Slew of Layoffs May Be Linked to Overhiring

Gail V. Ritchie, right, confers with Joshua Mintus, a first-year 4th grade teacher at Centre Ridge Elementary School in Virginia. The instructional coach calls herself “the teacher for the teachers.”

—Andrew Councill for Education Week

Student, Teacher Rates Disparate

By Stephen Sawchuk

An increase in teacher hiring in recent years has led some observers to posit a link to the waves of pink slips districts are now sending across the country.

Thus far, hiring patterns have not been widely studied as part of the current discussion about layoffs. But national data from the U.S. Department of Education and from the National Education Association’s annual “Ranking & Estimates” report

“With accountability and No Child Left Behind, there was increased pressure to raise results, and districts and states responded by adding adults,” said Marguerite Roza, a scholar who has analyzed