New York state’s top educators are in town, addressing the statewide teacher shortage.
Teachers at all levels of their career met on the University at Buffalo's South Campus to brainstorm ways to recruit, retain and transform the education field.
The organization that hosted the forum, Teach NY, says by 2022, the need for teachers is expected to increase by nearly 6 percent. Teach NY also says over the coming decade, there will be a call for 1.6 million new teachers across the country.
Teach NY and SUNY leaders are hoping by addressing issues such as a lack of diversity and low enrollment among education majors, the teacher shortage will take a turn.
“There is a significant drop in teacher education majors at every campus throughout SUNY and really nationally and internationally, too,” David Cantaffa, provost fellow for teacher education at SUNY told 7 Eyewitness News.
“There's been a significant drop in enrollment, in some cases 50 percent drop in enrollment since about just five years ago."
Tuesday's forum is just one stop on a six city tour in which Teach NY travels the state, gathering input and data from those working in the classroom.
Those suggestions will help mold policies on ways to bolster our state's education system.
