By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Capitol Times
Nearly one in four teaching vacancies that school districts had this year remain unfilled four weeks into the academic year.
The new report by the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association found that the 178 school districts and charter schools who responded to the survey reported they needed to fill 6,227 slots this school year.
Districts have tried to make up the difference by putting people who do not meet standard teaching requirements in front of classrooms. That includes those who are in a teacher intern program and those who have emergency teaching certificates, people who lack any actual training in how to teach but have some professional background in the subject like math or physics.
But these are not long-term solutions, with these certificates valid for just one year and available only three times to any individual.
Other slots were filled by those whose certification has not yet been approved.
