May 5, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Community college partnership programs can improve persistence, course completion, and transfer rates for aspiring teachers.
- States can expand pathways into teaching through flexible, evidence-based licensure reforms without lowering standards for teacher quality.
- Improving statewide data systems is essential for California leaders to assess bilingual teacher workforce investments and plan strategically for future demand.
Who Can Benefit? Leaders designing teacher workforce strategy at the state, district, and preparation program levels.
Teacher shortages are putting real pressure on states and districts to find solutions that work. The pipeline into the profession has narrowed, and the diversity of the workforce has not kept pace with the student population. This Spotlight highlights three recent WestEd resources that show how states and programs are strengthening teacher pipelines, from community college pathways to licensure reform and bilingual staffing.
A Community College Pathway Expanding the Teacher Pipeline
The Center for Collaborative Education created the Community Partnerships for Teacher Pipeline (CPTP) program to address two pressing concerns: the shortage of teachers entering the profession and the gap between the number of teachers of color and the number of students of color in K–12 schools. This evaluation report shares findings from an external study WestEd conducted at three Southern California community colleges to measure the program’s impact.
The findings are encouraging. Students who participated in the CPTP outperformed a matched group of comparison students enrolled at the same colleges across several key outcomes:
- CPTP participants showed better grade point averages, persistence in college, and course completion rates than comparison students.
- Participants also demonstrated higher credit accumulation and transfer rates.
- The findings suggest the program may help alleviate teacher supply shortages while supporting students who might otherwise face barriers to completing their preparation.
How Nevada Expanded Access to Teaching Without Lowering the Bar
Teacher shortages have pushed many states toward quick fixes that can create long-term problems. Nevada took a different approach. In partnership with WestEd, the state conducted a comprehensive review of its teacher licensure policies from 2022 to 2025 and made changes designed to be both flexible and sustainable.
The resulting reforms added new routes into teaching and increased flexibility within existing pathways without compromising expectations for teacher quality. The blog post outlines four key strategies Nevada used and what other states can learn from them:
- Nevada expanded the measures candidates can use to demonstrate foundational skills, accepting qualifying SAT, ACT, and GRE scores and approved coursework in addition to the Praxis Core, a shift reflected in similar policies across California, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri.
- A Praxis Bridge program now allows candidates who narrowly miss passing scores to demonstrate targeted proficiency without retaking a full exam.
- New licensure portability provisions and a registered apprentice license create additional structured pathways into the classroom, helping districts hire qualified candidates sooner.
Read Expanding Opportunity, Sustaining Quality: Lessons From One State’s Teacher Licensure Reforms
Meeting the Demand for Bilingual Teachers
California’s Global 2030 vision calls for universal bilingualism and biliteracy, and research points to bilingual instructional models as among the most effective strategies for improving long-term academic outcomes. But building the bilingual authorized (BLA) teacher workforce needed to deliver on that vision is proving to be a complex challenge.
This brief examines statewide supply and demand trends for BLA teachers using publicly available data. While California has made notable progress toward its goal of 2,000 new bilingual authorizations per year, the findings point to significant obstacles ahead:
- Gaps in statewide data make it difficult for state and local leaders to assess the return on their workforce investments or plan strategically for future demand.
- The findings underscore the urgent need for improved data systems, strategic planning, and sustained investment in bilingual teacher pathways.
- Without better information and more deliberate planning, the gap between bilingual program demand and qualified teacher supply is likely to persist.
Partner With WestEd to Strengthen Your Teacher Workforce
WestEd works with preK–12 and educator preparation program leaders at the state and local levels to design, implement, and improve teacher workforce policies that address teacher shortages and improve access to quality instruction.
Learn more about WestEd’s Teacher Workforce work and how we can help your state or district build a stronger, more sustainable educator pipeline, and fill out our Work With Us form at the top of this page to get in touch with a WestEd expert.
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