Understanding the Early Teacher Pipeline: What We Can (and, Importantly, Can't) Learn from National Data

CALDER Policy Brief No. 21-1120

Understanding the early teacher pipeline, how many and what types of individuals are pursuing a teaching credential, is critically important. Unfortunately, the two national data collections that can be used to explore this provide incomplete and contrasting pictures. We find that Title II and Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS) information about the early teacher pipeline diverge in the number of individuals completing their training as teachers. Title II is explicitly intended to describe the early teacher pipeline, but undercounts teacher candidates. IPEDS also provides an incomplete picture as, for instance, it likely suffers from “double counting”. In the concluding section we describe changes to data collection that could lead to more accurate and detailed information about the early teacher pipeline.

This policy brief was originally posted Novermber 2020 and was updated April 2021. 

This policy brief has been published in Phi Delta Kappan, Novemeber 2021, and can be viewed here.