‘We Want You’ campaign attracts teaching talent
January 30, 2023
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The California Center on Teaching Careers has recruited more than 1,000 prospective teachers through a first-of-its-kind, statewide We Want You campaign. This nascent campaign launched less than a year ago and utilized by many school leaders and their recruitment teams throughout California, has grown steadily as prospective teachers and districts with open positions have signed up to take part.  
The We Want You campaign aims to fill California’s classrooms with high-quality and effective teachers by rallying hundreds of partners across the state around a target goal of recruiting 25,000 new teachers over the next five years.
Campaign partners — who collectively represent more than one in four California students in more than half of the state’s counties — receive high-quality marketing material and coordinated support from the center to boost their recruitment efforts.
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“We couldn’t have reached this pivotal milestone in our campaign — recruiting nearly five teachers a day over the past eight months — without the support of our statewide partners,” said Marvin Lopez, executive director of the California Center on Teaching Careers. “As we collectively push forward on our larger goal of recruiting 25,000 new teachers to the profession over the next five years, we’re starting to take concrete steps towards solving California’s teacher shortage now.” 
As school leaders and administrators across California know all too well, the teacher shortage comes at a critical moment for education nationwide. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona recently called on states, districts and higher education leaders to work together to increase the number of teacher candidates prepared to enter the profession. California has 6.2 million public school students and not enough teachers to serve them. EdJoin, a teacher jobs board, recently showed 53,276 job vacancies alone. 
“We’re so thrilled the ‘We Want You’ campaign is resonating with teacher candidates across the state,” said Tim Hire, county superintendent of schools for Tulare County Office of Education. “By offering school districts and school networks across California a clear and concise message, along with tools to help districts and prospective teachers connect, we’re moving the needle.”
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On top of the success of the We Want You campaign, the center continues its work across the state to partner with local education agencies to directly recruit, hire and place qualified teacher candidates. Additionally, the center has recently begun collaborating with the United States Department of Education and other federal agencies to begin developing national teacher recruitment strategies.
“Partnering with the California Center on Teaching Careers has been immensely helpful for our teacher recruitment efforts,” said Bianca Forrester, director of Pupil and Personnel Services, Cabrillo Unified School District. “Through a Virtual Job Fair hosted by the center over the summer, we were able to quickly interview, hire and place an in-demand Education Specialist, who is already working with students in the classroom.”
The center is implementing several proven strategies to attract, place and retain a deep and diverse bench of teaching talent across the state. Districts are invited to join the center’s Virtual Job Fairs, which empower administrators to recruit qualified candidates from around the country; more information on Virtual Job Fairs can be found at thecentervirtualevents.vfairs.com.
The We Want You campaign is still soliciting campaign partners. School leaders who would like to help with teacher recruitment or find out more about the We Want You campaign can find more information at info.californiateach.org/we-want-you-campaign-toolkit.
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The California Center on Teaching Careers’ next Statewide PK-12 Educational Employment Fair is Feb. 23. Visit thecentervirtualevents.vfairs.com for more information.
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