Understanding the Teacher Pipeline for Indiana's K-12 Public Schools

Leaders at the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and the Indiana Department of Education are concerned about teacher shortages and want a better understanding of the teacher pipeline for the state's K-12 public schools. This study tracked 11,080 students who first enrolled in an Indiana public college or university in 2010/11, 2011/12, or 2012/13 and pursued a bachelor's degree in education at any point in college. Among those entrants 41 percent completed a bachelor's degree in education by 2017/18. Of those degree completers 55 percent earned an initial instructional license, and of those licensed, 69 percent entered teaching in an Indiana public school. Compared with the initial group of students entering education programs, students who completed a bachelor's degree, those who earned an initial instructional license, and those who entered teaching in an Indiana public school were less likely to be from a racial/ethnic minority group or to have been eligible for the national school lunch program in high school. Students who entered an education program in their third year of college or later were less likely to complete a bachelor's degree in education than students who entered in their first year, after other differences in student characteristics and the characteristics of the first college they attended were adjusted for. Students who received an Indiana 21st Century Scholarship in their first year of college or who received financial aid beyond their first year were more likely to complete a bachelor's degree in education, while students who received a Pell Grant were less likely. Finally, students who started at a two-year college and transferred to a four-year college were more likely to complete a bachelor's degree in education than students who started at a four-year college.