Enrollment in teacher preparation programs has declined across the United States by more than a third since 2010, according to a new study from the Center for American Progress. As a result, about 340,000 fewer students are enrolled in teacher preparation programs today. Oklahoma, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Illinois, Idaho, Indiana, New Mexico and Rhode Island all notched enrollment declines of 50% or more.

“We have made it flat-out unattractive to be a teacher,” said Bryan Duke, the interim associate dean in the College of Education and Professional Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma, a state that has seen an 80% drop in enrollment since 2010.

Black and Latino enrollment dropped by 25 percent, a concern for a profession that is disproportionately white compared with the rest of the workforce. That finding is especially troubling since several studies have shown that black students are more likely to graduate and more likely to enroll in
college when they have had even one black teacher in elementary school.

US News & World Report, Dec. 3