Despite more and more Indiana public schools laying off teachers every year, new college students are still flocking to enroll in teacher education programs. Recent figures show that education is still the No. 3 preferred major for enrolling first-year college students. But what happens to these elementary and secondary education majors after graduation?

At Manchester College, Dr. Lindan Hill, director of the teacher education department and a retired superintendent of Howard County Eastern Schools, said the education department is seeing some decrease in teachers placed in jobs.

"When finances are good, Manchester College will place nearly 100 percent of the teacher candidates," Hill said. "In bad times, you see those numbers drop. To 75, sometimes 50 percent.

"When schools reduce, the effect is immediate," Hill said, referring to teacher placement rates.

But sometimes it works in recent graduates' favor. "It's a double-edged sword," Hill said. "As finances erode, veteran teachers retire because of increased workloads, allowing new teachers to move in."

Grace College's education department director, Shara Curry, said within the next 10 years, as the baby-boomer generation retires, the demand for new teachers will be especially high.

Hill projected that increased demand will start in about three years, saying that as the economy begins to improve, as it recently has, it takes three to four years before tax revenues and other state benefits trickle down to school corporations.

Soon-to-be graduates can do some things now to make themselves more attractive to school corporations, Hill said.

Elementary education majors can pick up a mild interventions endorsement. The endorsement requires only an additional nine credit hours and makes students much more marketable. All students who graduated with the endorsement from Manchester have gotten jobs, even in bad economic times, Hill said. Manchester College is one of two that offer that program in the state.

Secondary education majors can get endorsements in multiple teaching areas to be more marketable. The demand for teachers who also can teach foreign language classes is especially high, Hill said. Also, students who plan to teach high school can get a junior high/middle school endorsement, widening the grades they can teach.

Another option is to take an out-of-state teaching job.

"Any good teacher can get a job and there are areas in the U.S. that are hurting for teachers," Curry said.

She later named Florida as a state particularly needing teachers. "You can get a job in Jacksonville, Florida, at the drop of a hat."

Hill cited California, Texas, Florida and North Carolina as states in need of qualified teachers. A large influx of immigants caused the need for more schools and teachers. Carson County, Nev., home to Las Vegas, also desperately needs educators.

While taking out-of-state jobs may ensure more Indiana graduates get work in their chosen profession, it directly undermines the Gov. O'Bannon/Kernan Energize Indiana economic initiative.

The initiative is a 10-year, $1.25 billion plan to ensure the state's economic recovery and success in the future. Some steps include increasing industry, creating a top-notch education system from kindergarten to college and retaining educated Hoosiers in the state.

According to the plan and colleges adopting ideas from the initiative, Indiana needs to retain its educated workers to recover, though the current lack of funding makes that difficult for those in the education field. [[In-content Ad]]