A concise and provocative feature in this month s Blueprint argues for a new perspective in addressing teacher shortages. Author Andrew Rotherham argues that the so-called national teacher shortage is a red herring and suggests ways to fix the real problem. Our real crisis, according to Rotherham, is an adverse selection problem of severe proportions, where better teachers migrate to better schools, further decimating already troubled schools with special needs that actually suffer from shortages. Unwillingness to address this problem head-on results from the sort of politically-charged accusation trading that ultimately only damages children.

What does Rotherham propose to do about it? Sensibly, Rotherham suggests differential pay to attract teachers into bad schools, scrapping certification requirements that are based only on degrees, and revamping certification requirements so that they no longer keep qualified people out of the classroom while adding no proven value to a student s education.