Do Teacher Academies Actually Fix the Teacher Shortage?

Why do high school teacher academies produce so few actual teachers? A new Annenberg working paper tracking eight cohorts and more than 1.5 million Texas students found that coursetakers become teachers at four times the rate of their peers, yet fewer than 1 in 10 ever reach a classroom of their own.

The shortfall is not a marketing problem. Districts have gotten good at recruiting students into education electives. What they have not solved is what happens after graduation, when college enrollment, teacher education scholarships and grants, and the teacher certification process start filtering who actually makes it to a teaching credential.

That filtering falls unevenly by race, and it is reshaping who designs the next generation of pipeline programs.

What New Research Reveals About Teacher Academies

The promise of high school teacher academies is that early exposure sparks lasting interest. The problem, according to new research, is that interest does not automatically persist through college and licensure. A working paper released this year through the Annenberg Institute puts hard numbers on that gap.¹

What the Study Tracked

Danielle Edwards of Old Dominion University and Matthew Kraft of Brown University followed eight cohorts of Texas students, more than 1.5 million who entered ninth grade between 2004-05 and 2011-12. Within that group, nearly 70,000 passed at least one high school education course. Because Texas expanded these courses at different times across districts, the researchers could compare outcomes over a long horizon, watching students move from ninth grade into college and, for some, into the classroom.

The Headline Finding

Students who completed education coursework in high school were four times as likely as their peers to eventually become teachers. That is a real signal, and it is worth taking seriously. But the same study delivers a sobering counterpoint: fewer than 1 in 10 of those coursetakers ever taught professionally. Early interest, in other words, is common. Follow-through is not.¹

Edwards is blunt about what this means for district leaders. "High school education courses are not going to be a silver bullet to solving teacher shortages," she said, "but if leaders are serious about making a local pipeline for your district, you need a more structured career academy." A single elective sparks curiosity; a sustained academy with articulation and support is what carries students across the gaps. The Annenberg figures in this section come from the working paper.

Why It Matters Right Now

The timing sharpens the stakes. National estimates for 2025-26 put unfilled or uncertified teaching positions at roughly 425,000, or about 1 in 8 positions nationwide, with independent analyses landing in a similar range.² Districts are understandably eager for grow-your-own teacher programs that build local talent. This study is a reminder that recruiting a 15-year-old does not guarantee retention at 25. If the pipeline leaks between high school and a completed education degree or industry credential, the academy model alone will not close the shortage, no matter how many students it initially inspires.

Where Students Fall Out of the Pipeline

Only 1.5% of students who completed high school education courses earned a teaching credential without a four-year public college degree.¹ That single statistic locates the break: the teacher pipeline does not fail because students lose interest. It fails because they do not make it into and through a bachelor's degree program, a key step in becoming a high school teacher.

Where the Drop-Offs Happen

The pipeline narrows at four distinct points: high school coursework, college enrollment, degree completion, and licensure. High school coursework is not the central leak. Across eight Texas cohorts of more than 1.5 million students, nearly 70,000 passed at least one education course, showing substantial early interest.¹ Those coursetakers were four times as likely as peers to become teachers, yet fewer than 1 in 10 eventually taught professionally.¹

The steepest drop-off is college enrollment. Nearly 70% of Black and Hispanic students who took education classes in high school never enrolled in a four-year public college.¹ White coursetakers became teachers at more than double the rate of Black or Hispanic coursetakers (13.3% compared with 4.9% and 5.5%), not because of weaker interest, but because the path through a four-year degree narrows sharply for first-generation and underrepresented students. This enrollment gap, not the high school classroom, explains most of the pipeline's diversity leak.

What Happens When Students Stay In

For students who do reach college, degree completion and licensure create further attrition. But the data complicates the common assumption that high school course takers are less prepared for certification. Teachers who had taken high school education courses were more likely than other first-year teachers to complete standard certification programs: nearly 72% versus 37%.¹ In other words, once these students stay in the credential pathway, they complete it at notably higher rates. High school exposure does not create a remediation problem. It creates an access problem.

Where That Leaves Program Design

The fix is not more recruitment messaging. It is building college enrollment supports, affordable four-year routes such as Teacher Degree Apprenticeships, and licensure articulation that keeps academy graduates from exiting before they ever attempt the credential. Dual-enrollment credit, transfer agreements, and targeted M.Ed. Scholarships matter more than another career day.¹ For districts and graduate schools of education, the practical implication is to move supports earlier, at the point between senior year and first semester, when the largest number of future teachers disappear.

The Teacher Pipeline, by the Numbers

Texas researchers followed more than 1.5 million students across eight ninth-grade cohorts, including nearly 70,000 who passed at least one high school education course. The figures below show both the promise of the academy model and the point where it leaks.

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Admission Requirements and How Academies Differ From CTE or Educators Rising

Entry rules vary by district, but the strongest teacher academies share a common structure, and that structure is what separates them from a stand-alone elective or a student club.

• Cohort entry, usually in 9th or 10th grade

  Academies typically admit students into a two- to four-year course sequence rather than a single semester elective, so applications are due well before junior year.
• Application, GPA minimum, and a teacher recommendation

  Most programs ask for a short interest statement, a grade-point threshold, and a recommendation from a current teacher. Some add an interview or attendance review.
• Separate eligibility for dual-enrollment credit

  College credit inside an academy usually requires its own admission step at the partner college, placement testing or a qualifying GPA. Credit transfers cleanly only where an articulation agreement already exists.
• Clearance for classroom field placements

  Because students observe and assist in real classrooms, districts commonly require background clearance and health documentation before placement begins.
• How it differs from a CTE education pathway

  A career and technical education pathway is a state-approved course sequence. An academy layers on a cohort, supervised field experience, college credit, and advising toward licensure.
• How it differs from Educators Rising

  Educators Rising is a co-curricular student organization, chapters, conferences, competitions. It can sit inside an academy, but membership alone does not deliver the articulated college coursework the research says matters.

Funding Sources for Building or Strengthening a Pipeline Program

Most high school teacher academies are not funded by a single line item. They are stitched together from federal career and technical education dollars, state Grow Your Own grants, and scholarship programs that carry students across the college transition where the pipeline most often breaks. The table below summarizes several active funding mechanisms, their structure, and what districts or partner institutions need to qualify. Award amounts and eligibility rules change by cycle, so confirm current terms with the administering agency before building a budget around them.