectory. But the nonprofit questions some of the methods used to increase diversity, such as alternative pathways or lower standards for teacher certification, said Ron Noble, the council’s chief of teacher preparation. 

“We found that places like Texas are achieving [more teacher diversity], but with policies that have us concerned about the long-term health of the teacher pipeline,” Noble said. “California and Washington, D.C., offer potential bright spots that might not have that same pitfall.”

NCTQ’s report follows its December launch of a that tracks the racial makeup of U.S. educator corps from 2014 to 2022. Noble said the organization is focusing on educator workforce diversity because employing teachers of color academic, social, emotional and behavior outcomes for students.

“We really want states to be deliberate and intentional in — and careful how they go about — achieving the goal of a diverse workforce,” Noble said.

Teachers from historically disadvantaged groups in the U.S. make up nearly 23% of working-age adults with degrees but 21% of the teacher workforce, according to the dashboard.

In Texas, 35% of college-educated adults are from historically disadvantaged groups, compared with 43% of teachers. But researchers found that behind the high diversity number were flawed alternative certification programs and uncertified teachers — both of which became more common with educator shortages during the pandemic.

In the 2021-22 school year, 51% of Texas teachers completed alternative certification programs, compared with an average of 19% in other states, according to NCTQ. Alternative pathways are than traditional programs: found that Black Texas teachers were more than three times as likely to pursue alternative certification than a more common route like a bachelor’s degree.

Noble said researchers found that the majority of alternative programs in Texas are fully online and that graduates can become teachers with little to no classroom experience. A found that online alternative pathways have a higher turnover rate than other teacher preparation programs.

“They are thrown right into a high-stakes environment,” he said. “It’s not surprising that there are people leaving the profession.”

The number of uncertified teachers is also growing in Texas classrooms. Last year, that 34% of newly hired teachers in Texas were uncertified. The NCTQ report says racial demographics of uncertified teachers aren’t tracked, making it hard for policymakers to understand the impact on the future diversity of the educator workforce.

In California, nearly 33% of the teachers come from historically disadvantaged groups, compared with 27% of college-educated adults.

The NCTQ report says California’s effort to prioritize teacher diversity, invest in educator training and track industry data are reasons why diversity rates are higher than the norm. The state has in recent years to strengthen the teacher workforce. Advocates have built a and plan to launch a later this year to track demographic and employment data.

NCTQ said in its report that California has lowered standards for teacher candidates to enter the profession. A allows for a bachelor’s degree in any subject to be the sole qualifier for admission into most teacher preparation programs. 

NCTQ also cited Washington, D.C., for its high diversity rates, though its trendlines are not on the same trajectory as California’s and Texas’s. In 2022, 69% of educators came from historically disadvantaged groups, a drop from 77% in 2020. Adults with college degrees from these groups were reported at 35% in 2022.

“It would be easy to explain away D.C.’s teacher diversity by pointing out that it is a city, not a state, and cities are typically more diverse than states,” the report says. “However, comparing D.C.’s teacher and student demographics to those in other large cities in the United States suggests D.C.’s approach to diversifying the teacher workforce is yielding results.”

The NCTQ report shows that the teacher workforce in Washington, D.C., more closely mirrored its student population than those of other districts of similar size and student demographics. 

About 87% of the district’s student population are people of color, as is 74% of the teacher workforce. Researchers found that Atlanta Public Schools was the only demographically similar district that had a smaller student-to-teacher diversity gap.

The report credits consistent prioritization of educator diversity and innovative teacher preparation pathways for the high percentages in Washington, D.C. The region established with university partners and has implemented a centralized hiring process that yields more diverse candidates.

According to the , 29 states and the District of Columbia used weak tests, giving false assurance to nearly 100,000 educators nationwide.

The study’s findings were released as roughly don’t meet reading expectations by fourth grade — with an even bleaker reality for historically marginalized students, the study said.

“Every child deserves great reading instruction, but far too many children aren’t receiving it,” NCTQ president Heather Peske said in a statement. “This lack of preparation has a profound impact on students’ literacy skills and future prospects.”

NCTQ reported 56% of Black students, 50% of Latino students, 52% of students in poverty, 70% of students with disabilities and 67% of English learners don’t meet reading standards, according to the .

The think tank determined whether states used strong, acceptable or weak elementary reading licensing tests based on how much each addresses the core components of scientifically based reading instruction.

The core components include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.

Of the 25 different tests that states used, the think tank identified 15 as weak — with only four considered acceptable and six considered strong.

In total, 18 states used strong tests — including California, Texas, Connecticut, Colorado, Ohio and Virginia — and 28 states used weak tests — including Florida, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Hawaii.

Iowa in particular stood out for not requiring a test at all — suggesting teachers in the state would not be well-versed in how to teach reading, the study found.

Strong tests use at least 75% of the core components, in addition to addressing struggling readers and English learners.

Acceptable tests use at least half and weak tests use less than half of the core components identified.

Weak tests include the “Praxis Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects (5001)” test used in 16 states and the “Praxis Elementary Education: Content Knowledge for Teaching (7811)” test used in seven states.

“Teachers who aren’t prepared in the most effective instructional practices for teaching reading unknowingly enter classrooms ill-prepared to help students become successful readers,” Peske said. “States can help ensure teachers are prepared to teach reading effectively by requiring stronger licensure tests.”