Capitol News

New research from Michigan State University’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) examines the changing pool of prospective Michigan teachers as candidates move through the preparation pipeline from K-12 education into the workforce. The report highlights how Michigan loses potential teachers even before they enter the workforce, representing "leaks" in the pipeline.

The study scrutinizes students' course enrollment decisions throughout their college years and finds a declining trend in students taking teacher education courses. Approximately 15.1% of Michigan high school graduates who started college in 2010-11 took an education course by 2014-15, while only 12.7% of those who started college in 2017-18 did so by 2021-22. Of those who took an initial teacher education course, 77% continued with more advanced courses, but only about a quarter became student teachers.

The diversity within the pool of prospective teachers also diminishes as candidates progress from college to teacher licensure to the workforce. Twenty percent of students in introductory teacher education courses are non-white, decreasing to 15% in advanced courses, 10% among student teachers, and less than 7% among early career teachers working in Michigan public schools. This indicates that the group preparing for the teaching workforce is less diverse than the K-12 student population. Only 7% of Black students, 14% of Asian students, and 23% of Latino/a students who take an initial education course eventually become student teachers compared to 30% of white students.

However, recent trends suggest improvement for new cohorts still in college. Teacher preparation programs across Michigan have reported increases in enrollment and candidate diversity over recent years following efforts by the Michigan Department of Education, state legislature, and governor to strengthen and diversify the teacher workforce.

“Michigan has generated five years of increases in the numbers of students preparing for careers in education...from 9,512 in 2016-17 to 14,829 in 2021-22,” said State Superintendent Michael Rice. “Over the past seven years...Michigan has increased by [1,316] Black/African American full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers and by [216] Hispanic/Latino/a FTE teachers...While welcome and hard-earned increases, we know we have more work to do collectively on issues of teacher quantity, preparation quality and diversity.”

The report also finds that recent graduates from teacher preparation programs who receive certification are more likely to accept positions within Michigan’s public school system and tend to remain longer in their roles. Despite losing Black teaching candidates at higher rates during preparation stages, those who do become certified are more likely than other groups to work within Michigan public schools and exhibit higher persistence rates over their first five years.

Tara Kilbride, EPIC’s assistant director for research and author of the report stated: “These results underscore the importance of policy initiatives that can reach candidates earlier...Policymakers should continue promoting alternative pathways to teaching...but also improve traditional pathways.”

Kilbride emphasized: “Having a healthy and diverse teacher pipeline goes beyond just recruiting more people into programs; it is critical that new and prospective teachers have training resources and support needed to succeed.”

Additional EPIC research on this topic is available online.

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