[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-detail-587529-en":59,"doc-seo-587529-105":79},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":60},{"doc_id":61,"user_id":62,"nickname":63,"user_avatar":64,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":66,"doc_content":67,"file_id":68,"file_url":69,"file_type":70,"file_size":71,"view_count":44,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":46,"language":72,"language_code":73,"site_id":74,"html_lang":73,"table_of_contents":75,"faqs":76,"seo_title":77,"seo_description":66,"update_tm":78,"read_time":31,"preview_page_count":4},587529,2336475104957,"นรินทร์","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/22000c4c6bd8a5076e1?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1787554080175789136","Missing Out - Arkansas’Teacher Shortage and How to Fix It","Research examines Arkansas’ long-standing shortage of certified teachers and the resulting educational opportunity gaps for students statewide. It details the prevalence of uncertified and out-of-field teaching, including extreme district cases, and connects teacher quality to student achievement outcomes on NAEP. The report outlines how Arkansas’ system relies on waivers and emergency licensing, then maps geographic concentration of shortages and previews explanations and recommendations for recruiting and retaining effective educators after COVID-19 disruptions.","2021  \nMISSING OUT  \nArkansas’Teacher Shortage and How to Fix It  \nINTRODUCTION  \nEvery child in Arkansas—from Fort Smith to West Memphis to El Dorado and everywhere in between—deserves an effective, qualified teacher in their classroom. Teachers inspire, build perspective, and ultimately prepare their students for success in life. And research shows that teacher quality is the most important in-school factor affecting student achievement. 1  \nUnfortunately, Arkansas has faced a massive shortage of certified teachers for decades. This doesn’t mean groups of students sit, unsupervised, in their classrooms—but because of the sacrifices schools make when they don’t have the teachers they need, too many students are missing out on the educational opportunities they deserve. Sometimes schools have no choice but to combine multiple classes under a single teacher. Sometimes they stop offering certain advanced or specialized courses, particularly in highschool. And, most often, they hire teachers who have not met the state’s requirements for certification—including exams, coursework, and classroom experience—in their assigned content area. Statewide, 4 percent of public school teachers are uncertified, with another 3 percent teaching out of field. In many districts, the percentage of uncertified is much higher: as high as 56 percent in the Helena-West Helena School District, and 52 percent in the Forrest City School District.2  \nTo be clear, earning certification by itself doesn’t guarantee a teacher’s effectiveness. But the fact that so many schools can’t find enough teachers to even meet that bar shows that Arkansas isn’t doing enough to recruit and retain great educators. This is one reason why Arkansas students lag behind the national average on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card. In 2019, no more than 33 percent of Arkansas test-takers scored proficient or higher on any of the NAEP exams.3  \nLuckily, there are steps the state can take to address this problem. Especially given the devasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students, it has never been more important to get an effective, qualified teacher in every Arkansas classroom. It won’t be easy, and will require dedication across the state. But Arkansas students are worth it.  \nIn the following pages, we provide a roadmap for how to take up this challenge. First, we analyze the geography and extent of Arkansas’ teacher shortage. Next, we provide potential explanations for why it is so high in certain areas, including an analysis of existing efforts to reduce the shortage. Finally, we propose a series of recommendations.  \nWe hope this research is a useful resource for policymakers, educators, and advocates who believe that every Arkansas student—regardless of where they live—should have an effective, qualified teacher in their classroom.  \n1 [https://www. rand.org/education-and-labor/projects/measuring-teacher-effectiveness/](https://www. rand.org/education-and-labor/projects/measuring-teacher-effectiveness/)[ ](https://www. rand.org/education-and-labor/projects/measuring-teacher-effectiveness/)[teachers-matter.html](teachers-matter.html)  \n2 This includes teachers on Emergency Teaching Permits, Act 1240 waivers, and long-term substitutes (for more information on licensure exceptions, see Appendix) . We did not find evidence that these rates changed much at the state level in the wake of COVID, with  \n3.9 percent of teachers uncertified in 2019–20 compared to 4.1 percent uncertified in 2020–21.  \n3 [https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/nov/30/state-s-4th-8th-grade-report](https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/nov/30/state-s-4th-8th-grade-report)card-score/  \nMAPPING THE TEACHER SHORTAGE IN ARKANSAS  \nAcross Arkansas, approximately 4 percent of teachers are uncertified, more than double the national average of 1.7 percent.4 But the severity of the problem varies widely from district to district: while some dis","cbCaimkXQZNNrptN","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimkXQZNNrptN","pdf",11210864,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n# Mapping the Teacher Shortage in Arkansas\n## Shortages Are Concentrated in Southern Arkansas and the Delta Region","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the document focus on?\",\"answer\":\"It focuses on Arkansas’ decades-long shortage of certified teachers and how that leads to students missing educational opportunities.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the report describe the impact on student achievement?\",\"answer\":\"It states that teacher quality is the most important in-school factor affecting student achievement and notes Arkansas students lag behind the national NAEP average.\"},{\"question\":\"Where in Arkansas are teacher shortages most concentrated?\",\"answer\":\"The document reports that shortages are higher in Southern and Eastern Arkansas, especially in the Mississippi Delta region, with district severity varying widely.\"}]","Missing Out - Arkansas’Teacher Shortage and How to Fix It | PDF",1792062069,{"code":4,"msg":80,"data":81},"ok",{"site_id":74,"language":73,"slug":82,"title":65,"keywords":83,"description":66,"schema_data":84,"social_meta":138,"head_meta":140,"extra_data":142,"updated_unix":143},"missing-out-arkansas-teacher-shortage-and-how-to-fix-it","",{"@graph":85,"@context":137},[86,100,120],{"@type":87,"itemListElement":88},"BreadcrumbList",[89,93,95,98],{"item":90,"name":91,"@type":92,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":94,"name":9,"@type":92,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":96,"name":40,"@type":92,"position":97},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":99,"name":65,"@type":92,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/missing-out-arkansas-teacher-shortage-and-how-to-fix-it/587529/",{"url":99,"name":65,"@type":101,"image":102,"author":107,"headline":65,"publisher":109,"fileFormat":112,"inLanguage":73,"description":66,"dateModified":113,"datePublished":114,"encodingFormat":112,"isAccessibleForFree":115,"interactionStatistic":116},"DigitalDocument",{"url":103,"@type":104,"width":105,"height":106},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/missing-out-arkansas-teacher-shortage-and-how-to-fix-it/587529.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":63,"@type":108},"Person",{"url":90,"name":110,"@type":111},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-07","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":117,"interactionType":118,"userInteractionCount":44},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":119},"ViewAction",{"@type":121,"mainEntity":122},"FAQPage",[123,129,133],{"name":124,"@type":125,"acceptedAnswer":126},"What problem does the document focus on?","Question",{"text":127,"@type":128},"It focuses on Arkansas’ decades-long shortage of certified teachers and how that leads to students missing educational opportunities.","Answer",{"name":130,"@type":125,"acceptedAnswer":131},"How does the report describe the impact on student achievement?",{"text":132,"@type":128},"It states that teacher quality is the most important in-school factor affecting student achievement and notes Arkansas students lag behind the national NAEP average.",{"name":134,"@type":125,"acceptedAnswer":135},"Where in Arkansas are teacher shortages most concentrated?",{"text":136,"@type":128},"The document reports that shortages are higher in Southern and Eastern Arkansas, especially in the Mississippi Delta region, with district severity varying widely.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":99,"og:type":139,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":110,"og:description":66},"article",{"robots":141,"canonical":99},"index,follow",{"doc_id":61,"site_id":74},1792176232]