The tipping point

“The urgency behind getting community and technical colleges involved is measurable and accelerating. The Learning Policy Institute in 2026 identified the teacher shortage problem in the United States: 45,582 unfilled positions nationwide 365,967 positions filled by teachers who are not fully certified This means that nearly one in eight teaching positions is either unfilled or not properly filled. These numbers leave hundreds of thousands of classrooms either vacant or staffed by underqualified personnel, impacting millions of students across the country. There are moments in public policy when change is underway. Then there are moments when change is within reach. This is one of those moments. Across the United States, a quiet but consequential shift is underway. States are moving – some cautiously, some more aggressively – toward allowing community and technical colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees in areas of workforce needs, including teaching. The teaching pipeline needs have not been solved in most states to date. Now there is active legislation, pilot expansion and workforce alignment efforts underway in several states. Illinois Illinois is one of the states that has worked hard over the past two years to secure legislative approval to offer baccalaureate degrees through its community colleges. The legislation would include adults who are not yet enrolled in community college. The Illinois Community College Board offered the following: The impact extends beyond students already enrolled. When bachelor’s degrees are offered locally, affordably, and flexibly, adults who are not currently participating in higher education enter the pipeline. Community colleges are uniquely positioned to reach these learners because they are embedded in the communities they serve. “Community college baccalaureate programs are an affordable option that expand access in a way that fits the realities of working adults and strengthens opportunity across the state,” explained state Sen. Mike Halpin. In Illinois, the following three community college agencies are working hard to support the proposed legislation: The Illinois Community College Board is leading the effort to expand the state’s community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs The Illinois Community College Trustees Association The Illinois Council of Community College Presidents These three organizations represent the state’s 45 community college districts, which is the nation’s third-largest community college system. Iowa Movement in Iowa to pass legislation allowing its community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees is underway. As in Illinois and many other states, Iowa has had persistent rural school teacher shortages. But the state has received much resistance from private colleges. It appears it may take another year of work to get this legislation through. Texas Texas has moved beyond debate and is now demonstrating what can be done to help its K-12 school districts by offering baccalaureate degrees in teaching through its community colleges. By offering these degrees to meet state workforce needs, it is developing the new pipeline to prepare educators needed to help close its severe teacher shortages. New Texas Educator Workforce data suggests that there’s some hope but it still has a long way to go to solve the decades-old problem. Uncertified new teacher hiring is starting to decline, and the overall percentage of uncertified teachers in the workforce has also leveled off. California In California, the conversation has moved beyond pilot programs to expansion. Through the nation’s largest community college system, California has implemented and scaled baccalaureate pathways designed to address regional workforce shortages. Its guiding principle is to simplify: if the workforce need is local, the degree pathway must be local as well. The pathway is now also open for preparing teachers, which still requires approval. The rural deserts are in serious need of teachers prepared near their K-12 schools. Florida Florida and its community colleges have provided a view of where this movement can lead. Its 27 community colleges are now a major new pipeline for preparing teachers. Each college has been approved to offer the education programs needed by the K-12 schools within its college district. This provides Florida with a distributed teacher preparation system that operates closer to the communities that each community college serves. At the tipping point — and looking forward With more than 45,000 teacher vacancies and over 365,000 underqualified teachers in classrooms at this time, the United States is not experiencing a temporary shortage. The major shortages are severe in rural areas and geographically isolated school districts. Those areas that are economically constrained are also in serious need of attracting teachers. Illinois is nearing legislation as its solution, and Iowa is moving more quietly in the same direction. Texas is successfully moving forward with several of its community colleges, which are now preparing teachers as part of its workforce development efforts. California is moving ahead in meeting workforce needs, now through its community colleges, but it needs to add teacher preparation to that effort. Florida has presented a model in which its community colleges prepare teachers in all the areas where they are needed. Its model needs to be looked at by many other states. The “tipping point” for community and technical colleges now being approved legislatively to offer baccalaureate degrees in education is beginning to show some serious breakthroughs. * * * Dr. Hans Andrews is a Distinguished Fellow in Community College Leadership at Olney Central College in Illinois. A former college president, he launched the first dual-credit program in the nation between community colleges and high schools. Dr. Greg Rockhold has served as a superintendent, a member of the National Association of Secondary School Principals board, president of the New Mexico Coalition of School Administrators and executive director of the New Mexico Association of Secondary School Principals. The post The tipping point first appeared on Community College Daily .

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