My concern about others; teachers, friends, concerned citizens and govt. officials, not responding to the present teacher shortage in Illinois as well as other parts of America apparently is not shared by a good number of citizens. There are many reasons why I'm raising the issue apart from the harm to our students.
The chasm is deep and getting expert teachers, not unlike people in the medical or law professions, will take time in terms of training and student teaching. Districts can't just run an ad/hang out a shingle and expect a whole crop of extraordinary teachers to apply. That is a rare commodity these days and it is only likely to exist in school districts with a long pedigree of academic success.
Here's but one solution that needs to be implemented right now. There are scant number of high schools in America that offer courses akin to 'Introduction to Teaching' which puts students in elementary schools and feeder schools a few days a week while offering instruction in the high school setting to complement the work in the field. I have seen these programs and have witnessed their successes.
If the AFT, NEA and local school boards were on top of their game, this is a great place to start in terms of tackling the problem.
Dick
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