Most of Oregon's 2,400 new teachers unable to find jobs this fall

see article: Most of Oregon's 2,400 new teachers unable to find jobs this fall

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian


October 02, 2009, 10:01PM

Benjamin Brink/The OregonianAllison Dworschak earned a master's degree in teaching from the University of Portland and couldn't wait to start work as a high school teacher and journalism adviser. Instead, like most of Oregon's crop of new teachers, she couldn't get an interview, much less a job. So she's a substitute this year, teaching at Fowler Middle School in Tigard three days this week.

Most of the estimated 2,400 newly minted teachers who graduated from Oregon colleges of education this year were unable to get hired anywhere in Oregon, proving that a job often billed as recession-proof is not.



Education deans and others who monitor the job market say this was the state's worst hiring season for new teachers in at least a generation.



With schools offering jobs to only about one-third as many teachers as normal, there was fierce competition for nearly every opening, and brand-new teachers brimming with idealism but lacking professional experience often got shut out.



A survey by The Oregonian suggests fewer than 600 new teacher graduates got hired in Oregon this fall.



Others found teaching posts elsewhere -- Arizona, Alaska, even overseas -- often with a hope of returning to Oregon in a few years once hiring resumes here.

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