Career Opportunities

Numerous studies have clearly substantiated the critical need for producing highly effective teachers. One way to gauge the need for teachers is to look at high school graduating classes. According to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Nevada leads the Western United States in projected growth of high school graduating classes through 2012. The number of Clark County high school graduates is expected to increase from 7,385 to an estimated 19,200.

In order to respond to the needs of the ever-increasing K-12 population, greater numbers of well qualified educational professionals must be available within the next few years, if not yesterday.  The "Nevada Occupational Employment and Projections 2002-2012" for Nevada indicate that 32,966 new teachers consisting of 16,882 new elementary teachers, 1,324 kindergarten teachers, 10,033 middle school and secondary teachers and  4,727 special education teachers will be needed by 2012.

Looking past the primary service area, several national organizations (National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education) have repeatedly identified long-range teacher shortages because of the "graying" of American teachers and explosive growth in K-12 student populations.