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    Educators

    ​​Pennsylvania Educator Workforce Strategy

    The prosperous future of Pennsylvania—from healthy young children and families to a thriving economy to vibrant and civically engaged neighborhoods and communities—depends on a healthy and robust educator workforce.

    Educators encompass a wide range of professions, such as early childhood professionals, teachers, school and district leaders, and other school support staff professionals (e.g., school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, mental health professionals, speech pathologists, health professionals, school librarians, and others).

    Our educator workforce not only represents a critical sector of the commonwealth's economy, but educators also play a doubly important role in preparing young learners to participate in and lead our communities, our governments, our businesses, and our families in the future.

    • By August 2025, the state will need thousands of new teachers, hundreds of new principals, and thousands of educators in other critical roles trained and ready to guide our students' educational futures.
    • By August 2025, Pennsylvania public schools will be home to a significantly higher percentage of students of color than we serve today.
    • By August 2025, Pennsylvania will begin to see the immediate fruits of our investments of funding to recover strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    It is therefore appropriate that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) establish August 2025 as a key date by which we plan to achieve many of the ambitious goals laid out in the Pennsylvania Educator Workforce Strategy.

    Feedback from the Field

    To inform PDE's efforts to develop the Pennsylvania Educator Workforce Strategy (PDF), the department conducted interviews in late 2021 and early 2022 with more than 40 individuals with expertise and interest in the educator workforce.

    Participants included teachers, school and district administrators, educator preparation program leaders, intermediate unit administrators, local government officials, education nonprofit leaders, educator union leaders, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, and representatives from other organizations. The feedback received from these individuals informed the ​Pennsylvania Educator Workforce Strategy: Feedback from the Field (PDF) report.