The highest concentration of teachers in the 1998-99 school year is in the mid-40s to early 50s age range. Many of these teachers were originally hired during the earlier rise in enrollment in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This means that a large number of teachers will be nearing the end of their teaching careers with in the next five to 10 years. An estimated 2.2 million public school teachers will need to be hired over the next 10 years to both meet enrollment increases in the West and South, and replace those teaches who retire or leave the profession for other reasons.

The total number of secondary school teachers is projected to increase at a greater rate than the number of elementary school teachers. Assuming a relatively stable pupil/teacher ratio between 2000 and 2010, the number of elementary school teachers is expected to hold steady at about 2.0 million. The number of secondary school teachers is projected to increase by about 7 percent, from 1.3 million to 1.4 million teachers.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statictics, "Schools and Staffing Survey," Projections of Education Statistics to 2010, Digest of Education Statistics, "Predicting the Need for Newly Hired Teachers in the United States to 2008-09," and unpublished data.
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