Reaction Paper Assignment
EDUC 306: Scholarly Writing and APA for Teachers
Professor Holcomb
Joanna Lockard
December 1, 2025
Florida Faces Another Storm:
Summary
‘The Perfect Storm: Structural and Contextual Factors Exacerbating the Teacher
Shortage in Florida’ by Hallazgos discusses the teacher shortage in America, but more
specifically in Florida, with the saying “The perfect storm is happening” (Hallazgos, 2022). Being
a Florida Native, Hallazgos focuses mainly on the Florida education system; however, the
discussion about the shortage of teachers across America is the main subject of this article.
Hallazgos discusses the various reasons that there could be a teacher shortage, including safety
measures in schools, teacher burnout due to high class sizes, low pay, and various other
reasons. Throughout the article, Hallazgos focuses on the overall structural issues of the teacher
shortage in school systems from inside the classroom up to the school board in various areas.
Critique
Author Hallazgos of ‘The Perfect Storm’ discusses the growing nature of teacher
shortages. In his article, he talks about how the socioeconomic and political context of America
is what is exacerbating this shortage of teachers (Hallazgos, 2022). Hallazgos further builds the
narrative that the growing need for teachers continues to rise in this teacher shortage by
explaining that “teaching is not an attractive career for many young Americans” (Hallazgos,
2022). As time progresses, the need for teachers is only going to rise as the pay stays the same
despite inflation, class sizes grow as the shortage continues, burnout rates get higher and higher
through the increased workload for the few who chase the profession despite everything. The
political nature of the job is also a key feature to discuss when talking about the teacher
shortage. Safety in schools is a huge factor in why people do not want to become teachers,
which plays
into the political climate of schools because there are only 2 stances to take on that safety. A
teacher is either pro-safety or anti-safety, and it is always made political, no matter how hard
anyone tries to make it not political. These factors all play into the ‘Perfect Storm’ that is
brewing over the American school system.
Personal Reaction
The article discusses the various reasons behind the shortage in America. From
Politics to socio-economic reasons, none of the information was surprising. Teachers are
decreasing in the career pool. What was once an overpopulated career choice, schools are now
grasping at straws to acquire enough teachers to operate a full school, the way they should. Due
to the safety concerns of being a teacher, the low pay, low incentives, and overall struggle with
being a teacher in today's world, the desire to become a teacher has decreased in the younger
generations. Along with the fact that most teachers have decided to step back from teaching
and leave the career due to the growing safety concerns and low pay.
Application
The information in this article is important for current and future classrooms
because of the teacher shortage. If there are no teachers, there are no classrooms. Many
schools currently face struggles with staffing because there are not many teachers. However, as
the future draws on and the teacher shortage continues and becomes a greater issue, there will
be fewer and fewer classrooms in the future. The growing need for teachers in America’s
learning climate is at an all-time high due to the decrease in teachers across the board. With
low pay, safety concerns, and low incentives for becoming a teacher, there seems to be a high
chance that schools can not find teachers to hire in the future years.
Low Pay, High Cost:
Summary
Author Katie Reilly of ‘The cost of America’s teacher shortage’ says in her article, “The
pandemic led to some of the biggest declines in academic achievement recorded” (Reilly, 2022).
Throughout this article, Reilly focuses on a few different aspects of the teacher shortage across
America. She touches on the topic of the COVID-19 Pandemic affecting the educational world,
and she also discusses the statistics on low staffing and shortages. Throughout the article, Reilly
talks about how the teacher shortage affects students and parents, along with other teachers in
the school. A main idea that she discusses is the impact of poverty on the teacher shortage. A
majority of teacher shortage areas are low-income areas because there are fewer funds for
teacher raises, incentives, or anything of that nature, because, according to the article, “public
school funding relies heavily on property taxes,” which means low-income areas, with low
property taxes, will have less money than schools in higher-income areas. (Reilly, 2022)
Critique
With teacher shortages at an all-time high, the impact that this has on students and the
teachers who are still in schools is unavoidable. Many times, students have floating teachers
who are not their permanent teachers, or substitute teachers in more classes than not.
Students are being impacted by not having consistency in their teacher. For some students, that
may seem like it is not that big of a deal, but in the article, Reilly focuses on talking about the
impact on one family who has a child in a special needs class who has no permanent teacher. In
situations like that, it can be very dangerous for students not to have a permanent teacher.
Students need to have the consistency of a permanent teacher, but the school system can not
hire teachers if they do not have the funds to do so.
Personal Reaction
Students deserve teachers, and teachers deserve adequate pay. In the school system
that runs primarily off property taxes, there is not enough funding to adequately pay teachers.
This is a huge part of why there are limited teachers. According to research, there is a 23.5% pay
gap compared to similar professions (Reilly, 2022). Low pay and lack of incentives play a huge
role in the teacher shortage happening across America. Students are suffering from the lack of
teachers, and teachers are suffering from the lack of other teachers. The workload gets higher,
the class size gets higher, and floating substitutes become the primary teachers. With limited
consistency in the classroom, students will begin to fail.
Application
As the teacher shortage continues, class sizes will continue to grow. There will continue
to be a decrease in teachers as the burnout continues to rise. With the low pay and the
property tax funding, there are areas that are at a greater risk of teacher shortage. The lack of
teachers will affect not only the schools of today, but the schools of the future. Future students
are at risk of not having teachers. Teachers deserve to have higher pay, and the funding for
schools should not be from the property tax. The future of the education system is at risk, and
the teacher shortage is the risk that continues this rise of dangers.
References
Hallazgos. (2022). The Perfect Storm: Structural and Contextual Factors Exacerbating the
Teacher Shortage in Florida. EBSCOHost.
https://research.ebsco.com/c/r3w5i4/viewer/pdf/euutgyezsn
Reilly, K. (2022). The Cost of America’s Teacher Shortage. EBSCOHost.
https://research.ebsco.com/c/r3w5i4/viewer/pdf/qkwam4lqzz?route=details
