Michigan’s Poorest Black, Latino, and Rural Students Lack Qualified Teachers, Study Finds

A panel of experts, (L-R) Ian Rowe of the American Enterprise Institute, Jed Atkins of the University of Chapel Hill in North Carolina, Brian Kennedy of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, and Michael Weiser of the Jack Miller Center, addressed the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 4. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Michigan students residing in the state’s poorest urban and rural school districts are 16 times more likely to have a teacher with temporary or emergency credentials than their suburban counterparts, according to a recently released two-year study by the nonpartisan research group Education Trust-Midwest (ETM).

Schools are forced to hire a temporary or emergency-credentialed long-term substitute when no certified teacher is available to teach a class.

Despite the use of long-term substitutes and out-of-field teachers, the shortage of qualified teachers often results in a reduction in course offerings, further diminishing the quality of education for underprivileged students.

Just under 3 percent of all currently employed Michigan teachers are substitutes working with emergency or temporary credentials. The figure is less than 1 percent in suburban, low-poverty areas, compared with 8 percent in poor urban and rural districts.

Economic and Racial Disparities

The ETM study found that in districts where a majority of the students are black, pupils are almost four times more likely to have an out-of-field teacher, four times more likely to be taught by someone with emergency credentials, and two times more likely to have a beginning teacher than students in predominantly white districts.

During the 2022-23 school year, more than 16 percent of teachers in high-poverty school districts were teaching subjects out of their field of certification or endorsement, twice the state average.

As a research tool, Michigan officials divided the state’s public school districts into six cohorts based on the concentration of impoverished people residing there.

While the poorest cohort of districts employs only 13.5 percent of all teachers in Michigan, those districts account for 38 percent of all teachers working with emergency credentials.

The data “demonstrate how district poverty impacts teacher quality” and show that the poor and minority students “systematically do not have access to teachers who are likely to be well-prepared and effective in the classroom,” the study said.

Out of Their Field

During the 2023–24 school year, statewide, 8 percent of instructors were teaching subjects out of their field. Students in the poorest of the six cohorts were several times more likely to have instructors teaching out of their field than students in the most prosperous cohort.

During the 2023–24 school year, 13 percent of the teachers in urban districts, 8 percent in rural districts, and 6 percent in suburban districts were teaching courses outside their field.

Inexperience

Boys and girls from school districts with a high concentration of poor people are nearly three times more likely than their more affluent peers to be taught by a beginning teacher (someone with less than three years of experience).

The districts with the highest concentration of poverty have a third of their teachers working in their first year. Only a quarter of their teachers have more than 10 years of experience.

Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of education, meets with Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) in his office in Washington on Dec. 9, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

In contrast, the wealthiest cohort of districts has only 16 percent of their staff listed as first-year teachers and nearly half of their staff has more than 10 years of experience.

“Students learning in the highest concentrations of poverty in Michigan—in both rural and urban areas—often lack access to enough educators with the skills and experience most likely to help them succeed academically,” the ETM report said.

High Turnover

The ETM study reported that nationwide, schools in high-poverty districts lose 20 percent of their teaching staff per year.

According to the ETM study, teacher turnover, caused by retirements and personnel leaving the profession or moving to other schools within or outside the district, “can inhibit student educational progress by increasing the likelihood that their teacher is inexperienced or unqualified.”

The ETM report said that rises in classroom misbehavior may be linked to “students failing to form critical relationships with itinerate teachers.”

The gravity of the present situation in Michigan is highlighted by the finding that a teacher’s impact on students “can be two to three times more powerful than any other school-based factor.”

ETM researchers warned that having an adult standing in front of a classroom full of students “does not indicate whether that person is qualified to teach.”

Higher Pay

Offering prospective teachers a competitive salary is a key factor in fully staffing schools in high-poverty areas with certified teachers, according to the ETM study.

According to the study, Michigan teachers earn about 21 percent less than other college graduates with similar levels of education and experience.

First-year teachers earned about $39,000 per year in the 2021-22 school year, ranking Michigan 39^th in the nation.

During the same period, the average pay of a Michigan teacher was $64,000.

In 2022, the estimated annual household survival budget for a family of four in Kent County, a large, populous county surrounding Grand Rapids, Michigan, was $69,348.

A household survival budget is an estimate of the cost of food, housing, child care, transportation, health care, technology, and taxes over one year.

An entry-level Grand Rapids teacher with a bachelor’s degree and a family of four would have to work in the district for 16 years to meet the $69,348 survival budget.

A National Shortage

ETM found that in the 2022-23 school year, 31 states reported a shortage of mathematics teachers, 34 states could not get enough science teachers, and 39 states had a shortage of special education teachers.

The Michigan Department of Education and the State Board of Education did not respond to a request for comment.