Teachers in short supply in Arizona

A classroom of first-graders at Hamilton Elementary School in Phoenix, Arizona, lost its teacher shortly after she was hired. So the principal called in a substitute. Then she called another. And still another. “I’d guess that we've had 10-12 substitutes in there,” Principal Mishay Tribble said.

Arizona’s teacher shortage is threatening the education of hundreds of children. In many schools, children spend a semester or an entire school year trying to learn from a string of substitute teachers, each with different rules and different skills. Children fail to create a relationship with one teacher or a community with their classmates. Kids can lose interest in going to school, and their learning can stagnate or slide backward, educators warn. Read more about the problem in The Arizona Republic online.