Fixing the Job, Not Just the Pipeline: Policy on the Rocks Tackles the Teacher Shortage

The Policy School co-hosted an APPAM Policy on the Rocks panel, “Education Policy and the Teacher Shortage: Strengthening the Profession, Not Just Fixing the Workforce,” at its Arlington campus. Moderated by Prof. Etai Mizrav, the panel asked whether the teacher shortage should be treated as a pipeline to fill or a job to fix. Panelists Gabrielle Dubose (Duke Ellington School of the Arts), Dr. Dia Jackson (American Institutes for Research), Elizabeth Ross (Office of the State Superintendent of Education, D.C.), and David Blazar (University of Maryland) examined what Washington, D.C. has done differently on compensation, evaluation, and workforce diversity, and what lessons other states might draw from that experience. The evening closed with a rooftop networking reception, where students, alumni, faculty, and the broader APPAM community continued the conversation against the D.C. skyline.