Evidence Use Spotlight: Ann Obadan
"Researchers should also have a dissemination plan for their research, including media coverage, as this could promote their research and also facilitate partnerships with relevant stakeholders."
What is your job title? Research Project Manager
What is the organization you work for? John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Rutgers University
Tell us about a policy or practice that was informed by research.
New Jersey is one of many states confronting concerns about having enough qualified teachers to adequately staff its public schools and meet the learning needs of all enrolled students. One way to begin to address these concerns is to uncover the nuances of the existing teacher workforce and pathways to the career by analyzing available data. By examining patterns of enrollment in educator preparation programs and degree completion, the number and type of teaching credentials earned, hiring into various teaching positions, and retention of teaching staff, it is possible to better understand the present and future needs in the state’s K–12 workforce. Using data from the New Jersey Statewide Data System- K-12 staff data, certification and endorsement data, and post secondary education data, this research examines trends and projections in New Jersey’s teacher workforce using data extracts for the 2013–14 to 2022–23 school years.
Specifically, we ask four research questions:
New Jersey is one of many states confronting concerns about having enough qualified teachers to adequately staff its public schools and meet the learning needs of all enrolled students. One way to begin to address these concerns is to uncover the nuances of the existing teacher workforce and pathways to the career by analyzing available data. By examining patterns of enrollment in educator preparation programs and degree completion, the number and type of teaching credentials earned, hiring into various teaching positions, and retention of teaching staff, it is possible to better understand the present and future needs in the state’s K–12 workforce. Using data from the New Jersey Statewide Data System- K-12 staff data, certification and endorsement data, and post secondary education data, this research examines trends and projections in New Jersey’s teacher workforce using data extracts for the 2013–14 to 2022–23 school years.
Specifically, we ask four research questions:
- What are the observed trends in New Jersey’s teacher workforce, by the number (full-time equivalent, or FTEs) of teachers, and by subgroups, including race, sex, age, and subject area?
- What are the trends in and reasons for exiting the teacher workforce in New Jersey, by subgroups, including race, age, subject area, and job category?
- What are the teacher workforce projections for various subject areas, and what subject areas are at higher-than-average risk of teacher turnover?
- What are the trends and gaps in the workforce pipeline from post secondary education, completion, and certification to entering the teacher workforce in New Jersey?
Do you have any early results or indicators of impact of using research to inform policy or practice?
Our findings show that the overall number of teachers in the state has remained relatively stable over the past 11 years. However, this relative stability is not constant across subject specialties. The number of English Language Learner (ELL) instructors increased over time, while the number of language instructors, mathematics, and science teachers experienced a decline. In addition, the number of new provisional teacher certifications has declined substantially relative to the number of permanent exits from the teaching profession, with retirements accounting for a significant proportion of these exits. A cohort analysis of students who enrolled in postsecondary education with education declared as their major showed that only about 23% eventually become teachers, and that the percentage of Black and male students decreased at each milestone in the teacher workforce pipeline.
New Jersey’s State Legislators, through Chapter 394 of Public Law 2021 (P.L. 2021, c.394), established annual data collection and reporting on the teacher workforce in the state. This was with the aim of having a more comprehensive understanding of its K–12 public education workforce so that appropriate policy solutions can be developed by the state legislature. The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) has collaborated with the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development to create the annual report using data in the New Jersey Statewide Data System (NJSDS). The first report was publicly released in February 2024, and another report is set to be released in September 2025.
One major impact and policy step that resulted from the February 2024 report was that the NJDOE has changed its data extraction rules to include staff exit dates in the exit data to better analyze exit trends over time. The process of preparing and analyzing data on teaching staff exits revealed that there was no data on the subject specialty, and the exit school year of teachers who had exited district employment. This is because when a teacher exits, they are coded in the data as inactive, and thus not assigned a job code, and their exit date is also not reported. Heldrich Center analysts discussed this with NJDOE, and they updated their data collection process to include those fields, which is really beneficial to the upcoming report.
Another impact is that districts are now mandated to collect and report staff vacancy information. The February 2024 report highlighted the lack of data on teaching staff vacancies in the state, and this year, NJDOE piloted its staff vacancy data collection plan for the 2024–25 school year.
The pilot data was shared with the Heldrich Center analysts, and we have provided feedback on the data to NJDOE, giving room for improved data collection, which will inform the 2026 report and subsequent policy solutions for the New Jersey teacher workforce.
What advice do you have for researchers who want their work to benefit educational agencies?
One piece of advice would be to work collaboratively with policy makers and those with expertise around the data collection and use, so that your research would be relevant to the questions and issues they are looking to address. Researchers should also have a dissemination plan for their research, including media coverage, as this could promote their research and also facilitate partnerships with relevant stakeholders.